Police have officially confirmed the identity of the Texas woman who was abducted in 1971 and reunited with her family last November.
Through DNA testing, the Fort Worth Police Department confirmed the identity of Melissa Highsmith — a 53-year-old woman who was abducted as a 22-month-old in 1971.
“It is our hope that this test result will offer additional closure for the Highsmith family,” a police spokesperson said in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
The latest development comes nearly six months after Melissa was reunited with her mom Alta Apantenco, dad Jeffrie Highsmith and siblings Victoria, Rebecca, Sharon and Jeff last year.
It also comes 51 years after her kidnapping, when she was stolen as a baby from her Fort Worth, Texas, home on Aug. 23, 1971, by a person posing as a babysitter.
Before the police confirmation, the family previously told PEOPLE that their own DNA match had already confirmed the news they were waiting for all these years, that Melissa, who grew up as Melanie Miyoko, was in fact alive and the long-lost family member they had been searching for.
Melissa, who ran away as a teenager, said in November that she and the woman who raised her just 10 minutes from where she was abducted “were never close” and that she ran away as a teen. She added that she was no longer communicating with the woman who raised her.
“The whole time I was there, it was a bad childhood,” she said. “I wasn’t allowed to go outside and play, and she always sheltered me. And she said the reason she sheltered me was because I was born at home and that I had brain damage.”
“I used to wonder, ‘Why did she even have me if she didn’t want me?’ “ Melissa recalled.
Alta, 73, told PEOPLE in November that the 51-year search for her missing daughter was discouraging.
“My family believed that she was still alive, and I wanted to believe it, but I had been disappointed so many times that I just told them, ‘Leave me out of it,’ “ Alta told PEOPLE. “I said, ‘You go ahead, and you try to find Melissa, but please leave me out of it because I don’t want to get involved.’ I wanted to lay it to rest, but they didn’t want to.”
At the time, the family revealed they planned to ask Fort Worth police if the kidnapper can somehow be prosecuted, though they were reportedly told by authorities that the statute of limitations in Texas ran out 48 years ago. Still, the Highsmiths credit their faith for helping track her down.
“We give all the credit to God. We really believe it was — we’re people of faith, and we believe it was through prayer,” Jeff, 72, said.
“God is an amazing God, and he can do anything,” added Alta. “He’s a way maker, a miracle worker, a promise keeper, a light in the darkness. That’s my God.”
