Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Woman Missing Since 1983 Found Alive as Mother Is Arrested on Custodial Interference Charge

DNA evidence from a Crime Stoppers lead identified her decades-old false identity.

Overview

  • A tip to Crime Stoppers led investigators to Debra Newton in Marion County, Florida.
  • Data comparisons and a DNA test matching the mother’s sister at about 99.9% confirmed the woman is Michelle Marie Newton.
  • Police told the 46-year-old in November that she had been living under a false identity, according to WLKY.
  • Newton, who had been using the name Sharon Nealy, was arrested on Nov. 24 and charged with custodial interference.
  • The daughter contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and reunited with her father in Kentucky, as officials called the case extraordinary.