A Kentucky mother accused in a decades-old abduction case is back in Louisville and facing new charges, and the child at the center of the case, missing since 1983, has finally been found.

What was once a cold case has become a warm reunion.

A story of reuniting, forgiveness, and moving forward.

For 43 years, Joe Newton waited for the moment he feared would never come.

“She’s always been in my heart,” Newton said. “I can’t explain that moment of that woman walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.”

He last saw Michelle when she was just 3 years old.

The last time sister station WLKY spoke to Newton was in 1986. At that point, he had spent three years searching for his daughter.

In 1983, Joe and his wife, Deborah Lee Newton, were preparing to move to Georgia. Deb

See Full Page