Child victims cry out for statute of limitations reform
A Texas family has been reunited with a daughter that authorities believe was kidnapped by a babysitter 51 years ago. It’s an extraordinary story, one made for television or a movie.
For some, the drama culminates with a happy ending.
For others, myself included, the conclusion leads only to outrage.
Melissa Highsmith, stolen from her parents when she was a toddler, was found this month living – unbelievably – still in Forth Worth, where her parents reside. She has been reconnecting with the family she never knew she had.
They’ve gathered and hugged and shared stories. But there’s one thing they will never be able to do: Find justice. Because the statute of limitations for potential criminal charges has expired, the person responsible for this heinous kidnapping will never be held to account.
Abducted in 1971
The Forth Worth Police Department said in a statement to USA TODAY that it was “overjoyed” to hear the news about Highsmith. An official DNA test will be given to confirm her identity, and the department will work with the family to investigate her disappearance.
“Even though the criminal statute of limitations expired 20 years after Melissa’s 18th birthday, the Fort Worth Police Department is committed to completing this investigation to uncover all of the available information concerning Melissa’s abduction that occurred 51 years ago,” the department said.
Jeffrie Highsmith and Alta Apantenco were living in Fort Worth when 22month-old Melissa was abducted in August 1971 by a babysitter, according to a news release from the family.
Highsmith, 53, reunited last week with her parents and two siblings after an at-home DNA kit connected them. The family also worked with a genealogist to examine the findings and combed through public records.
So precious are the details: Highsmith now wants to redo her wedding to her husband so her father can walk her down the aisle. Upon learning the news of her identity, Highsmith’s family wrote posts on a Facebook page called “WE FOUND MELISSA!!!”
Still, no one will be held responsible. How is that possible?
It’s a sick twist in a criminal justice system that varies from state to state. New York, for example, recently enacted an adult measure to the Child Victims Act to allow survivors of sexual abuse to bypass claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations.
Kidnapping should be no different. The trauma of crimes against humans – murder, illegal imprisonment, trafficking and rape, to name a few – doesn’t run out when the clock does. It has lasting effects to victims and their families.
It has been more than five decades of pain and probing conjecture for this family. Many would consider this a happy outcome, and in a number of ways it is. But I consider it bittersweet.
Because there is no way to get back all those lost years – birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, births, summer vacations, funerals, weddings, graduations, Sunday suppers – all the things, big and small, that define family.
Grave injustice to victims
But in Texas those losses end after five years, when the statute of limitations on kidnapping runs out. What a grave injustice to the victims. Any crimes against children should be prosecutable – regardless of the time that has lapsed. (I’ll save my annoyed snark about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott – the state’s former attorney general and a state Supreme Court justice – and his bogus claims of protecting innocent human life at all stages for another day.)
This family may have been reunited after decades of suffering. It’s joyous; it’s nothing short of a miracle. But without the potential for criminal culpability, there certainly is no closure.
And that is the true crime.