MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A Marion County crime stoppers tip led to a family reunion 40 years in the making.
Investigators in Kentucky say Debra Newton abducted her daughter, Michelle, when she was just 3 years old.
Debra had been living in the Villages under the name Sharon Nealy until she was arrested by the Marion County Sheriff’s Office last month for a charge of Custodial Interference, a felony offense in Kentucky.
According to investigators, in 1983, Debra told her then-husband, Joe Newton, that she would head to Georgia with their daughter, Michelle, to start a new job and prepare the new family home.
However, investigators stated that when Joe arrived in Georgia, both Debra and Michelle were gone, and for more than four decades, there were no answers.
According to Investigators in Kentucky, a custodial-interference indictment and an FBI Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant were issued for Debra Newton.
Debra Newton was even once listed among the FBI’s Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives. Still, the case was dismissed in 2000 when prosecutors were unable to reach the victim, Michelle’s father.
Investigators said in 2005, Michelle was removed from the national missing-child database until a family member asked investigators in Kentucky to reopen the case.
The case was reopened but remained cold for years until, in 2025, investigators say they had a breakthrough via a Crime Stoppers tip in Marion County that identified Newton as a woman in Florida using a different name.
Channel 9 learned for years, Newton had been remarried and living in the Villages under the name Sharon Nealy, meanwhile her daughter Michelle grew up never knowing family had been searching for her.
Neighbors told Channel 9 that Sharon and her new husband were always pleasant and that they believed there was more to the story.
“Unless you’re in her shoes, you never know,” said one neighbor.
Channel 9 stopped by the Marion County home where Debra had been living under the name Sharon for years.
Her husband came to the door and said their attorneys had advised them not to comment on the case, but that they would “fight this in court.”
Meanwhile, CNN first reported that Michelle reunited with her father around Thanksgiving.
Michelle said she hadn’t realized she was a victim until she connected with long-lost family and learned some of the special moments she missed. However, Michelle told CNN that she had no resentment toward her mother and that she would support both parents.
“My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both wrap it up so we can all heal and hopefully there’s just apologies and start healing,” said Michelle Newton.
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