The Vanished Podcast

Last week, we brought you the first part of Melissa Highsmith’s story. On August 23, 1971, 21-month-old Melissa was abducted by a woman who responded to a classified ad her mother placed in the local newspaper. Or, at least, that’s the story that Melissa’s mother and roommate told police when they reported her missing. Was Melissa really abducted by this woman calling herself Ruth Johnson, or was there more to the story? And that’s just the beginning of the 50-year-old stone-cold mystery we’ve been chipping away at.UPDATE: In September, the Highsmith family contacted us about covering Melissa Highsmith’s story. We interviewed multiple family members for a two-episode series. We were already aware of possible DNA connections when the episodes aired, but we held that information in confidence at the family’s request. When the Highsmith family notified us of the DNA matches found on a commercial DNA testing website in late October, we connected them with a family member of another missing person we covered this