00:00We found it through her children. My mother and father submitted it to Ancestry and three of me
00:06and three weeks within them submitting it, we found my sister. Like it was like boom, boom, boom.
00:12Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're looking at victims of kidnapping or imprisonment that
00:17were found after decades of being missing. God kept me safe and protected all these years
00:22and I just want you to know that.
00:30Blanche Monnier. Being kept a prisoner is terrifying enough but being locked away in
00:35your own home must feel even more hopeless. When Blanche Monnier was 27, she had dreams of
00:41marrying a lawyer. Her mother didn't approve and she expressed that by locking her daughter away
00:46in their attic. Her family kept up the ruse, pretending as though she had gone missing
00:50entirely. Her suitor passing away and her friends being left in the dark meant she was alone
00:55with no one looking for her. After 25 years, an official received word of her imprisonment.
01:01When she was finally found, they were met with the sight of an extremely emaciated older woman,
01:06a shell of the socialite she'd been before being subject to such cruel treatment.
01:10Lydia Guardo. Being imprisoned by your loved ones is a harrowing thought on its own,
01:15much less the idea of being tortured by them. Lydia Guardo's girlhood was put on abrupt hold
01:20when her stepfather entered her life. As a young girl, she became his victim. She claimed to have
01:26made attempts to escape as a child, but was always returned by the police. The abuse escalated well
01:31into adulthood, where he thwarted more of her efforts to free herself. She remained in his clutches
01:37until his fate in 1999, when she was in her late 30s. Since then, she's dedicated her days to making her
01:44story known, and criticizing the authorities that allegedly failed her throughout her youth.
01:49Germaine Mann.
01:50A mother and her son are finally back together, 31 years after the boy was allegedly kidnapped by his
01:56own father.
01:57It's estimated that a majority of kidnappings are done by the victim's own kin,
02:01including their guardians. This was unfortunately the case for Germaine Mann,
02:06who was purportedly taken across the border from Canada into the United States by his father as a
02:11toddler. The manipulation went on his entire childhood, with him being raised to believe
02:28he was born in America and that his mom had died during his birth. Mann would have gone the rest of
02:33his days believing these lies, until interviews with other relatives revealed his location to the
02:38police in 2018. Although the search for his dad continues, Germaine was able to reunite with his
02:44mother in his 30s, debunking one of the biggest lies he'd been told.
02:48And police have also confirmed, Todd, that Germaine Mann was actually also living under a fake identity
02:54for the last 31 years.
02:56Fung Lu Lu
02:56Her story is proof that everything can change in one horrific instant. In 1989, Fung Lu Lu was still
03:04a little one when she was suddenly captured. She had been sold to another family and raised as their
03:09own, being fed constant stories that her parents had sold her after supposedly not being able to
03:14afford her. While she knew that she had been adopted, she wouldn't know her true identity until
03:19the 21st century, when she was found in a database. That information made it possible for her to be found
03:25and located, finally ending her lifelong ordeal. She was in her 30s by the time she met with her mother
03:30and father. But that didn't stop them from immediately embracing her.
03:34Li Jingwei
03:35While some children who are abducted at a young age have no memories of their previous lives,
03:40some are able to cling to them. Li Jingwei was ripped away from everything he knew
03:45and bought by another household. Although they gave him a new name, he never forgot his true roots.
03:51He spent his youth drawing what he remembered of his town, keeping it in his mind. He was able to rely
03:57on those memories as an adult, posting his drawing online in the hopes of gathering information.
04:01It was spread far and wide, allowing officials to eventually find his biological mom.
04:07They were able to embrace for the first time since he was a boy, bringing an end to their long
04:12nightmare.
04:13Mao Yin
04:13The feeling of being with your child one second, only for them to vanish the next,
04:18is every parent's worst fear. In 1988, that unfortunately came true for Mao Yin's father,
04:24who had been the last one to see his son before his unexpected disappearance.
04:28Yin's mother proceeded to spend the following decades attempting to get him back,
04:31no matter what. Her efforts helped dozens of other families be reunited, with no luck of her own.
04:37With the use of facial recognition software, authorities were able to eventually track him
04:42down. His identity was confirmed in 2020, allowing them to reunite. After 32 years and several
04:49families reformed, she was able to relax and finally bond with her son, Holly Klaus.
04:54Oh my goodness. I know you've run your picture.
04:58Her world was turned upside down before she could even walk. Holly Klaus was a baby when
05:03her parents were killed, and she was whisked away from the scene of the crime. Investigators
05:08had no idea she had been relocated from Texas to Arizona and raised by an unsuspecting pastor.
05:13God kept me safe and protected all these years, and I just want you to know that.
05:23Indeed, for more than 40 years, until her parents' bodies were identified,
05:28the police didn't even know there was a child missing. In 2022, they found her alive and well.
05:35She lived a full life, unaware of the horrific event that led to her adoption.
05:39She connected with her relatives for the first time as an adult.
05:42Well, we're not going to give up all the people that did this.
05:46No, ma'am.
05:46We'll find out.
05:47That's right. I promise that. One day we will. We will know.
05:52Melissa Highsmith
05:53Do you think you'll see Melissa again?
05:55As an infant, Melissa Highsmith had been left with a babysitter and subsequently stolen.
06:00She grew up believing her captor was her matriarch, and amazingly, was relocated just 10 minutes
06:06away from her true family. After years of being excessively sheltered and told she had brain damage,
06:11she eventually ran away at 15. This inadvertently put even more space between herself and her true
06:17family.
06:17We found it through her children. My mother and father submitted it to Ancestry,
06:22and three of me, and three weeks within them submitting it, we found my sister. Like,
06:28it was like boom, boom, boom.
06:29Eventually, a DNA test confirmed a link between one of her own children and her dad,
06:34allowing her to reunite with her parents. Shortly afterwards, she legally changed her name
06:39back to Melissa Highsmith, reclaiming the moniker that had once been taken from her.
06:44It is overwhelming, but at the same time, it's just the most wonderful feeling in the world.
06:50Susan Gervais
06:51What started out as a potential trip to Disney World ended in something much more insidious.
06:57In the late 1960s, a child named Susan Gervais was allowed to travel with a couple under the
07:01guise of going on vacation. That was a lie, resulting in her being transported from the United Kingdom to
07:07Canada and then Australia and New Zealand. She made it to adolescence without realizing anything
07:12was amiss. Even after learning the truth at 16, she was content to not know every detail.
07:19It wasn't until later on that she realized the reality of her situation and set out to find her
07:24birth parents. She had an answer within a half hour, enabling her to see her father again after
07:29over half a century. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to
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07:47Dolly Ann Henson
07:48She is living proof of how resilient some people can be. When Dolly Ann Henson was lured away and taken
07:54across the country as a young girl, she had no idea just how long she'd remain missing. Her birth
07:59certificate was rumored to have been changed along with her name, making it impossible to trace her
08:05origins. Although her kidnapper attempted to sour her against her family, she never lost hope. When
08:10her records were lost to a fire, it seemed like her efforts would end there. However, in 2009,
08:16she was finally able to locate and meet several relatives, including her sister. At 61,
08:22she had finally found what she had spent a lifetime searching for, allowing her to finally be at ease.
08:29Did any of these cases leave an impact on you? Let us know in the comments below.
08:33Never give up. God never gives up on us.
08:36Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
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