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Unresolved for two decades: Breakthrough in 20-year-old case

A South African woman, Lavona Solomon, was sᴇɴᴛᴇɴᴄᴇᴅ to ten years in prison for snatching a three-day-old baby from Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital in 1997.

The youngster, who had grown up believing Lavona and her husband Michael were her original parents, was distraught to learn that the lady who had reared her was now behind bars. Not only did she not have any grudges against her, but she stated that she loved her even more knowing that she raised her despite the fact that she was not her own daughter.

This devastated the girl’s biological parents, Celeste and Morne Nurse, who wished to reunite with their first-born daughter, whom they discovered 17 years after she was taken away from them.

Unresolved for two decades: Breakthrough in 20-year-old case

The true identity of the girl, Zephany Nurse, whom Lavona dubbed Miché, was only revealed after the Nurses’ second daughter, Cassidy, began attending the same school as Miché.

Many professors and students noticed the eerie likeness between the two girls .

Cassidy was sh0cked when she first noticed Miché in the school corridor. Soon after, the two girls became very close friends, even joking about being sisters in another life.

It wasn’t until they made a selfie and showed it to their parents that the Nurses began to wonder if Miché was their missing daughter.

When they discovered Miché was born on April 30, 1997, they immediately notified the authorities.

Unresolved for two decades: Breakthrough in 20-year-old case
Celeste and Zephany Nurse/ Paramount Plus

One day, Miché was summoned to the Principal’s Office. Two social workers informed her about the case of the abducted girl, which occurred 17 years ago. As the tale progressed, they informed Miché that they felt she was the same girl and requested a DNA test. Meanwhile, she was not permitted to return home to Lavorna and Michael, but was instead kept in a safe house until she turned 18 and could pick who she stayed with.

The next day, the DNA test results confirmed that Zephany and Miché were the same individual. Lavorna was detained immediately, while Michael was released after being questioned. His wife, who had been unable to conceive for years, duped him into thinking Miché was his biological daughter.

Miché and her birth parents’ reunion was not a simple procedure. Miché, unfortunately, had no feelings for them, but she felt sad for the woman who kidnapped her.

She eventually came to accept Celeste and Morne, but she never forgot her upbringing. She was upset because she still thought Michael was her father. Lavorna received a jail sentence.

Unresolved for two decades: Breakthrough in 20-year-old case
Zephany/ Miché / Paramount Plus

In the documentary Girl, Taken, the Nurses and Miché discuss their emotions and how the truth affected their lives.

Morne described the moment he met his first-born daughter after 17 years: “It was like ‘wow.’” I experienced goosebumps, and talking about it today feels like it occurred yesterday.

“And that same feeling when we did the documentary arose from down deep inside of me, it felt like that day I first met her.”

Miché admitted in the documentary that discovering the truth made her love Solomon even more, surprising the Nurses.

Miché is now a mother herself. Morne claims that his and his wife’s connection with Miché and their grandchild is “good.”

“I don’t think we’ll ever be where we need to be and I think it’s going to take a lot of years for us to have our daughter where we need to have her. Finding a daughter at the age of 17, it’s not an easy thing.”

The good thing is that they are working on their relationship and can picture a future together.

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The post Unresolved for two decades: Breakthrough in 20-year-old case appeared first on Timeless Life.