Finding Melissa

Robert Samuels: ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — They lost their child somewhere in South Florida.

The last time her mother held her was 44 years ago, as she raced through the doors of a hospital in Homestead. Two-year-old Melisa Manlangit left in a hearse.

They buried her hastily. Her mother broke down; her father sailed with the Coast Guard and, over time, the parents lost track of where their daughter was buried.

They never received a death certificate or kept a funeral program. And as the Miami they knew vanished, so did the hope they'd ever relocate Melisa's body.