Missing people cases have been something people read on, watched about, or heard of for so long, leaving people with the question "What happened?" Sometimes, it also gets more interesting when the missing person turns up years after their disappearance, and the mysteries get solved.Luckily, these six people were around to tell their stories. 

Brenda Heist

In 2002, this Pennsylvania mother of two was not seen by her children after dropping them off to school.

After the breakdown of her marriage, the incident took place, and she left on a whim after feeling overwhelmed. She was upset and didn't know how she would raise her children, detective Sgt. John Schofield said in a CNN report.

 The children were just eight and 12 years old at the time. For a long time, they believed their mother was killed. In 2010, the ex-husband declared her legally dead and remarried.

After 11 years, she turned herself in to Florida authorities, where she lived a homeless life for two years and did odd jobs for seven years.

Her now 19-year-old daughter Morgan told CBS Miami that, for a long time, she ached for her mother. "I wasn't mad at her. I wanted her to be there because I thought something had happened to her. I wish I had never cried," she said.

Steven Stayner

It was weeks before 1972 Christmas in Merced, California. Steven Stayner was just one of the many missing children on flyers and milk cartons from decades ago.

Seven-year-old Stayner was walking home from school when he met Kenneth Parnell. The man was said to be collecting church donations.

Parnell told him he could drive them to see his mother talk about donating, Crime Museum reported.

He leaves the car, goes to a payphone, and tells Stayner that he talked to his parents. "They no longer want you," he said to Stayner.

Parnell told Stayner that he had legal custody of him and forced the child to pretend to be his son "Dennis" for seven years. In the day, Parnell stood as his father. At night, he was the child's molester.

As Steven grew up, he couldn't bear the torture anymore. In 1980, Parnell kidnapped yet another young boy named Timmy.

That was the last straw for Stayner. He took White to town and was later known by authorities as to the missing child.

A family friend told Los Angeles Times that the Steven that returned as a "jolly kid" but also noted that it was just the exterior. The family believed he had his identity jumbled with the "Dennis Parnell" that he was to pretend for years.

Jaycee Dugard

Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped at the age of 11 in Meyers, California. For 18 years, she was forbidden to say her real name nor talk about her life.

In June 1991, she was walking to the school bus stop when a silver car snatched her from the street, an Inside Edition report said. Her stepfather, Carl Probyn, saw what happened and tried to follow but could not catch up.

A fateful day in August 2009 led to her rescue from the clutches of the husband and wife, who took her away.

For 18 years, she was abused by her kidnapper, Phillip Garrido. She was forced to raise the two children she had with him, covering up the abuse by saying she and the children were the couples.

She wrote a memoir documenting her days in the hands of Garrido.

She said in an ABC News interview that she wasn't going to let her fear ruin the lives of her children. "Do we scare our kids into never wanting to do anything, or do we prepare them for the worst in life?" she said.

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