Two women from Alberta last seen by family in the mid 1980s have been found alive, living in the United States.

(Kym Hakze,  Anna Hakze)

Police in Lethbridge says Anna and Kym Hakze were reported missing in 2003 by their mother, who had not heard from her daughters in over a decade.

Anna, now 67, was estranged from  her family and struggling financially but she and sister Kym, now 53, were inseparable and disappeared together and changed their names.

They were found earlier this year when a detective did online searches on a book written in 1984 by an author, who turned out to be one of the Hakze sisters.

One of the police officers says the sisters did not realize that they’d been reported missing.

”After so many years, it’s very unusual for a case like this to end with good news.”