Saturday, August 10, 2013

FBI reopens mystery missing baby case after man discovers from DNA that he was returned to wrong parents FIFTY YEARS AGO and was not snatched from their arms

The FBI is reopening the investigation of a missing newborn boy who disappeared from a Chicago hospital 50 years ago.
Until recently, it was believed that the case of Paul Joseph Fronczak had ended happily as a year after the baby disappeared, a boy was found abandoned on a street corner in Newark, New Jersey. He was adopted by distraught parents Dora and Chester Fronczak in 1966.
However a DNA test conducted this year revealed that the real Fronczak baby was never found and the child who Chester and Dora Fronczak took in and raised as their son is not related to them at all.
Life-changing: Paul Fronczak (left) learned from a DNA test that he is not the baby snatched from his mother's arms - even though they raised him thinking he was their own son. Pictured right, when he was found in 1965
Life-changing: Paul Fronczak (left) learned from a DNA test that he is not the baby snatched from his mother's arms - even though they raised him thinking he was their own son. Pictured right, when he was found in 1965
Life-changing: Paul Fronczak (left) learned from a DNA test that he is not the baby snatched from parents' arms - even though they raised him thinking he was their own son, pictured right, when he was found in 1965

FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday that the agency would be re-examining all the original evidence in the case.
She told the paper that it was 'lucky' that the original files had been found and said modern testing could be beneficial.
The FBI decision is the latest twist in a story that began in 1964, when a one-day-old infant named Paul Fronczak was stolen from his mother's arms in a Chicago hospital. A woman posing as a nurse took Paul from his mother as she cradled him in bed.
The woman said she needed to run tests on the baby. Instead, she walked out the door and was never seen again.
The FBI interviewed hundreds of suspects and examined 10,000 babies in their hunt for the infant who was stolen from the hospital by a deranged woman posing as a nurse.
Not their son: Chester and Dora Fronczak believed their son had been found in Newark, New Jersey, one year after he was kidnapped. In reality, the baby belonged to someone else
Not their son: Chester and Dora Fronczak believed their son had been found in Newark, New Jersey, one year after he was kidnapped. In reality, the baby belonged to someone else
One year after the abduction, a baby was found abandoned in a stroller on a street corner in Newark, New Jersey. He was made a ward of the state and named Scott McKinley.
Within days, FBI investigators began examining the infant. They ultimately concluded that the abandoned boy could be the Fronczak child.
The agents didn't have a lot of go on at the time - there was only one photograph of the one-day-old Paul Fronczak before he was kidnapped and DNA comparison was not yet available.
However, the FBI agents drew their conclusion from the fact that the New Jersey boy's ears looked the same as the kidnapped Fronczak baby.
It was good enough for Chester and Dora Fronczak. According to news reports from the time, Dora Fronczak took one look at the child and said: 'That's my baby.'
The news of the mismatched DNA has turned the Fronczak family upside down long after the kidnapped was supposedly solved. It has also raised a host of chilling, new questions.
'It has really started consuming my thoughts: "Who am I?"' Paul Fronczak, who is now 49 and lives in Henderson, Nevada, told WCBS-TV.
Paul says he has caught himself wondering how old he actually is, why his birth parents abandoned him, what is birth name was. 
'But more importantly, is the real Fronczak baby still alive?' Paul told KLAS-TV. 'Is he out there? And if he is, can we find him (and) reunite him with my mom and dad?'
Ripped from the headlines: The 1964 kidnapping from Paul Fronczak, who was taken from his mother's arms one day after he was born, made international news
Ripped from the headlines: The 1964 kidnapping from Paul Fronczak, who was taken from his mother's arms one day after he was born, made international news

Slim reference: This is the only known photo of the real Paul Fronczak, taken moments after he was born at a Chicago hospital. He was one day old when he was kidnapped
Slim reference: This is the only known photo of the real Paul Fronczak, taken moments after he was born at a Chicago hospital. He was one day old when he was kidnapped
Fronczak had a small voice in his head questioning whether he was actually related to the couple who raised him. After convincing the now-elderly Fronczaks to offer mouth swabs, he sent away for a DNA test.
As KLAS revealed last month, the result was shocking: He is not genetically related to either of his parents.
Fronczak broke the heart-wrenching news to his parents, now in their 80s, in an email.
'The DNA test results came back and it turns out that I am not your biological son; I am not the kidnapped baby that you had stolen from your arms on April 27th, 1964. 
'This means that the real Paul Joseph Fronczak may still be out there, alive, not knowing who is. 
'This also means that I do not really know who I am, how old I am, and my genetic background or heritage.'
He said he used an email to ensure he could give them all of the details at once in a way that they could understand.
Days later, he called them. They were stunned. Chester was furious that his son had dredged up such a painful truth after nearly 50 years. 
As their own: Dora Fronczak reportedly said 'That's my baby' when she saw Paul. Nearly five decades later, it was revealed that Paul belongs to a different family
As their own: Dora Fronczak reportedly said 'That's my baby' when she saw Paul. Nearly five decades later, it was revealed that Paul belongs to a different family

Discovered: This is a picture of Paul Fronczak being held by a New Jersey nurse after he was found abandoned on the street and made a ward of the state
Discovered: This is a picture of Paul Fronczak being held by a New Jersey nurse after he was found abandoned on the street and made a ward of the state
Chester and Dora never told Paul about his turbulent history. He only learned about the kidnapping when he found a box of newspaper clippings when he got older.
When he confronted his parents they told him, 'You don’t need to see that. You are our son.’
Years later, Paul moved from Chicago to Henderson, Nevada, outside Las Vegas. He started a family of his own with wife Michelle and daughter Emma.
But, as question had nagged at him ever since he found the box of newspaper articles. He didn't look Polish and Croatian like his parents. Police at the time had also expressed doubts about whether the boy from Newark was really Paul Fronczak.
They made Chester and Dora go through the adoption process because there was no proof the the child was really theirs.
One night, when his parents were visiting from Chicago, Paul bought a drug store DNA kit.
He told KLAS last month: 'I said, "Hey, have you guys ever wondered if I was yours?" You know, making a joke out of it. I said, "Hold on," I went and got the DNA kit, broke it out, and five minutes later, we were swabbing away.'
Stress: Chester and Dora Fronczak, now in their 80s, were initially furious with Paul for reopening an old wound and turning their world upside-down
Stress: Chester and Dora Fronczak, now in their 80s, were initially furious with Paul for reopening an old wound and turning their world upside-down
The Fronczak family is still grappling with the results. The technician told Paul: 'There is no remote way that you are the Fronczak's baby.'
In his email to his parents, Paul emphasized that no matter what the DNA results said, he was still their son.
'You and Dad have been wonderful parents, and have shaped me into the person I am today.  I love you both and that will be forever,' he told them.
After the initial shock that they had raised a child who was not theirs, Chester and Dora affirmed the same.
They also agreed to help Paul find out who is biological family really is.
New technology offers some promising clues. The genealogy site ancestry.com has collected a new DNA swab from Paul and offered to match his information to a database of 700,000 genetic markers across the world.
Paul's biological parents might not be included in the database, but a distant cousin could be - and that could lead Paul to finally learning who he was born as and why he was left in a stroller on a street corner.

REOPENING OLD WOUNDS: PAUL FRONCZAK REVEALS THE HEARTBREAKING NEWS TO THE COUPLE WHO RAISED HIM AS THEIR OWN

The following is an except from the email Paul Fronczak sent to his elderly parents Chester and Dora Fronczak breaking the news to them that they are not actually related to their son:
Dear Mom and Dad,

I am writing this email to you because this is something very important, and I feel that if I try to speak with you over the phone, you will not fully understand or listen.  First, I am your son, and always will be.  You and Dad have been wonderful parents, and have shaped me into the person I am today.  I love you both and that will be forever.
The DNA test results came back and it turns out that I am not your biological son; I am not the kidnapped baby that you had stolen from your arms on April 27th, 1964.  This means that the real Paul Joseph Fronczak may still be out there, alive, not knowing who is.  This also means that I do not really know who I am, how old I am, and my genetic background or heritage.
I know that this is hard for you, but this is also about me at this point in our lives.  I have been struggling with the fact that I want to know if the real Fronczak baby is still alive and what happened! I also want to find out who I am, and why I was abandoned at a Variety store in Newark, NJ back in 1965.
These questions were getting the best of me so I sent our story in to a remarkable, award winning journalist here in Las Vegas; George Knapp (do a Google search on him).  Mr. Knapp was intrigued by the story and wanted to meet with me.  We met, and spoke for awhile, and he said he would like to run a story on this national, unsolved case.  Mr. Knapp is not like the newspaper men you and dad had to deal with back in 1964; he is a professional, who has a specialty for investigative stories and reporting.
My goal for being a part of this story is based on two separate conclusions; I want to find out if the real Paul J Fronczak is alive and what happened to him; and second: to find out who I am, and what happened to me.  This is a national, unsolved case, and with today’s media and technology, we might just be able to solve this.
Wouldn’t you and Dad like to know what really happened, and who I really am?  Like I said, I love you both and you have been wonderful parents.  I am not doing this to hurt you or discredit the fabulous job you both did in raising me… This is just about finding out the truth!
I hope you and dad understand, and would like to help with this story.  I would really love for you and dad to maybe even meet with, and speak with Mr. Knapp.
CBS news is going to run the story on April 25 here in Las Vegas.  I hope that the story will then go national; that would be the only way to possibly solve this terrible crime that took place almost 50 years ago.
I hope you and dad will be with me on this, and be a part of the process.  This is very important to me, and having you and dad with me every step of the way would be the greatest thing I could hope for.
Thank you for all you have done for me in the past, and for the rest of our future together.
Your loving son,
Paul

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