Oftentimes, when we have an inkling that something isn’t right in our lives, we go out to search for what’s missing. In the case of the man in the following story, he always knew something felt “off” as a child.
This story is one of identity confusion, where, for nearly his entire life, he thought he was someone who he wasn’t. Forty years later, he prompted the FBI to reopen his case, which they did, however, with answers, came new questions and an even darker mystery…
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Unexpected Christmas Surprise
Paul was 10-years-old when he went looking for hidden Christmas presents in his parents’ basement. But instead of presents, he discovered three boxes full of letters, sympathy cards and newspaper clippings, one of which had the headline: “200 Search For Stolen Baby.”
Overwhelming News
Another headline read: “Mother Asks Kidnapper To Return Baby.” Paul immediately recognized his parents in the pictures, although they looked much younger and possibly upset. Then he read that their baby had been kidnapped…
Learning About His Kidnapping
As any young child would be confused, Paul certainly was, and he thought the stories were about him. He ran upstairs with the papers and asked his mother point blank if they were written about him. His mother, Dora, angrily admitted: “Yes, you were kidnapped, we found you, we love you, and that’s all you need to know.”
Stolen As A Baby
But Paul was not satisfied and he snuck back downstairs to read more about himself. It was then that he learned how he came to be Paul Fronczak. On April 26, 1964, Dora Fronczak gave birth to a baby boy in a hospital in Chicago. She nursed her child throughout the day but the following morning, a woman dressed as a nurse came into Dora’s room…
Kidnapped From The Hospital
She told Dora that her baby needed to be examined by a doctor and she never returned. Hospital staff realized rather quickly that something had gone wrong, and a frantic search was underway. But, no one notified the Fronczaks until later that afternoon. Paul’s dad, Chester Fronczak had to leave work and go to the hospital to tell his wife that their 1-day-old baby was missing.
Chicago Manhunt
What followed was the biggest manhunt in Chicago’s history, which involved 175,000 postal workers, 200 police officers, and the FBI. Teams searched 600 homes by the end of that day but with no luck. After the kidnapping, Dora and Chester stayed in the hospital for one week awaiting any news. Then, when they returned home, despite all the publicity, there were no credible leads…
FBI Thought They’d Found The Boy
Their baby had disappeared without a trace. But two years after his disappearance, in March 1966, the Fronczaks received a letter from the FBI letting them know that a toddler had been found in Newark, New Jersey. The boy matched their son’s description and he had been abandoned in a pushchair in a shopping mall the previous July.
Staying With A Foster Family
He was placed with a foster family, the Eckerts, and they baptized him as Scott McKinley. As they contemplated adopting him, a New Jersey detective acted on his hunch that the boy might be Paul Fronczak. There wasn’t much to go on as there wasn’t any record of Paul’s blood type or his fingerprints. All FBI had to go off of was one photograph taken on the day he was born…
Reuniting With His Family?
“They ended up testing over 10,000 boys that could possibly be Paul, and I was the only one they couldn’t fully exclude,” Paul told BBC News. The Fronczaks were thrilled to hear the news and three months later, they drove from Chicago to New Jersey children’s services to meet the boy who might be their son.
They Adopted Him Immediately
At that moment, Dora could have said that she wasn’t sure and put Paul back into the system, or say that he was her son and save him from what could be a horrible life. She chose to do the later and they took Paul to Chicago and formally adopted him. Paul described them as loving, but overbearing parents…
Strict Upbringing
He was sent to Catholic school and had to abide by a strict dress code, although he liked rock music and wore his hair long. There was one instance during a mother/son spat that Dora told Paul, “I wish they’d never found you.” That stuck with Paul and even to this day he still thinks about it. But, still, he loved his mother and after graduating high school, he left home for Arizona.
Working Various Jobs
Paul worked as a bass player until his band broke up and he returned back to Chicago. Then he enlisted in the army for a year, only to come home, move around again and work in various industries from sales to modeling. Paul eventually settled in Las Vegas and married his second wife and was expecting a daughter with her. But at one of his wife’s doctors appointments, a question about Paul’s medical history made a light bulb go off in his head…
Questions Remained
He didn’t really know anything about his parents’ medical histories and ever since he found out about the kidnapping, he wondered if he was his parents’ son. He looked different from his family and didn’t resemble either of his parents. He also was the opposite of his younger brother Dave who was quiet and reserved, while Paul was loud and liked motorcycles.
DNA Test
The question began to haunt him and for years he wanted to do a DNA test with his parents. But he wasn’t unhappy in his family, he just wanted to know the truth. “I had always found a reason not to do it- I didn’t want to hurt them- but there came a point where I needed to know,” Paul told BBC News. But one day in 2012, Paul finally purchased a DNA kit…
The Moment Of Truth
Paul gathered the courage to bring the discussion up with his parents and although they were hesitant, minutes later everyone swabbed their cheeks and sealed their kits. But shortly after, his parents changed their minds. They called Paul asking him not to send off the kits, saying that he was their son and that’s the end of it. For the next few weeks, Paul kept the samples in his desk drawer, wrestling with what to do.
Unsettling News
He loved his parents and wanted to respect their wishes, but he also needed to do what he felt was right. Paul knew he couldn’t be wrong in trying to find out the truth, so he sent the samples off. A few weeks later, when he was at work, he got a phone call with the results. After answering a few security questions, Paul was told there was “no remote possibility” that he was Paul Fronczak…
Shaken By The News
At that moment, he felt like his life had ended. The color drained from his face, he got sweaty, and he didn’t even know what his real name was if it wasn’t Paul. Even more, who were his parents? “Everything I thought I knew about myself- my birthday, my medical history, being Polish, being Catholic, even being a Taurus- went out the window, and for a second I didn’t know who I was.”
Many Questions Remained
The results brought up two important questions. Who were Paul’s biological parents if they weren’t Dora and Chester Fronczak and what happened to the real Paul? Before he could even tell his parents the news, Paul called an investigative journalist for help and soon, he was a national news story once again. The Fronczaks, distraught by the news, refused to speak to Paul for over a year, although Paul admitted: “they were the most amazing parents.”
The Search Was On Again
Paul wanted to find their kidnapped child for them and he figured the best way to do that was to enlist the help of the media. Sadly, he has yet to find the real Paul Fronczak, but he has learned a lot about his own biological family. With the help of a genetic genealogist, CeCe Moore, Paul’s family was traced back to Tennessee and his DNA test also revealed he had Ashkenazi Jewish roots. However, it was months before they made their breakthrough that one of Paul’s potential relatives mentioned there were missing twins in the family.
Learning His True Identity
Paul learned he was born Jack Rosenthal and that he was six months older than he thought he was. He also had a twin sister, Jill, but like him, she had vanished. Paul met some of his relatives, who he was pleased to learn, shared similar interests to him. He learned his biological parents were not nice people and he believes that something tragic may have happened to Jill and that that may have prompted the decision to get rid of Jack, “because they couldn’t explain just one twin.” Two years after the DNA results, Paul made peace with his adoptive parents and he wrote a book called “The Foundling- the true story of a kidnapping, a family secret, and my search for the real me.” His search for more answers continues.
