IL IL - Paul Fronczak, newborn, Chicago, 1964 + UID Male, 1, NJ, 1965

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Gardener1850 said:
Jack is the birth name of the man who was raised as Paul Fronczak. The real Paul Fronczak was abducted from the hospital at birth. 2 years later a toddler was found abandoned in NJ and the FBI could not rule out that he was the kidnapped Fronczak baby. Based mostly on a similar looking ear they presented the boy to the Fronczaks and asked if he was their son. Dora Fronczak said she believed he was her son Paul. So the Fronczak's were allowed to adopt the abandoned toddler and raised him as Paul Fronczak. In 2012 the Paul they raised did DNA tests which revealed he was not their biological son. That kicked off both a search for his real identity and a search for the real Paul Fronczak (the kidnapped baby). The man raised as Paul found out through genetic genealogy searches that his birth name was really Jack and he had a twin sister named Jill. Jill disappeared around the same time that Jack was found abandoned in NJ. We still don't know what happened to her. The real Paul (kidnapped baby) was just found alive and living in Michigan. We don't know much about his story, including what name he was raised under. You can read more about Paul/Jack's journey to find his birth identity, his sister Jill and his parent's kidnapped son on his blog devoted to the case: https://www.foundlingpaul.com/blog
He also has a facebook page: Who is Paul Fronczak?
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wait is he the adult pictured claiming to be the toddler boy pictured at the FB link?
 
LadyL said:
wait is he the adult pictured claiming to be the toddler boy pictured at the FB link?
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Yes. The toddler pictured is Jack. The man with grey hair is also Jack. Jack was believed to be the kidnapped baby back in the 60's when they didn't have DNA testing and they didn't know who he was. He was raised as Paul Fronczak as if the kidnapping never happened. He didn't even know about the kidnapping until he was 10 years old and found a newspaper clipping. His parents told him at that time that yes he was kidnapped but they found him again and brought him home and that was the end of the discussion-- he never brought it up again until 2012 when he asked his parents to do a DNA test. We have started calling him Paul/Jack since he still uses the name Paul Fronczak. He wrote a book under the name Paul Fronczak too. We don't have any photos of the real Paul Fronczak except for the one picture taken of him at the hospital on the day he was born, right before he was kidnapped by a woman posing as a nurse. The hospital did not take any footprints, finger prints or blood from baby Paul before he was kidnapped. So there was nothing to compare forensically to the found toddler Jack. The real Paul was found last year living in Michigan but the news just broke recently. He has declined to go public so far and the media decided not to publish the name he is living under.
 
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And here are some articles with the recent news update that the kidnapped baby has finally been located living in Michigan:

Chicago baby kidnapped 55 years ago reportedly found

Baby kidnapped from Chicago hospital in 1964 found living in Michigan: reports

AP was there: 1964 baby kidnapped from Chicago hospital

Baby Kidnapped From Chicago Hospital Decades Ago Found in Michigan - 9 & 10 News

Missing Child Kidnapped In The '60s Identified As Man Living Under New Identity

https://nypost.com/2019/12/19/paul-...-in-1964-found-living-under-another-identity/

If you only want to read one link, read this one: I-Team: Stolen baby case leaves pain, some closure for Paul Fronczak
(It's the station that broke the original news back in 2013 that the man raised as Paul was not the real Paul after Paul/Jack reached out one of their journalists for help finding his name and help finding his parent's kidnapped son).

They also have a video here:
 
Gardener1850 said:
Yes. The toddler pictured is Jack. The man with grey hair is also Jack. Jack was believed to be the kidnapped baby back in the 60's when they didn't have DNA testing and they didn't know who he was. He was raised as Paul Fronczak as if the kidnapping never happened. He didn't even know about the kidnapping until he was 10 years old and found a newspaper clipping. His parents told him at that time that yes he was kidnapped but they found him again and brought him home and that was the end of the discussion-- he never brought it up again until 2012 when he asked his parents to do a DNA test. We have started calling him Paul/Jack since he still uses the name Paul Fronczak. He wrote a book under the name Paul Fronczak too. We don't have any photos of the real Paul Fronczak except for the one picture taken of him at the hospital on the day he was born, right before he was kidnapped by a woman posing as a nurse. The hospital did not take any footprints, finger prints or blood from baby Paul before he was kidnapped. So there was nothinf to compare forensically to the found toddler Jack. The real Paul was found last year living in Michigan but the news just broke recently. He has declined to go public so far and the media decided not to publish the name he is living under.
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interesting cause I would not think that baby is the grown man with grey hair
thanks for all the links - I do remember the old thread being on WS but not sure I ever read much of it
 
Thank you so much @Gardener1850 for summarising the story! This will surely help those who are new to the case.

What I would like to know right now (almost more than details about the real Paul):

Is there an official missing person report for Jill? Is her disappearance being investigated? Was the disappearance of Jack and Jill even reported and investigated in ~1966?

Is LE investigating the person(s) who raised real-Paul as they are likely the kidnapper(s)?

I wish LE would talk more about these questions.
 
Gardener1850 said:
Since it doesn't look like the old thread is coming back, here are some older articles about this case to read for background:

I want to help my parents find their child: Man who turned out NOT to be missing baby from 50 years ago still doesn't know who his true identity | Daily Mail Online

Stolen at Birth: Who Is the Real Paul Fronczak?

Stolen Baby Mystery Unsolved After 50 Years

Who is Paul Joseph Fronczak, was he stolen as a baby and what did the FBI find?

I was kept in a cage as a baby, given to the wrong family and am now desperately searching for my missing sister

If you only want to read one, this BBC link from 2018 gives a pretty detailed overview of the case up to that point: The FBI said I was my parents' stolen baby
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Thanks for all the links and explanations!
When i first saw this news i was surprised that i could not find an appropriate thread to put it in, and had a hard time deciding on a thread heading for this unusual and convoluted story, so just stuck to a "KISS" title. Tangled threads!
 
dotr said:
Thanks for all the links and explanations!
When i first saw this news i was surprised that i could not find an appropriate thread to put it in, and had a hard time deciding on a thread heading for this unusual and convoluted story, so just stuck to a "KISS" title. Tangled threads!
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You did great with the title. There is going to be confusion no matter what because this is a complicated case. I wish the old thread would come back. There was so much info there including posts by the genealogist CeCe Moore who is an insider on this case. I can't remember her Websleuths username now but she was helping Paul/Jack find his birth name and helping find the real Paul. She had posted in that original thread. I don't understand why the thread was deleted. I had just posted to it a couple days ago and then suddenly it's gone. :(
 
Here is another report about the developments in this case;

Boy kidnapped in 1964 found through ancestry sites:

Moore couldn’t say why a reunion hasn’t yet happened.

Moore would not say who submitted the DNA that proved the Michigan man was the kidnapped boy. But she did say that the person wasn’t forced to submit the DNA through any legal or criminal proceedings. She said her understanding was that the motivation for sending in the DNA — as is the motivation for most people who use the DNA-service companies — was general curiosity about ancestry.

An FBI statement issued this week confirmed the investigation remains open and agents continue to pursue leads. But the statement stopped short of confirming the reports that the Michigan man was the child abducted five decades ago — first by Las Vegas television station KLAS and then by Chicago’s WGN-TV.

Another report:

Boy kidnapped in 1964 found through ancestry sites
 
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Jack, raised as Paul Fronczak, posted a statement on his blog about the real Paul being found last year: https://www.foundlingpaul.com/blog

I can't see the full statement, as when I click on "Read More" it goes blank. Anyway, between CeCe Moore, Paul Fronczak (actually born as Jack, with still missing twin Jill ) & journalist George Knapp's confirmations, it is true. It has slowly percolated through the media the last week.
 
Glaber said:
Jack, raised as Paul Fronczak, posted a statement on his blog about the real Paul being found last year: https://www.foundlingpaul.com/blog

I can't see the full statement, as when I click on "Read More" it goes blank. Anyway, between CeCe Moore, Paul Fronczak (actually born as Jack, with still missing twin Jill ) & journalist George Knapp's confirmations, it is true. It has slowly percolated through the media the last week.
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I had trouble getting it to open on the blog too, but I eventually got to it. Here is his full statement:

STATEMENT FROM PAUL FRONCZAK

December 20 2019

Hi everyone, it's Paul.

We found the real Paul Fronczak more than one year ago, in late 2018, but out of respect for his desire to remain anonymous, and respect for his family, we did not go public with the story. Nor will I go into detail about it now. I hope you understand. My main mission from the start has been to reunite my mother Dora with the child who was taken from her so many years ago. I have always kept you informed of all my progress, and I have relied greatly on your help and support, and I will continue to rely on you all. But I know what it feels like to have your life turned upside down overnight, and I feel this man and his family deserve their privacy.

Thank you, and check back soon.

Paul

https://www.foundlingpaul.com/post/statement
 
Gardener1850 said:
I had trouble getting it to open on the blog too, but I eventually got to it. Here is his full statement:

STATEMENT FROM PAUL FRONCZAK

December 20 2019

Hi everyone, it's Paul.

We found the real Paul Fronczak more than one year ago, in late 2018, but out of respect for his desire to remain anonymous, and respect for his family, we did not go public with the story. Nor will I go into detail about it now. I hope you understand. My main mission from the start has been to reunite my mother Dora with the child who was taken from her so many years ago. I have always kept you informed of all my progress, and I have relied greatly on your help and support, and I will continue to rely on you all. But I know what it feels like to have your life turned upside down overnight, and I feel this man and his family deserve their privacy.

Thank you, and check back soon.

Paul

https://www.foundlingpaul.com/post/statement
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Thank you for this Gardener!

Well to me this doesn't sound like the kidnapper herself is still in the picture. Did she sell baby Paul to an unsuspecting couple? Or did she keep him and died already?
 
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FILE - In this April 30, 1964 file photo, Chester and Dora Fronczak are pictured at a news conference in Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. Their son, Paul Joseph, was kidnapped from the hospital the day after he was born. A woman in nurse's attire took the boy from the mother's arms midway during feeding, but didn't return him to the hospital nursery. (AP Photo/LO, File)
Key dates in the 1964 abduction of Paul Joseph Fronczak
CHICAGO (AP) — Key dates in the 1964 abduction of Paul Joseph Fronczak:

APRIL 25, 1964

Paul Joseph Fronczak is born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, the son of Dora, 28, and Chester Fronczak Jr., 33. Their first child a year earlier was stillborn.

APRIL 27, 1964

A ruddy-faced woman about 40 years old posing as a nurse takes the baby from his mother’s arms as she is feeding him, saying he had to be returned to the nursery so a pediatrician could examine him. They disappear without a trace. After the abduction is discovered, police are called. A nationwide search ensues.

MARCH 8, 1965

The Fronczaks file a $1 million lawsuit against Michael Reese Hospital, saying it was negligent in permitting unauthorized people to enter the maternity section.

JULY 2, 1965

A young boy who resembles the missing Fronczak child is found abandoned in Newark, New Jersey. When the baby was abducted, police had said blood type and ear shape were about the only leads they had because the boy was a 99% perfect baby with no blemishes or birthmarks.

JUNE 1966

A lawyer for the Fronczaks and the FBI issue a statement saying that while it has not been established that the Fronczaks are the boy’s parents, neither has the fact been excluded. Reports say 10,000 children had been tested in the two years since Paul Joseph’s abduction and all others were excluded.

DECEMBER 1966

Judge James E. Murphy signs an adoption decree awarding custody of the 3-year-old foundling to the Fronczaks. However, police files on the case remain open.

JAN. 11, 1968

The Fronczaks and Michael Reese Hospital reach an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed amount.

JUNE 2013

Paul Fronczak, 49, a married father working as a college administrator in Nevada, tells the Chicago Sun-Times that DNA testing that year determined he was not the Fronczaks’ biological son. Dora Fronczak tells the newspaper: “We went through this once, and we certainly don’t want to go through this again.”

AUGUST 2013

The FBI says it is reopening its investigation into the kidnapping.

DEC. 19, 2019

Media outlets report that an adult man living in Michigan may be the abducted child.
 
rbbm.

YouTube

ABC
VIDEO.
Son Suspects ‘Welfare Queen’ May Have Stolen Baby Paul Fronczak
"Taylor died 12 years ago, but ABC News found Harbaugh living in a Chicago suburb. After looking at the hospital’s baby picture of Fronczak, Harbaugh claimed that not only did he recognize the baby, but said he used to play with the child when he was a teenager living with his mother. Harbaugh said the baby had just showed up one day.

“You know what? He had a name. But we called him Tiger,” Harbaugh said.

Taylor, Harbaugh said, was a master of disguise and could pass for white, black, Puerto Rican or Hawaiian in her schemes to collect fraudulent welfare payments. Sometimes she even posed as a doctor or nurse, he said.

“She had a room with nothing but wigs and nurse dresses and shoes,” Harbaugh said.

Baby Fronczak was stolen from his mother’s arms when a woman came into the maternity ward in the Chicago hospital and claimed a doctor wanted to see the baby. After the baby was stolen, authorities released a sketch of the mystery woman. Harbough said that except for the nose, the sketch could be showing his mother.

In the 1970s, when Linda Taylor was put on trial for welfare fraud, she actually came under investigation for stealing the Fronczak baby. A local newspaper reported that one of her ex-husbands said that one day in the mid-1960s Talyor appeared with a newborn baby, even though she was not pregnant.

Isaiah Gant, Taylor’s lawyer during her trial in the 1970s, told ABC News that Taylor never admitted anything about the stolen baby, but said he wouldn’t put it past her.

“I’m telling you, the woman was just a chameleon,” he said. “She could be anything. So I couldn’t rule out the possibility that she could be involved in something like that.”
 
jjenny said:
It sounds to me like the Fronczak parents truly believed the child that was found was Paul, and believed it for so long, it was hard for them to accept that he wasn't their biological son (if they ever accepted it).
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I think they knew he might not have been their bio son. But being given the gift of an abandoned 2 year old is a godsend, so they didn't want to question it or reject the opportunity. It was a blessing for them and the baby.
 
katydid23 said:
I think they knew he might not have been their bio son. But being given the gift of an abandoned 2 year old is a godsend, so they didn't want to question it or reject the opportunity. It was a blessing for them and the baby.
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Either believed or wanted to believe so it's the same thing pretty much. It sounds like the adopted child wanted to find out who he was, but not the parents. Was Dora ever actually reunited with the biological son? They just didn't seem to have any interest in learning that the child they raised was not their biological son, it sounds like it was very hard for them to accept.
 
jjenny said:
Either believed or wanted to believe so it's the same thing pretty much. It sounds like the adopted child wanted to find out who he was, but not the parents. Was Dora ever actually reunited with the biological son? They just didn't seem to have any interest in learning that the child they raised was not their biological son, it sounds like it was very hard for them to accept.
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It's understandable if it was hard for them to accept he wasn't theirs.

I can't imagine having my newborn stolen from the hospital, immediately after giving birth. That must have been so utterly devastating. So 2 years later, to be told by LE that they might have found your baby-----why question it at that point? It must have felt like a true miracle.

I am happy for them and their newfound baby. They needed each other.
 
jjenny said:
Either believed or wanted to believe so it's the same thing pretty much. It sounds like the adopted child wanted to find out who he was, but not the parents. Was Dora ever actually reunited with the biological son? They just didn't seem to have any interest in learning that the child they raised was not their biological son, it sounds like it was very hard for them to accept.
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BBM. No, he has not met Dora and sounds like he doesn't plan to meet her. According to this article:
"Earlier this week, a team from Chicago’s WGN TV followed the trail of breadcrumbs to a rural Michigan town, found the man, and spoke to him. He confirmed that he knew about the Fronczak mystery and that he’d been in touch with the FBI. But he said he is not ready to come forward. Nor has he made plans to reunite with the birth mother, Dora Fronczak, whose husband Chester died in 2017."
I-Team: Stolen baby case leaves pain, some closure for Paul Fronczak

How sad. :( MOO.
 
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