Baby Abducted From Hospital 55 Years Ago Found Living in Michigan

News By TooFab Staff |
(Chester and Dora Fronczak) Getty

The parents were 'reunited' with the wrong baby in 1966, and raised him as their son for 46 years.

A newborn baby who was kidnapped from a Chicago hospital 55 years ago has been found living in rural Michigan.

One day after Chester and Dora Fronczak welcomed son Paul in Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital, a woman dressed as a nurse took the baby from his mother's room, saying she was going to a doctor's check up, but never returned, according to WGNTV.

For two years, the FBI conducted the largest manhunt in the city's history at the time, with the case ending after authorities found an abandoned toddler in a New Jersey mall who resembled the missing child.

"That's my baby, it's Paul!" said Dora Fronczak when she saw the boy, according to newspaper accounts at the time. The Fronczaks raised the child as their own.

But in 2012, the man known as Paul Fronczak -- who learned of the kidnapping ordeal when he was 10 -- took a DNA test, proving he was not related to the couple.

"I'd like to know who I am, my birthday, how old I am? But more important: Is the real baby alive and still out there," Paul Fronczak said in a 2014 interview with KLAS-TV. "And if it is can we find it? Can we reunite it with my mom and dad?"

Investigative journalists with WGNTV began a search to uncover the fate of the missing child, and on Wednesday, revealed they tracked down the man in a small town in Michigan.

The man -- who was not identified by WGNTV because he is a crime victim -- said the FBI contacted him a few months ago with the evidence.

He has not disclosed if he will meet with his biological mother, Dora, who lives in a Chicago suburb. She declined to comment to WGNTV. His father, Chester, died several years ago.

"I have loose ends to tie up," the man told WGNTV.

The FBI has not confirmed the man is Paul Fronczak, but FBI Chicago spokesperson Siobhan Johnson released a statement.

"Several years ago, the FBI reopened the investigation into the disappearance of Paul Joseph Fronczak. Our investigation into this matter remains ongoing as we continue to pursue all leads. We ask for privacy for the victims as we continue to investigate the facts surrounding this case."

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