More than 50 years after a baby was taken from a Chicago hospital by a woman dressed as a nurse, a man in rural Michigan has reportedly been identified as the missing child.
An official confirmed the news to NBC affiliate station WOOD-TV, saying the real Paul Joseph Fronczak, now 55, has been located.
The FBI would not confirm the development in the investigation, saying it “takes victim privacy very seriously.”
"Several years ago, the FBI reopened the investigation into the disappearance of Paul Joseph Fronczak,” the department wrote in a statement. “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. There is no further information at this time."
The real Paul Fronczak was abducted from Michael Reese Hospital in 1964 when a woman dressed as nurse took the baby from his parents for what she claimed was an examination by a doctor. The woman and the baby ultimately vanished and a manhunt followed.
Nearly two years later the FBI found a toddler abandoned in New Jersey and the parents of Paul Fronczak believed it was their missing son.
The child had been left outside a Newark variety store in 1965, taken to an orphanage and named Scott McKinley. But officials investigating the Chicago kidnapping case determined that the baby and the parents had the same ears.
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The Fronczaks raised the child as their own, but more than 40 years later, he took a home DNA test, which revealed he was not actually his parents’ biological son.
Genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, who worked with Paul Fonczak/Scott McKinley to find his real identity, also posted on Facebook that “the ‘real’ Paul Fronzak [sic] has been found.”
“I cannot provide more information at this time, but I will say that the power of consumer genetics gives hope for all those who have missing family members,” she wrote.
The man who was raised as Paul Fronczak did not immediately respond to NBC 5’s request for comment. WOOD-TV reports the real Paul Fronczak has been informed of his identity but was “not prepared to go public.”
