For years, Claudette Gurlly lived with the certainty that she was the proud mother of two sons, Julius and Aaron. But in 2019, her world was turned upside down after a simple DNA ancestry test revealed that her family may not be what she thought it was—and that she may have a long-lost son out there in the world.
It began when her oldest son, Julius Gurlly III, took a DNA test in 2019. The results indicated that Julius had two brothers. At first, it seemed like a glitch—until the realization sank in. Claudette had only given birth twice. “There was no way I could have had three children,” she said.
The discovery gnawed at her. Eventually, she asked her husband if it was possible he had fathered another child. His response was hesitant. “It could be possible,” he admitted, “but no one ever came forward and told me anything about having a son.”
Things grew even stranger when Claudette’s younger son, Aaron, took the test himself. His results revealed something shocking: the unknown sibling was identified as his twin brother.
That led Claudette to take her own test in the fall of 2023. The results confirmed her worst fear—it showed she was the biological mother of three children. “I had only been in labor twice,” she explained, “but the test proved I had three sons. That sent my mind in a frenzy. I need to find him.”
The family scoured the ancestry site, but the only clue they found was a tag name linked to the mysterious brother: “Killthisnow.” Unfortunately, the profile had gone inactive, leaving the family with more questions than answers.
Claudette began to think back to the circumstances of Aaron’s birth on March 25, 1979, at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. She had been forced to undergo a C-section, a procedure that still haunts her.
“They gave me an epidural and sewed me up. I remember Dr. Williams was there all night with me. But the doctor who delivered wasn’t my regular doctor—it was a man named Dr. Casey,” Claudette recalled. “I believe when they opened me up, they saw two babies. They sewed me back up, and I think they took the other baby out a day or two later.”
She remembers waking up in what felt like a dream. “I opened my eyes and saw I was in an operating room. I truly believe the doctors and nurses were in on it. They told me nothing—but I believe they stole my baby.”
Her suspicions connect to a dark history surrounding Jewish Hospital, which has long been linked in community memory to rumors of stolen babies. Mothers have alleged that during the 1970s and 1980s, some babies were taken and sold on the black market, with nurses and doctors telling grieving mothers their infants had died at birth.
Now, Claudette believes she may be one of those victims. Her missing son would be 46 years old today, the same age as Aaron, born on that March day in 1979.
Adding to her conviction, Claudette recalls an encounter years ago at the Schnucks grocery store in Grandview Plaza. She spotted a man who strongly resembled her cousin Larry. “I kept looking at him, smiling. We even laughed about it for a moment,” she said. “Now I wonder if that was my son.” She has not seen him since.
Despite the uncertainty, Claudette refuses to give up. “I’m sure he is out there and would want to know about his family,” she said. “I won’t stop until I find him.”
For Claudette Gurlly, the search is far from over. What began as a simple ancestry test has become a mother’s lifelong mission—to find the child she believes was stolen from her more than four decades ago.
#StolenAtBirth #DNAReveals #MothersSearch
