Paul Joseph Fronczak had always wondered if his family was really his family.
He always felt different from them. While his parents and brother were very quiet and reserved, Paul was loud and fast. Plus he didn’t look like any of his parents.
Who was Paul?
Paul Joseph Fronczak lived his formative years in Chicago with his parents, Chester and Dora Fronczak, and his brother, Dave. He was always a curious little boy that’s why, at 10 years old, he found himself in his parents’ basement, looking for Christmas gifts.
When he pushed aside a sofa to look for the presents, he discovered boxes of letters, sympathy cards, and newspaper clippings. One newspaper clipping said, “200 search for lost baby.” And another one read, “Mother asks kidnapper to return baby.”
And in the newspaper clipping, he saw a younger and distraught photo of his parents. They were distraught because their son, Paul Joseph, has been kidnapped. He quickly realized they were talking about him!
But when he ran to his mother to show him what he found, his mother scolded him for snooping and wouldn’t talk more about the news story.
Paul took it out of his mind and didn’t talk about it for decades. Until he had a child of his own.
He married his second wife in 2008 and had a daughter with her. While they were pregnant, their doctor asked for their families’ medical history and Paul realized he didn’t know.
And that’s when the conversation of his kidnapping resurfaced. He wanted to do a DNA test but needed to ask his parents to do the same.
His parents had paid him a visit and he used it as an opportunity to get their DNA samples. He did it one hour before the flight so they couldn’t back out.
At first, they agreed but when they got home, they asked Paul not to send it. He was their son, end of story, is what they said.
But something nagged at Paul to find out the truth. So he sent it out.
And when the results came, they confirmed what he suspected all along. He was not the biological son of Chester and Dora Fronczak. So who is he?
“I just felt like my life as I knew it was ended. I felt the colour drain from my face. I couldn’t think. I got all sweaty,” Paul shared. “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.”
That result would change his life and his family’s life forever.
Paul got in touch with a journalist, George Knapp, to find out who is the real Paul Joseph Fronczak. And because of this, the FBI once again opened the case to find the right child.
Chester and Dora were not happy and refused to talk to Paul.
And an organization called DNA Detectives, led by genetic genealogist, CeCe Moore, helped Paul find his own birth family.
And it wasn’t pretty. He found out his real name was Jack Rosenthal and he had a twin sister named Jill. And they were neglected by their parents. There was even an instance when his family saw the twins sitting in a cage.
Then something happened to Jill (no one knew what it was) and may have been the reason the parents tried to get rid of Jack.
“My real parents were really not very nice people. I’m thankful that they abandoned me because it allowed me to be with the Fronczaks. They saved my life,” Paul said.
Eventually, he and his adoptive parents made up and they finally told Paul what happened. But they still weren’t happy that Paul decided to write a book about their story.
“She wishes that I hadn’t been quite so open and honest about everything,” Paul explained. “But I wrote an honest book.”
They eventually did find the real Paul Joseph Fronczak but he didn’t want to be recognized publicly. And although he’s reached out to Dora, he never made any desire to get in touch with Paul/Jack.
Paul/Jack is still searching for his twin, Jill, and he’s using his book, The Foundling, and his website for any information about her.
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