HOUSTON — It's an extraordinary story of a family reunion like no other. Six Houston siblings got the surprise of a lifetime when they got their DNA results back.
“It started with a 23andMe DNA kit that me and my husband decided to order and do," Andrea Carnero said.
When Carnero got the results, she noticed she had a cousin she had never met.
Putting the pieces together
Carnero's aunt, Monica Limon, had a piece of paper from 23 years ago.
“I was writing down everything that he was telling me about this woman," Limon said.
They were notes from her father about a woman with which he had an affair while stationed in the Army. He knew that woman had a daughter that he never met.
“But for 30 years I was never able to find anything," Limon said.
Finally meeting
On Wednesday, Nancy Crane met her five sisters for the first time in person.
“Well turns out, their father is my father," Nancy Crane said. “He knew that he had me, but I didn’t know I had him.”
Crane grew up with her own mother and father, and only four months ago, she found out the truth.
“They’ve taken me in like I was there my whole life. It’s just unbelievable," Crane said.
More siblings
The story doesn’t stop here. There’s one more piece to complete this puzzle, and this shocked these siblings most of all.
“I swear I just lost it. I was, like, 'what?'” Virginia Castillo said.
Their father had a second affair, and in that, Joseph was born.
“They said, 'hey, not only do we have a sister, we have a brother,'" Castillo said.
Nancy and Joseph have lived 30 minutes apart in New Jersey not knowing each other their entire lives.
“I could’ve walked this earth and never knew about them and my loss," Crane said.
They'll all meet Joseph soon, but before Crane leaves town, there was one final introduction that needed to be made. She needed to meet the father she never met.
“He’s not here to greet her. And that’s what he wanted on his last days of life. He would say 'find her find her, I don’t want to leave without finding her,'" Castillo said. “I think that she will know my dad through us.”