the oldest cold case solved by genetic genealogy (as of may 2023) | the case of mary agnes moroney

in may of 1930, 2 year old mary agnes moroney was kidnapped by a woman who claimed to want to help her family as they struggled through the great depression. both of her parents died without giving up the search for their daughter. however it would be almost 100 years before her fate was uncovered and revealed to her surviving family members in 2023 thanks to genetic genealogy.

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[michelejohansen]

This is our family's story. Mary Agnes is my father's sister, my aunt. Our family is very happy to have closure and to have found new family. Thank you all for your kind words. Our family is thankful for the closure and to know she lived a very full, loved life. We are very grateful to Sgt Rodriguez and the City of Chicago, and Sheriff Tom Dart.

[carolynlogan]

Even though she did have a good life as they had wished for, her true parents lived a suffering life for the loss of their daughter. To me, that is very sad.

[jenniferbreaux]

Just bc a family is poor, it doesn't mean they love their children any less

[alisonancell]

To take someone's child like that is beyond cruel.

[tacitus]

That poor family. What a truely messed up human being. Instead of going to an orphanage she stole someone else child and put that family through hell for the rest of their lives.

[kilroywashere]

I used 23 and Me to solve a 90 yr old mystery in our family. My grandmother was adopted at birth and no one knew of her biological family. Using the 23 and Me results, I was able to match up the names and figure out the name of her biological mother and father. Unfortunately, it was too late to share the news with my grandmother, but it was nice to meet an entire family line that we didn't even know existed!

[alsidey]

I love how many cases are being solved and no matter how old cases are they are still trying to solve them.

[amandachristine]

Just because you lose a child doesn't mean you steal someone else's child!

[halseygreenhalghtanner]

Can you imagine? She died never knowing that she herself had been abducted.

[patriciasmith]

There was a teacher in my home town in Michigan who didn't recognize that people who struggled with finances could love their children. She and her husband, who was a judge, pressured poor families to give up their children. Sad. Wrong.

[randallsmerna]

I have a great, great grandfather here in The States who lost his young German wife shortly after their first child was born. In order to try to care for her, he joined the army but he had to go to basic training. He asked a young couple that were friends of his to take care of his child while he was in training. When he returned they were gone and he never found them...

[degucitas]

The step father did a good thing spilling the beans about her not being her mom's natural daughter. He probably faced anger from family members.

[rroadmap]

This type of loss reverberates through families for a lifetime. My 4-year-old cousin was killed by a drunk driver when I was a teen. All of the cousins have been affected by it and it has affected the way our children and grandchildren were raised. There is always a fear of loss. I hate that the answer came too late for the parents and child. But I definitely think it was worth the effort to solve the case.

[CityThatCannotBeCaptured]

What a hideous cruelty to put on someone who had reached out because they were suffering.

[TennesseeTrio]

My heart breaks for the biological parents! The pain they went through would last a lifetime!

[Aucht]

Thanks to Ancestry DNA I discovered who my dads birth father was. Dad was born in 1918, a WW1 baby. It took 100 years ‘til I found out who my paternal grandfather was. Too late for dad, & even though they are my 1/2 first cousins, they’re not interested in us, I was able to finally add a name to dads tree in 2018. ❤

[auroraborealis]

I’m so glad that DNA science has reached the point where families can get answers. Sometimes they’re too late for the people initially involved, but later generations know the truth.

[beelight]

How tragic and deeply sad for Mary Agnes’s parents 💔

[vanessahenry]

There was a LOT of children kidnapped from poor families by brokers posing as caring people and friends during this time. There was people who were desperate to have children that they would pay these brokers crazy sums of money NO QUESTIONS ASKED to get them babies. I knew a woman that I took care of, that we found that this happened. This kept also happening through to the second world war.

[smm]

It's horrible that this little girl was taken, but I'm glad that she was taken care of. So often these cases end with the child being murdered or abused. It's nice to know that even if she was taken away from her family that she still lived a rich life full of love.