DNA Tests Reveal Women Were Switched at Birth in 1964

Two 57-year-old women in Oklahoma are trying to deal with the disturbing discovery that they are not who they thought they were. Tinna Ennis and Jill Lopez discovered they had apparently been switched at birth after Ennis' 26-year-old daughter asked her to take a DNA test in the hope of finding her estranged grandfather, Daily Beast reports. Ennis says she was surprised when the results of the test from Ancestry.com came back with a list of strangers with the surname Brister, as did her daughter's results. She says when her daughter called the company's support line, a rep told her: "You know, you find out some interesting things on Ancestry."

In Ennis' case, the "interesting thing" was that she had apparently been switched at birth with Lopez at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital on May 18, 1964. Ennis' daughter tracked down Lopez online after searching for people who had been born that day—and noticing that she looked strikingly like Kathryn Jones, the women Ennis thought was her mother. DNA tests confirmed that Lopez—who had been raised by Joyce and John Brister—was Jones' biological daughter, People reports. Jones says disbelief turned to devastation after Ennis showed her a photo of Lopez that looked so much like her that Jones thought, "Where was I when that was taken? I don't remember those clothes." She says one of the worst moments was when she realized that her grandchildren—Ennis' children—were also not her biological relatives.

Ennis, Jones, and Lopez are suing the hospital, alleging recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The hospital denies the allegations. Both doctors involved died years ago, as did the Bristers, the Guardian reports. Ennis tells the Daily Beast that she sometimes struggles with feelings of jealously when she thinks about how Lopez got to know the couple she thinks of as her parents—Jones and the man she married when Ennis was two years old—as well as her biological parents. "It has not been something I would wish on anyone," she says. Ennis has three children and Lopez two, and they say they all got along well when they spent Christmas at Jones' house last year. (More switched at birth stories.)