A Detective Story Across Continents: Finding a 95-Year-Old Adoptee’s Birth Father

MNJGS hosts this amazing detective story. Since childhood, Bob Jagger has always wished to know about his biological parents. Despite a happy childhood in his adoptive family and having lived a full life, the question has always remained – ‘Who were my biological parents?” He wanted to have a history for his daughter and future generations. Now in his 90’s, he took a DNA test and discovered he is 50% Jewish. Through a process of international collaboration, extensive genealogical detective work, DNA analysis and some good luck, his birth father was identified, and Bob was united with his half-sister.

Laura Hart lives in Sydney, Australia. She migrated with her family to New Zealand as a child. She and Penelope unknowingly attended the same high school at the same time. 

Penny Douglas  lives in New Zealand. Adopted as a baby, she grew up with three adopted siblings. In 2016 Penny was gifted an Ancestry DNA kit and subsequently was found by her birth family.

Walter Elias is the immediate past president of MNJGS which he co-founded. Prior to  retiring, Walter was President of Elias and Associates, Inc., a health care consulting practice, based in Minneapolis.

Dan Kastrul has helped a number of people who were adopted discover their biological families through a combination of genealogical and DNA research, a “street smart approach” for making sense of DNA matches. He owns and operates a small corporation serving people with developmental challenges in community residential settings.

Members Free    $5 Donation recommended for non-members