At first, Maria thought her house had been broken into. However, once she realized all of her boyfriend’s belongings and IDs were missing, she knew he had already taken the little one.
Maria longed to find her son. She begged Valentine’s family to provide her with the information. But the years passed and no one could help.
Over the years, a stunned mother has clung to a single black-and-white photo of her son. He was her lifeline and he never left her.
Finally, in 2016, Maria’s luck changed.
“Detectives came to my house, and at first I was scared because I didn’t know what was going on, but then they told me they had found him. They had found Stephen,” he said. she told the San Bernardino Sun.
Found in Puebla, Mexico. Even more exciting, investigators from the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office matched Stephen’s DNA to Maria’s.
Stephen had done a DNA test thinking it would help find his father, who has since disappeared. Instead, he found his mother desperately needed to find him in California.
After 20 years apart, mother and son reunited in 2016 in San Bernardino. Stephen was able to look at his mother’s face and wipe away tears of joy.
Because he is an American citizen by birth, Stephen plans to stay in the country with his mother and get a law degree.
