Orphaned twins who had not seen each other since they were nine years old have been reunited at the age of 90 thanks to DNA.
Maurilia Chávez and Andrea López were separated in 1947 when their parents died and they and their eight siblings were divided among an extended family.
Inexplicably, despite being twins, the two were not sent to the same home and grew up hundreds of miles apart, not knowing if the other was alive or dead.
They only saw each other once again, four years later, when they got back together at a family gathering for just one day. Then nothing.
The moment when orphaned twins Maurilia Chávez (right) and Andrea López (left) met again after 81 years, having not seen each other since a one-day meeting when they were nine years old.
The missing twins pose with a fraction of their extended family, many of whom met for the first time that day.
For decades they lived their own lives, married, had children and retired to different states, but the pain never left them.
Lopez, who lived in Las Vegas, took a genetic test around Thanksgiving last year and was overwhelmed when she was told her sister was alive and living in Denver.
They were soon able to catch up via an hour-long phone call, and López booked a flight for a heartwarming reunion with Chávez last December.
The family filmed the moment the long-lost twins hugged each other for the first time since they were children, crying with joy.
‘My little sister, I really wanted to see you, to have you with me, my beautiful little sister,’ López said in Spanish as they hugged.
It’s unclear exactly how they met, but thousands of Americans have They uploaded their DNA to public databases like 23andme in recent years, which helped them locate unknown relatives.
The twins were separated in 1947 when their parents (in old photographs) died and they and their eight siblings were divided among the extended family.
Lopez, who lived in Las Vegas, took a genetic test around Thanksgiving last year and was overwhelmed when she was told her sister was alive and living in Denver.
The family filmed the moment the missing twins hugged each other for the first time since they were children, crying with joy.
Chávez and López argued over who was the oldest, and López insisted that she was born six minutes before her twin.
“When I see my sister I get so happy that I do nothing but cry, hug her and crush her,” López said. News 9 months after their reunion.
‘It was like the first time I saw her in my life because 81 years is too long… I remember a little, a little, a little, me too.’
López described the moment they first heard each other’s voices, changed by time and life, after eight decades.
‘You told me ‘Are you really Andrea?’ Don’t you recognize my voice? And she said, ‘A little bit,’ and I said, ‘Well, I recognize your voice very well and I know you, my sister,’ she said.
Chávez and López argued over who was the oldest, with López insisting that she was born six minutes before her twin.
‘My little sister, I really wanted to see you, to have you with me, my beautiful little sister,’ López said in Spanish as they hugged.
The sisters wanted to spend as much time together as possible, so they slept in Chavez’s bed the night after Lopez arrived.
But Chávez only had a single bed, so López fell in the middle of the night, much to his sister’s amusement.
“I am the happiest person in the world because I never thought I would see her again and the other reason why I cry like a baby, I felt alone, I have a beautiful family but what I really need is my sister,” she said Chavez. .
Three of his brothers are still alive, all in their 80s and 90s, and the reunion of López and Chávez has sparked other reunions between them and their extended families.
A brother drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to visit Lopez, and Lopez went to Texas to visit his 95-year-old older brother.