Screenshots courtesy of NBC12
An Indiana woman claims she is Brittany Renee Williams, a seven-year-old girl who disappeared in Virginia 21 years ago.
Kaylynn Stevenson told NBC12 she is William and has the DNA test results to prove it.
Williams went missing in 2000 while living at Rainbow Kids, an independent foster home in Henrico, Virginia.
Kim Parker, the woman who ran the foster home, claims she gave the little girl to two women in California. After investigators interviewed the women, they determined Parker was lying. Parker ran the foster center from her home and often took in ill or disabled children. Williams was diagnosed with AIDS and reportedly contracted the disease from her birth mother.
State attorneys claim Parker received benefits for the children in her care, but she used the funds for personal gain.
“Her Rainbow Kids operation was her entire existence,” Henrico Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Feinmel told NBC12 in a 2019 interview.
Parker was later indicted on 73 counts of fraud for stealing $24,000 in funds intended for Williams’ care. She took a plea deal and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Williams’ case went cold, and she was presumed dead since she did not have access to her AIDS medication.
Stevenson was adopted by parents who raised her in Ohio. She recently started looking for her biological family and had to rely on vague memories from her childhood. One detail that stuck with her was Williams’s last name, so she did a Google search of missing children with the last name.
“And Brittany Renee Williams’ photo popped up,” Stevenson recalled to NBC12. “I woke my wife up out of her sleep and was like, ‘This is me! I know me when I see me. This is me!’”
Ladajah Kelly, Stevenson’s wife, is also a believer.
“From the hairline to the ears, to the smile, to the chin,” said Kelly. “Even the mole on her neck… I started putting the pieces together that that was really her.”
Stevenson doesn’t have AIDS, and the date on her birth certificate doesn’t match Williams’ birthday. Her memories may not be clear, but she has scars all over her body from a catheter. Catheter marks were listed in a description of Williams.
Henrico Police and FBI agents took DNA from Stevenson to test with a sample from the only other child of Rose Marie Thompson. The investigators wouldn’t disclose the daughter’s identity, but NBC12 connected her with Anastasia McElroy, Thompson’s first daughter. McElroy said she was overcome with emotion when she saw a picture of Stevenson.
“I just started bawling and bawling,” McElroy said. “The emotion was so powerful. It kind of took over my entire spiritual being.”
The women took a DNA test on their own with Labcorp, and it stated there is a 95.83% probability Stevenson and McElroy are half-sisters. Now, they are building a relationship.
“I was actually ecstatic. She acts like a big sister,” Stevenson said. “A family member that cares… that genuinely cares. And she looks like me. And her kids look like me.”
The DNA results from the feds are still pending, but Stevenson has already embraced her new life.
“And yes. I’m going by Brittany now. I don’t want no ties to my adoptive name. That is not me,” said Stevenson.