Ultimately, she would end up adopted by a family in the United States and would spend the next 44 years of her life believing that her family had abandoned her.

But for those 44 years, Tae-soon never stopped looking for her daughter. She and her husband visited orphanages, hospitals, and government agencies. She went to the police station daily with her two younger children in tow, and she slept with Gyeong-ha’s photo under her pillow. But it got her nowhere. No one in South Korea or the surrounding islands could find her daughter.

Then, in 2019, the couple was matched through a DNA test to a nearly 50-year-old woman on the other side of the world in the U.S. named Laurie Bender.

Could Laurie be their long-lost daughter? Would she even remember them? And how had she gotten to the United States?

When mother and daughter were finally reunited over the phone, the truth began to unravel.

Listen to the latest episode of “Conceiving Crime.”

Ultimately, she would end up adopted by a family in the United States and would spend the next 44 years of her life believing that her family had abandoned her.

But for those 44 years, Tae-soon never stopped looking for her daughter. She and her husband visited orphanages, hospitals, and government agencies. She went to the police station daily with her two younger children in tow, and she slept with Gyeong-ha’s photo under her pillow. But it got her nowhere. No one in South Korea or the surrounding islands could find her daughter.

Then, in 2019, the couple was matched through a DNA test to a nearly 50-year-old woman on the other side of the world in the U.S. named Laurie Bender.

Could Laurie be their long-lost daughter? Would she even remember them? And how had she gotten to the United States?

When mother and daughter were finally reunited over the phone, the truth began to unravel.

Listen to the latest episode of “Conceiving Crime.”