'Burger King Baby' Reunited With Mother After 27 Years - 'It's Better Than What I Thought,' Daughter Says
The woman left in a Pennsylvania Burger King has been reunited with her biological mother after an intense search and a viral campaign to find her. Katheryn Deprill was finally able to thank the woman for giving her life and for choosing to leave her someplace safe, where she would be found, rather than having an abortion or leaving her in a dumpster.
"I just want to see you," Deprill said in a message to her birth mother. "I want to say thank you for not throwing me away, literally."
Deprill was born 27 years ago and found inside the restaurant. Police searched for her mother but no leads panned out. Instead, the baby was adopted by Brenda Hollis and her family, and went on to live a happy life. But there was always a nagging and longing in Deprill's life and she wanted to finally find her birth mother to ask her questions and to say thank you.
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The two reunited in an attorney's office for the first time, and Deprill left in a state of "pure joy," she told WFMZ. "It's better than what I thought."
John Waldron, the attorney who arranged the meeting, said it was a good first step for the two who want to continue to build their relationship. According to him, Deprill's birth mother was traveling in another country when she was raped and became pregnant. To her, abortion as not an option and she kept her pregnancy a secret. When the baby was born, she left her in the Burger King.
"She left the baby in a location where the baby would be found and cared for. She kissed the baby on the forehead, Katheryn, and left," Waldron said.
She "was extremely upset that she had to leave me and it wasn't what she wanted, but she felt she had no other means," Deprill added. "She was only 17 years old. She left me somewhere she knew I'd be found. She did not want to throw me away."
