'Burger King baby' Katheryn Deprill abandoned in a toilet is reunited with mother after Facebook campaign

Ms Deprill began searching for her biological mother earlier this month by asking Facebook users to share a picture of her

Heather Saul
Wednesday 26 March 2014 15:23 GMT
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Ms Deprill became known as the Burger King baby after posting a photo on her Facebook page on 2 March where she held up a sign that read: "Looking for my birth mother. ... She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please h
Ms Deprill became known as the Burger King baby after posting a photo on her Facebook page on 2 March where she held up a sign that read: "Looking for my birth mother. ... She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please h (Facebook )

A woman who was abandoned when she was just a few hours old in a Burger King toilet has been reunited with her biological mother, after a Facebook post appealing for help was shared by users across the world.

Katheryn Deprill, 27, said she felt "pure joy" after meeting her biological mother for the first time in 27 years.

The unidentified woman resembled her so strongly it was “like I was looking in a mirror", she said.

Ms Deprill became known as the Burger King baby after posting a photo on her Facebook page on 2 March where she held up a sign that read: "Looking for my birth mother. ... She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please help me find her by sharing my post."

The photo was shared tens of thousands of times by Facebook users around the world, and news of Ms Deprill's search was widely covered by the media.

Her quest eventually caught the attention of the woman who abandoned her, and she approached Ms Deprill's lawyer John Waldron, who arranged for them to meet.

The woman alleged that as a 16-year-old, she was raped while traveling abroad and became pregnant, Mr Waldron said.

She then concealed the pregnancy from her parents and, after giving birth in her bedroom, felt she could not take her newborn to the hospital because she would have to answer questions.

Instead, she left her infant in a place where she knew the child would be found, Mr Waldron explained.

Ms Depril was adopted by Brenda and Carl Hollis and is now an emergency medical technician with three children of her own.

"I got the hug that I had wanted for the last 27 years, and that broke the ice," she told The Associated Press. "I asked if I could have it, and she said, 'absolutely,' and just held her arms open, and the rest is history."

"We are definitely going to have a relationship," she added.

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