Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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Samantha Hayes ReportingTonight, the emotional conclusion to a story that started 26 years ago when a mother and her baby girl were separated.
Separately they searched for each other, wondered about each other, worried whether they would ever meet. They did, at our airport, and Samantha Hayes was there.
That little girl is all grown up now with her own children, but she has always felt the absence of her mother. She struggled through a difficult childhood, and for so many years she has anticiapted this moment, wondered what it would be like and if her mother would feel the same way.
Shawnette: "Who am I going to find? What kind of person is she going to be? Is she even going to want to talk to me?"
They are questions a child should never have to ask.
Shawnette: "When I was little, I'd watch people and wonder, 'Is that my mom?'"
Shawnette Davis won't have to wonder anymore.
Jill Ekstrom, Utah Finders: "There was something about her that made her special. You could hear it in her voice."
Private Investigators Jill Ekstrom and Van Cannan were so moved by this story, they worked for free.
Van Cannan, Counter Strike Investigations: "I had a name to start with, and that's a challenge because women change their names, especially over this time frame."
Jill Ekstrom: "I started calling every phone number I could and crossing them off."
Shawnette: "It's not just me, a lot of people are invested in this."
It took time and effort from one more volunteer. A private investigator 800 miles away in Carlton, Oregon made that final connection.
Mike Kiger, Private Investigator, Missing Inc.: "I agreed to fit this in among my other, paying clients."
He found the address and was the first one to tell Julie Bray the news she had waited years to hear.
Mike Kiger: "I indicated to her, 'I do represent your daughter and she had been looking for you.' It did take her breath away. All of a sudden it was quiet on the other end of the line."
Julie Bray: "And that's when my heart just leaped up in my throat and I was like, oh my gosh, it's her, it's her, it's her! And I couldn't sleep and I was so excited!"
Mike Kiger: "There's no amount of money that could pay for that."
Shawnette: "I was so happy to find my mom and know she wanted me! That I had a family and a sister and all the things I used to lay in bed and dream about."
Julie Bray: "She has a huge family and she'll be taken in like she's never been gone."
Shawnette: "And it was so wonderful to find out, to find I belonged somewhere."
Julie Bray: "She's always belonged and she always will."
Shawnette: "That first hug, I honestly can't even imagine what it's going to be like or what it's going to feel like."
Julie Bray: "There's going to be tons of tears and hugging and not letting go!"
Shawnette: "To see my mother and look at her and wonder, is that my nose? Are those my ears?"
So, finally, after 26 years, mother and daughter will be able to answer all those questions. Eyewitness News flew Julie to Salt Lake City to meet Shawnette.
Shawnette: "I'll have to remind myself to breathe."
Julie: "Okay, turn around. Okay you hae your father's eyes, my nose and your grandmother's chin!"
Shawnette and Julie spent the weekend getting to know each other. They talk several times a week now and Shawnette is planning on moving her family to the Portland area when the right time comes.
