23andMe Helps Ex-Miss Nevada Who Was Abandoned As Baby Find Biological Mom

Elizabeth Muto Hunterton documented on TikTok her journey of tracking down her biological parents, which is culminating in a reunion that's over 40 years in the making.

The 44-year-old former beauty queen, who introduces herself as "just a former Baby Jane Doe" in her TikTok bio, was abandoned as a 10-day-old baby at the gate of an airport in Nevada in January 1980. She was discovered by two pilots and was quickly adopted into a loving family in Reno, according to People.

While she was treated and loved well by her adoptive family, she felt like there were missing puzzle pieces in her life, so she decided to track down her birth parents.

A post shared by instagram

Thanks to 23andMe, she was able to connect with her biological mom for the very first time in August 2020.

This connection did not come easy, however. Before getting connected with her birth mom, she matched with three different women who were possible matches that were related to her in some distant way, only to find out later that they were not who she was looking for.

However, due to her persistence, a new connection came up, leading her to her biological mother. That month, she wrote a handwritten, two-page letter to her via email. Since then, they exchanged occasional emails, texts and holiday messages.

With their email exchanges, Elizabeth learned that her mom did not plan on leaving her at the airport.

"When I received her email, she shared that she wasn't able to take care of me as she believed I deserved. Therefore, she gave me to her roommate who was supposed to take me to an adoption agency. When my birth mother was told that I was actually left at the airport instead, it took quite a toll," Hunterton shared.

By the time they were able to communicate, COVID-19 made it difficult for them to meet in person. Now, almost four years later since they first connected with the help of 23andMe, they are finally meeting soon.

In a TikTok video the former Miss Nevada posted last week, she said she is finally meeting her biological mom in person.

"As a newborn, I was abandoned at the airport and in two and a half weeks, I'm meeting my birth mother," she told her followers.

A post shared by instagram

"I got a lot of feelings happening, probably the overarching one is fear. I'm freaking scared of what, who knows? But I think the best way for me to understand what I'm feeling and why is going to be for me to unpack the biological mother search again. So I'm gonna be doing that."

In another video, she talked about her biological father, who she discovered already passed away in 2004 before she had the chance to find him.

23andMe is a biotechnological company that helps people understand what their DNA says about their health, traits and ancestry.

They provide a kit that comes with instructions. After registering an account, forwarding a spit sample and sending it back to the lab, they will process it for analysis and interpretation.