Adopted woman discovers long-lost sister was living next door

[Nergal]

 

A US woman has learnt the sister she had never met was living over the fence for months.

Hillary Harris, 31, discovered through adoption records in 2012 she had a half-sibling named Dawn Johnson, Good Morning America reports.

The two women shared the same birth father, Wayne Clouse, whose obituary provided Ms Harris with a vital clue to Ms Johnson’s location.

“I learned (Johnson) was from Greenwood, Wisconsin, and was the Loyal Corn Festival Queen in the 1980s,” she told GMA.

Despite her relentless search efforts, it wasn’t until five years later when Ms Harris had a breakthrough; her husband told her a woman named Dawn from Greenwood had moved in next door to their home in the city of Eau Claire.

The 31-year-old said she “immediately” had a suspicion her new neighbour was more than that.

In a text message, Ms Harris asked Ms Johnson, 50, about her birth father, and it soon became apparent the pair were in fact family.

"(It's) still unbelievable," Ms Johnson said. "Stunned but a warm feeling of joy all at once."

Ms Harris said she loves “everything” about her half-sister, whom she rereferred to as her “missing puzzle piece”.

“We have no future plans, other than to be sisters forever."