A Utah couple that used artificial insemination to conceive their daughter 21 years ago discovered that the sperm used did not come from the girl's father, but from a convicted felon.
The mother, whose real name was not released, decided one day to do a DNA test with her family for fun, KUTV reported Friday. When the mother viewed the results on her computer, she found out that her daughter had no genetic matches to her husband.
"I felt my stomach just drop," the mother, who KUTV named as "Paula," told KUTV. "I just though to myself, 'oh my god.' I was shaking."
KUTV named Paula's husband and daughter as "Jeff" and "Ashley."
"I said 'Jeff', you're not going to believe this it's showing that you and 'Ashley' are not related," Paula told KUTV.
Paula's insemination procedure was done at the Reproductive Medical Technologies clinic in Midvale. The couple supplied the clinic with sperm from Paula's husband Jeff. In 1992 their daughter Ashley was born.
With the DNA results she received, Paula was able to locate a relative of her daughter's biological father. The relative told Paula that her cousin, named Thomas R. Lippert, worked at the same clinic Paula used, KUTV reported.
"I remember that he was at the front desk a lot of the time," Paula told KUTV. It took several attempts for her to conceive.
Lippert, who has been dead sine 1997, was a part-time employee at the clinic from 1988 to 1993. Lippert served two years in prison for kidnapping a 21-year-old girl and using electroshock therapy to make her fall in love with him, People magazine reported in 1975.
The paternity was confirmed when Lippert's mother agreed to give a DNA sample for further testing, KUTV reported.
The clinic, which is now closed, was operated by the University of Utah. The university told KUTV in a statement that the clinic "may have prepared the AI sample," but "it is unknown how this incident might have happened."
"There are no remaining records from RMTI to prove the claim," the university's statement said.
Paula told KUTV that she remembers seeing baby pictures behind Lippert's desk.
"This was not an accident, this was intentional," she said. "All those photos of the babies that he was so proud of I thought, 'oh my go how many of those are his biological children?"
