Michael Seymour
Real Name: Michael Seymour
Case: Lost Father
Location: Illinois
Date: 1955
Case[]
Details: German-born Christoph Bauer is looking for his father, Michael Seymour, who was from Canada. In summer 1955, Maria Hoffman, a twenty-year-old exchange student from Germany, found work at the Hotel Moraine near Chicago, Illinois. She had spent the past year studying in the United States; she needed money for her return trip to Germany. One day, she ran into Michael, who was also in his early twenties.
They began a summer romance, a romance that she kept secret for nearly thirty years until the Spring of 1983. In the ensuing years, she had returned to Germany, married, and became a mother and grandmother. Her oldest son, Christoph, was in the Air Force. While visiting him, she made the stunning confession that the man who raised him was not his real father. His real father was, in fact, Michael.
Maria explained that during the Summer of 1955, she and Michael had fallen in love with each other. However, the affair became much more serious when she discovered that she was pregnant. She was afraid because she was in a foreign country with little money. Also, she knew that Michael did not make much income as well. In October 1955, she made the difficult decision to return to Germany to have her baby without him. They planned to get together after Christoph was born. However, she never saw him again.
Christoph was born in Germany on May 22, 1956; shortly thereafter, Maria married a college professor that would become Christoph's stepfather. After revealing the truth, she gave Christoph four letters from his father, the last written in 1958. They included two photographs of Michael. He wrote to the four return addresses on the envelopes but received no response. Government agencies in Canada and the United States had no records of Michael. Also, the Hotel Moraine had since burned to the ground.
However, Maria's cousin, who lived in Chicago, had received several phone calls from Michael. The calls continued for at least twenty years; he often asked about Maria and Christoph. In 1976, Maria's cousin moved; this was the last time anyone had contact with Michael. Sadly, in 1984, Maria passed away at the age of forty-nine.
Today, Christoph is a Captain with the German Air Force; since 1991, he has lived with his family in the United States. He still hopes to be reunited with his father. Michael's last name may actually be pronounced "Say-more". He is believed to be a native of Canada and may have worked in the advertising business.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the November 10, 1993 episode.
Results: Unresolved. Michael's family was located in Canada, but he has still not been found. Christoph was surprised to learn that the name "Michael Seymour" was an alias. His real name is "Walter Joseph Anthony Seymour". He was born on October 30, 1930, in Pembroke, Ontario. He lived in Evanston, Illinois, until at least 1970. He has also used the names Michael B. Samor and Walter Stoqua. If he is still alive, he would now be eighty-nine.
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