DNA kit connects Nokomis teen to distant biological brother

NOKOMIS (FOX 13) - A lot of people buy those ancestry DNA kits to find out more about their heritage and where they came from. A Sarasota County teenager who'd been adopted from Guatemala found out so much more: She learned she has a brother. And, at certain times in their lives, they'd been within miles of each other without even knowing it.

Keleigh Koeniger spends most days casting, waiting, and reeling in. The 15-year-old loves to fish. Any good angler knows that when you cast out into the open water, anything can bite. And often, the big catch is worth the wait. It's a lesson that applies to many aspects of life.

Keleigh was born in Guatemala and adopted as a baby by her parents, Jim and Leigh, who live in Nokomis. "She’s really a great kid. We’re real lucky," said Jim Koeniger.

For Christmas, Jim bought the family some Ancestry.com DNA kits. The kits sat around for a while. "And, I finally said, we’ve gotta do that," Jim said.

"You just spit in a tube, pretty much, and then you have to put this solution in it and you mix it up and send it back," Keleigh explained.

A few weeks later, they got an e-mail. Keleigh had a match -- a strong one.

"The name was Gustavo Garcia and Keleigh’s birth name is Margarita Elizabeth Rivas Garcia," Jim said.

After 15 years, Keleigh learned she had 20-year-old brother living in Chicago. Coincidentally, Garcia's adoptive mother lives in Siesta Key, which he's visited several times before. The only reason they found each other is because both, at different times, took the same test through the same website.

"It didn’t feel real at all," Keleigh said. "It still kind of doesn’t."

Over spring break, they decided to meet.

"We both weren’t ready because we know the second we actually truly met, both our lives were just changed," Keleigh said.

In the middle of a busy airport, the rest of the world stopped.

"We hugged for like two minutes nonstop," Keleigh said.

"It filled a place in her heart that she didn’t know needed to be filled. It just completed her," said Leigh.

Keleigh and Gustavo learned they have a lot in common, right down to their fingertips.

"Both of our favorite animals are birds," Keleigh said. "Our ring finger on our right hand just kind of curves in a weird way."

Before he left, Gustavo gave his little sister a necklace with a bird wing. She hasn't taken it off yet.

"It’s a new future," Jim said. "Anybody who has that box, do it. Send it in. You never know what's inside that box."

Keleigh said that she and Gustavo now communicate with each other, daily. After all, they have a lot of catching up to do. They're hoping to meet up again this summer, possibly in Chicago.