tonight, on "20/20," a mother's day mystery. desperate people, in the search of a lifetime. >> how do you leave your child in a paper bag in an alleyway? >> just hours old, she was left by a dumpster, for a stranger to find. he was left on a front doorstep. >> as a baby this is where i was abandoned. why did you choose this house? >> she was left outside a grocery store. the "happy market." >> she left me right next to the newspapers. >> who is abandoning newborns in paper bags, all within the same square mile? and what do they have in common? have you ever seen anything like this? >> it just blew my mind. >> tonight, the news story that exploded into a national mystery.

and took 30 years to solve. >> i definitely want to get my fingers into that case. >> reporter: detective, discovering their secret bond. >> oh, give me a hus. >> reporter: you guys weren't letting go. "20/20" there every step of the way as they search for answers. good news, or bad, or the ultimate betrayal. can you handle it? >> i can, but, i just -- this breaks my heart. >> reporter: and the final twist that nobody sees coming. they have grown up and are finding each other. and are going to find you. since the day i was born. good evening, i'm elizabeth vargas. david is on assignment. as so many of you get ready for mother's day this weekend, a different way to look at it.

foundlings, an abandoned baby found by others. we're going to meet three of them, their cases unconnected -- or so we thought. tonight, a mother's day mystery that began with a baby's cry. >> i think it was a saturday morning. i ran around the corner to get some milk. >> reporter: a last-minute bike ride at dawn. 26-year-old mother of two, joann hauser, runs out to grab milk for that morning's breakfast. >> i went by the same way i usually go, and i thought i heard something like a cat. >> reporter: she detours from her morning errands, noticing a paper bag next to a dumpster. she moves in for a closer look. >> so i went over. and i looked into this bag. and there was a baby in the bag.

>> reporter: a baby. astonishingly, naked with the umbilical cord still attached. wrapped only in a towel, someone had left her there. no note, no identification, nothing. >> i picked up the bag. and i rode back lickety-split to my house. and i dialed 911. >> reporter: the local television station kabc captures this video of baby jane doe, a newborn, just hours old, in an incubator at the hospital, where the nurses hang a sign on her cradle, "i know i'm somebody the local newspaper hails the woman on the bicycle as an "angel of mercy." joann, the good samaritan, stops by the hospital every day for a week, checking up on the beautiful abandoned baby. >> she looked like a little doll. a little, tiny doll, just perfect. >> reporter: the nurses nickname

the baby "lady diana," after the princess who got married, as the world watched, four days earlier. it was 1981, foreigner's "urgent" was tearing up the charts. big hair and big money became emblematic of the go-go eighties. greed was good. but there are no gilded mansions in this unassuming, working class community of lawndale, california, clustered in the shadow of los angeles. where liquor stores dot the thoroughfares and hawthorne boulevard, where baby doe was found, held a gritty distinction back then. what's its reputation? >> prostitution. >> reporter: cece moore is a genetic genealogist whose specialty is foundlings or abandoned babies. >> initially i thought perhaps the mother was a prostitute that was working on hawthorne boulevard and really didn't have a lot of options. >> reporter: no options, because

in 1981, there were no safe haven laws, which allow parents to hand over a baby to law enforcement or hospitals, no questions asked. so who abandoned that baby? one of those call girls? or was it a teenager from the local high school just down the street? no one ever claims lawndale's baby doe. fast forward 34 years. that baby is now all grown up. >> you take this one. >> reporter: janet barnicot lives north of los angeles, about 100 miles from where she was found. after a year in foster care, janet got lucky. she was adopted. tell me about your adoptive parents. >> they found out they couldn't have children so they started to do the adoption process. >> reporter: janet has an idyllic childhood, boisterous birthday parties, dance lessons and even her own pony named crocodile dundee.

around the time she entered junior high school she starts to pepper her parents with questions about her past. >> do i have siblings? who are my parents? why was i adopted? why didn't they want me? >> reporter: the barnicots sit her down for a candid conversation. >> i just remember sitting at the kitchen table, and they had pulled out the newspaper articles about the lady who found me riding her bike. >> reporter: janet always knew she was adopted but when she found out she was abandoned, she was shaken to the core. >> i got really mad and angry and i held onto that for quite a long time. >> reporter: mad and angry at? >> at my birth mother for, you know -- it felt like she tossed me away. it was tearing me up inside and i couldn't handle it anymore. >> reporter: janet is now a

mother to her five children. >> once having my own children, you figure out what that natural, true love is. and i just couldn't understand how she didn't have that for me. >> reporter: because janet is a foundling she has no identifying information. no medical records, no birth certificate. >> it's a total blank slate as far as identity. there's no history, there's no roots. >> reporter: desperate for any clues, janet turns to that 34-year-old newspaper article and comes up with a name. that good samaritan who found her in the paper bag, joann hauser. >> she was my last connection to my birth mother. >> reporter: she uploads a picture of herself holding a sign looking for that woman on the bike. >> hi! >> reporter: and that led to this emotional, heartfelt reunion with her guardian angel in 2013, all captured on video

by a friend. >> she told me i wasn't crying, more of like a whimper. >> reporter: i imagine you also must have thanked her that day. >> oh, i did. yes. she could have just kept going. and i wouldn't be sitting here today. >> reporter: they become facebook friends and agree to stay in touch. but in terms of janet's family tree, joann is a dead end, offering no clues about janet's mysterious abandonment. >> the only other way that they can learn about their heritage and their birth family is dna. >> reporter: she sends a saliva sample to ancestry.com and almost immediately baby doe hits paydirt. a notification she has a match. >> i was like, "what? wait a minute." >> reporter: but not just any match. a match on her maternal side. it's a brother. sharing the same mother.

dean hundorf. elated, janet looks him up on facebook and staring back at her, a mirror image of herself. >> and i was like, "oh, my goodness. it's a boy version of me." >> reporter: well, that must have been a thunderbolt. i mean, to think all your life, "i will never know anything about my biological family. now, boom?" >> it was amazing. it was so great. >> reporter: when we come back, what's the bomb shell about that brother's past that could be the biggest clue yet? it's an extraordinary thing for a mother to abandon one baby. but to abandon two? stay with us. little bit ♪ ♪ there's just something about you ♪ ♪ where the pieces all fit ♪ there's a lightness that surrounds you ♪ ♪ and it guides me like a star ♪ ♪ oh i am, who i am

♪ because you are, who you are ♪ ...another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works... ...in one week. with the... fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and... ...even deep wrinkles. "one week? that definitely works!" rapid wrinkle repair. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. "see what's possible." what backache? what sore wrist? what headache? advil makes pain a distant memory. nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain? advil. has 11 intelligent driver-assist systems. it recognizes pedestrians and alerts you.

(electronic beep) (tires screeching) warns you about incoming cross-traffic. (electronic beep) (tires screeching) cameras and radar detect dangers you don't. and it can even stop by itself. so in this crash test, one thing's missing... (short screech) a crash. the 2016 e-class. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. and take an extra 20% off with your friends & family savings pass! use it on top of already great sale priced saturday early bird gifts for mom! like tek gear tops - just $9.99... a ninja blender for only $79.99... fine jewelry is 70% off... save 50% - 60% on a new handbag... or pick up a kohl's gift card. plus - everyone gets kohl's cash! so get to kohl's early saturday! kohl's. the yogurt made from your milk, is delicious.

mmmm, yoplait. choose effortless glide from side to side. choose knee-loving, underarm-caring, bikini line-bearing. choose venus swirl. with five contour blades and a flexi-ball, it pivots with every dip and divot. choose to smooth. venus swirl. of bad breath germs% for a 100% fresh mouth. with breath so fresh, it's no wonder listerine® users feel ready enough to be in a magician's act. kill 99% of bad breath germs. feel 100% in life. bring out the bold™

>> reporter: it's christmas time, 1986, in lawndale, california. the town doesn't know it yet, but someone is abandoning newborn babies. here on 149th street, a completely different nativity scene. no manger, just a doorstep. no swaddling clothes for this infant. in fact, in this 47 degree weather, no clothes. just a brown paper bag. when danny heurta takes his dog for a late night walk and stumbles on a package left on his doorstep. >> my foot hit something right here and i reached down and there was a bag. i picked it up and it felt heavy, "something's in here."

i went in the house and opened it up and it was a baby. baby boy. >> reporter: just like janet barnicot, this baby boy is just hours old, also the umbilical cord still attached, also left in a paper bag. heurta's house is just over a mile from the alley where janet barnicot was found as a baby five years earlier. once again, a local news crew captures the footage of deputy timothy cain arriving on the scene, carrying the little bundle to a local hospital. 29 years later, he remembers it like it was yesterday. >> it was extremely dark that night. it was cold. he appeared to be two or three hours old. you know, it is just a young baby and nobody there to take care of it. you wonder how somebody can leave a baby in a bag. >> reporter: flash forward 29 years. that baby is a grown-up father with his own baby boy. dean hundorf lives with his

wife, adrian, in wisconsin, he's the long-lost brother janet has found through dna. like his sister, dean was also adopted by a loving family. lots of kids who are adopted grow up with lots of questions. what were yours? >> what my ethnicity was. i was a big kid growing up. my friends thought, you know, maybe i was samoan or something like that. >> reporter: trips to the beach, happy christmas mornings, little league games -- dean had a childhood to be envied. but nevertheless, he felt incomplete. >> i always, you know, was wondering, where i came from, who my parents were. i tried to push it aside just to forget about it. but, you know, it was always there. >> reporter: when janet and dean begin to compare notes, they realize not only are they both adoptees, but unbelievably they discover they were both abandoned by the same mother. >> i said i was abandoned at birth, and i don't have any information about any of my family. and then that's when she said, well, you know, the same thing

had happened to her. i'd imagine she did the same thing i did, was like, "whoa. what's going on?" >> reporter: cece moore says the story may be a first. it's an extraordinary thing for a mother to abandon a baby. but to imagine two? >> yeah, it's hard to imagine what her circumstances must have been. >> reporter: dean flies 2,000 miles to los angeles to meet janet for the first time. it is so extraordinary for two foundlings to be related and then find each other, the local news is there to cover it. what was that like to put your arms around your sister for the first time in your life? >> it was like we had known each other forever and there was never, like, we never skipped a beat. >> it was a brother hug.

>> reporter: once again, janet's on facebook, celebrating the new bond forged by blood. but that vexing question remains -- what kind of mother abandons not one, but two babies just five years apart, and a mile away from each other. >> in a case like this, that's really unique, i definitely want to get my fingers into that case and try to do some detective work to see what i can find. >> reporter: meanwhile, dean is doing some detective work of his own. just like janet, dean feels the need to go back to the people who found him. he lands on that doorstep once again where he was orphaned. and there, another lucky break. the same family still lives there. >> come on in. >> good to see you. >> reporter: as he did 29 years ago on this stoop, danny heurta takes dean in his arms. danny also spent the last three

decades wondering what happened to him. >> this is the baby you and dad found. >> reporter: inside, dean is introduced to danny's family. >> i had a good life, but just recently i wanted to get some answers. >> reporter: and in his honor, they have a warm surprise. >> we didn't forget about your birthday. >> reporter: but as meaningful as it is to connect with the people of his past, none of them can provide any clues to dean to how or why or who abandoned him at birth. once again janet and dean have hit a brick wall. the hunt for the biological mother became the priority. how did you help them make their first breakthrough? >> so when i work with people of unknown parentage, one of the most important things is that they utilize all the resources. >> reporter: cece knows finding their birthmother is a long shot.

she believes the only way they might do it is to widen the dna net. so in addition to ancestry.com, she adds their dna to databases 23&me and familytreedna. >> that widens our pool from about a million people to about two and a half million. we call it "fishing in three ponds." and sure enough, they get a bite. >> wow. >> reporter: only not the bite their were expecting. >> i saw that they had another really close match. >> reporter: it's yet another sibling. a sister neither of them knew they had. >> and i was like, "holy cow. are you serious?" >> reporter: surely this sister has answers. she must know who their mother is. no one abandons three babies. or do they? >> when i saw that in the middle of the night, i just was knocked off my chair. i mean, literally. >> the wheels instantly started turning.

what's going on here? >> reporter: stay with us. ♪ throughout my career in bridal and fashion, i have drawn my inspiration from around the globe. jared's commitment to quality and craftsmanship has helped bring my designs to life. each hand set ring in... the vera wang love collection is my modern interpretation of timeless classics. like all the most beautiful cities around the world... the ring should take her breath away. the vera wang love collection. and now it's waiting for you... ...at jared. they keep telling me "drink more water." "exercise more." i know that. "try laxatives..." i know. believe me. it's like i've. tried. everything! my chronic constipation keeps coming back. i know that. tell me something i don't know. (vo) linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation,

or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children under 6 and it should not be given to children 6 to 17. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. the perfect brow new brow drama pomade crayon from maybelline new york. our 1st creamy, pigmented wax crayon sculpts and tames as it colors, in one easy swipe. maybelline's new brow drama pomade make it happen maybelline new york

it's like a multi-purpose piece of equipment for me. the fact that you can travel with it as a laptop and use it as a drawing tool, it's the only one i need. mastethe lindor truffle.mooth. created with passion... by the lindt master chocolatiers. a hard outer shell with a smooth center. luscious.... flowing... welcome... to the best time of your day. unwrap... ♪ unwind... experience the melt.

only the lindor truffle. from the lindt master chocolatiers. i'vand i'm doing just fine. allergies. claritin provides 24-hour relief of symptoms that can be triggered by over 200 allergens. yeah, over 200 allergens! with claritin my allergies don't come between me and victory. live claritin clear. ♪ mom. attention kmart shoppers, this mother's day, give her something else to post about. ♪

"20/20" continues, with since the day i was born. >> reporter: dna detective cece moore has been up all night. she can't get out of her head the notion that someone has been abandoning babies. she's determined to help those two now grown up half siblings janet and dean find their mystery birth mother. and at 2:00 a.m., she strikes gold. a dna match to yet a third sibling. but all she's got to go on is the woman's date of birth.

>> so i went into the california birth index, put her date of birth, and someone came up. her name was julie christine doe. that's what they use for a foundling. >> reporter: what went through your head? >> i could not believe it. we had two foundlings, now we have three foundlings. >> reporter: two is shocking enough. three is unprecedented. and although they had different fathers, all three shared the same mother. who is she? did she do this by herself? why would she abandon them? cece's research culling old newspapers reveals a familiar refrain. a baby hours old, umbilical cord still attached. wrapped in a towel. >> so julie was left at the happy market. >> reporter: it's a nice name. >> yeah. if you had to be left somewhere. >> reporter: it was in the wee hours of a january morning in 1985. this time, a delivery man, dropping off the morning papers,

discovers a baby wearing a blue jump suit. but the mystery remains. who during the '80s, would get pregnant three times, give birth three times, then put a baby in a sack and drop it for someone to find? >> i've always known i was adopted. >> reporter: julie hutchison, like the others, would be adopted into a loving home. birthday cakes, kittens and petting zoos punctuated her childhood. her fast forward, she's now 31, working as an artist living in baltimore. and how old were you, when your parents got you? >> i was a newborn, just a couple days. >> reporter: they're amazing parents? >> i don't think i would've, you know, come as far in life as i have, you know, without parents like them to guide me. >> reporter: "20/20" brings julie 2,600 miles from baltimore to l.a. to meet her biological brother and sister. >> this is a big thing. >> i hope she has our same

laugh. >> i just want to know, like, how was their life growing up adopted? >> okay, this is it. >> a little nervous. >> okay, i might cry. give me a hug. >> reporter: it's an embrace that none of them had ever dreamed of. and the connection is immediate. >> oh, we have the same laugh. >> yes. >> i know. >> three peas in a pod. they had the same sense of humor, they were cracking each other up. there is something about biological and genetic bonds that survives any sort of separation. >> reporter: with "20/20" in tow, they hop in the car, retracing the locations where they were left. w0i8d there be a pattern that could give them any clues? for dean, a random house on a residential street. >> i guess it seems kind of

busy, so maybe she thought people would see me right away. >> reporter: just a short two-minute walk down this lawndale block to where julie was found. finally, janet sees the alley where she was found. >> i don't know. kind of creepy. >> reporter: as they travel, something does become crystal clear. with each of these locations only within a mile from one another, the mother most likely lives here. could she be one of the neighbors? is she peering out from behind the curtains in one of these houses? >> lots of questions that we'll get the answers to. i'm not going to let this dumpster define who i am. >> reporter: but for all the brick walls they're hitting, cece moore's dna analysis is about to knock one down. there is another close dna match to all three kids. >> we got very lucky. we found a first cousin. >> reporter: a first cousin. on their mother's side. his name is adrian. and here's where it gets

interesting. because cece looks up adrian up on facebook, and there, she's stunned. as she scrolls down adrian's list of friends, a name this patchwork family already knows well. joanne hauser. remember her? that good samaritan who found janet while riding her bike. >> it is an extraordinary coincidence that the woman who discovered janet as a baby. >> yeah. >> reporter: is friends -- >> yes. >> reporter: -- with janet's biological cousin. >> right. so when i first looked at it, i thought, why are they friends? >> reporter: but if you do family searches as long as cece moore has, you'll know that there are far fewer coincidences than deeply buried secrets. she immediately begins to build out adrian's family tree. and she finds that adrian's mother has two sisters, and joann is one of them. making joann either the

siblings' aunt, or even more shocking, their mother. it's the conversation cece never thought she'd have to have with those three foundlings. for an already fractured family, this news may shatter them. >> all three of you have a first cousin match named adrian. adrian's mom and your mom are sisters. >> now, his mother has two full sibling sisters. and so joanne is one of them. >> wow. >> so the woman that found you is either your mother or your aunt. >> reporter: it takes a moment for the reality to sink in, especially for janet. then, an enormous sense of betrayal. joann either gave birth to them, or her sister did. and she helped her cover it up. either way, she was withholding vital information in 2013.

>> i met her, sat in her house. hugged her. it's so hard. >> reporter: i'm so sorry. >> we all had to go through this. just the fact i sat in her house is what's eating me alive. >> reporter: janet is furious and wants to confront joann. >> she's agreed to see us today. are you guys ready for this? >> yeah, i want some answers. >> reporter: a doorstep, a grocery store, a dumpster -- who left them there? their aunt? or, their mother? after a long, arduous journey, the truth is just one step away. >> it's not six degrees of separation. we're down to one. >> reporter: stay with us.

ya know, viagra helps guys with erectile dysfunction get and keep an erection. talk to your doctor about viagra. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra.

the and i'm on a mission to moreprove it's the fastest. hey big man. sorry. what is that, verizon? i bet sprint can download this book faster. no way bro. your lucky tooth necklace for anything on that trailer. i'll take the grizzly. well played. go! come on. come on. sprint wins! double or nothing. you're on. for the bike. what? the sprint lte network is now more reliable than ever. switch to sprint and save 50% on most verizon, at&t or t-mobile rate plans.

we are going to go in and talk to joann, the lady who found me. see if she can lead us in any direction.

>> reporter: joann houser's moment of reckoning has arrived. the three siblings are on their way over for a 6:30 a.m. meeting. it's a date with destiny. >> i was scared, nervous, still, i think, a little angry. but i knew we had come this far. we may as well keep going until the wheels fall off. >> reporter: racked with nerves, janet decides she should go in first. janet is finally sitting at the table with the woman who may have answers to a lifetime of questions. cece is thankfully there to break the ice. >> i've been working with janet.

there was a man named adrian, your sister's son, and he came out as janet and dean and julie's first cousin. >> ohs yeah. >> so, that leads us back to you. >> yeah. >> reporter: after more than three decades of harboring a dark secret, joann can hold it in no longer. >> i have something to say. i, today, i decided i'd better come clean. i've been living with the guilt for so long. it's just a secret i've been carrying all these years, you know? and it's probably mind-boggling, but, yeah, i did give birth to you. >> i knew it. >> yeah. >> i just want you to know i'm not mad at you. >> i'm so sorry, i'm so sorry. tthlts it's a monumental thing.

>> give me a hug. >> reporter: a 34-year-old mystery solved. joann wasn't her guardian angel. she is her birth mother. >> i know this has impacted your life and the life of the other two. >> it has, but i forgive you. i really do forgive you. >> how can you forgive me though? because i abandoned you guys, you know? >> you know what, foundlings, people that were abandoned -- what i have found is they are the most forgiving, loving people i've ever known. i'm not exaggerating. >> i suppose you would have to be, huh? >> we want you to know we're not mad at you. we love you. when she finally came clean, i could feel, like, her burden -- i could feel it and i could see it. and i just couldn't be mad at her. >> reporter: all that anger just disappeared? >> it did. i hated you. not you. but i hated you. >> yeah, i know. >> and i can't -- i can't anymore. >> reporter: janet asks about that story that's come to define her whole life. >> please tell me i wasn't in an alley. >> no, you weren't.

>> thank god. >> no, no, i just made the call and they came and i just made up a story. >> reporter: so janet was never abandoned in an alley. it was all a ruse. but what about julie and dean? they're about to come face to face with their histories, too. >> they're here and they want to meet you. >> where are they? >> outside. >> reporter: moments later, dean and julie appear at the door. >> come, come, come. >> this is julie. >> hey. >> julie, hi. >> reporter: the two children joann has not seen since they were born are reunited with their birth mother. >> as soon as i walked in there, my heart broke for her. >> reporter: why? >> this is a woman who's been through so much. i can't hate her. i just want you to know that i do love you. >> we all do. he's the quiet one. >> reporter: for dean, forgiveness comes hard. >> she just looked like a stranger to me. >> reporter: there was no flicker of recognition? >> no.

>> reporter: not like you had with your own sisters? >> no. i can't imagine it's been -- you've never forgotten about us. >> never, never. >> reporter: harboring a secret clearly had taken a toll. they're about to learn just how big. >> it's been killing me all this time, and it's killing me now. >> reporter: it's not a figure of speech. joann recently suffered both a heart attack and a stroke. the timing of it was significant. it happened just as janet, dean and julie's odyssey was playing out on facebook. and joann, a facebook friend, was watching it all. >> she watched her find julie. and dean. can you imagine if you were joann, how you must have been feeling? >> reporter: it's hard to imagine. because at this point, they, the

three babies you abandoned have grown up and are finding each other -- >> yeah. >> reporter: -- and are going to find you. >> it's all over facebook and everything. i have to have open heart surgery within a few weeks. >> the whole process from her meeting me to us finding julie, i think it just -- it really did a toll on her. >> reporter: miraculously, they've met their birth mother after endless searching. but now realizing their time with her may be limited. what were the most important questions you needed her to answer? >> does she love us? you loved us. and i'm sure -- >> i still do. i'm so sorry. >> come here. come here. >> reporter: when we come back, for the first time, the woman with a lifetime of secrets opens up to "20/20." why did she do this? how did she do this? did she have help?

stay with us. mom! fts for like tek gear tops - just $9.99... a ninja blender for only $79.99... fine jewelry is 70% off... save 50% - 60% on a new handbag... or pick up a kohl's gift card. plus - everyone gets kohl's cash! so get to kohl's early saturday! kohl's. i need to keep organized,ause anything that makes my life easier, i'm using. "hey cortana, remind me we have a play date tomorrow at noon" i need that in my world.

trying to make me eat my greens?low. no, just trying to save you some green. whaaat?! thousands of blue tags. thousands of low prices. my giant.

yeah. we love low prices. no bones about it.

[ laughter ] thousands of blue tags. thousands of low prices. my giant. >> reporter: three children have come home to a house they never grew up in and to a mother they've never met. it was so tense that when the meeting was over, they are giddy with relief. >> this is crazy. >> hug this out. >> reporter: but for joann hauser, there is no relief, just shame. weighed down by the secret she alone knew about and never spoke about until now. there are people who hear this and can sort of wrap their heads around, perhaps -- >> well, yeah. and that's why i -- >> reporter: -- doing it once. but three times? >> i didn't want to do this because i would be here with you.

and i would be on tv. and everybody's going to know, >> reporter: joann came of age in the '60s. joann dropped out of college and embraced the l.a. party scene. >> we were partying all the time, smoking pot and drinking. >> reporter: at 22 joann marries and has two boys, but the marriage quickly crumbles. joann divorces and falls back into her partying ways. and it was at one of those parties, fueled by drugs and alcohol, that janet is conceived. joann, broke, single, and unemployed, keeps the pregnancy a secret. how did you hide it, joann? >> well, i'm big. i mean, look at me. >> reporter: nobody ever said, "hey, you're looking a little -- " >> "you're looking a little heavy there." no, no. >> reporter: joann would not tell a soul. nine months later in the early hours of an august morning, she goes into labor alone in her house with her two older boys sleeping in the next room.

so what happened when you went into labor? were you afraid? >> i was terrified. i remember it was around 4:00 in the morning. and i did it by myself. i laid there and went through the labor, and then went into the bathroom and the tub and drew the warm water and laid in the warm water. and that helped. >> reporter: the reality joann never wanted to face is now staring back at her in the form of a new baby girl, four pounds, one ounce. >> i'm like, "what am i going to do? what am i going to do?" >> reporter: feeling ill-equipped to care for any more children, out of desperation joann hatches that outlandish scheme, playing good samaritan to the police. >> i remember this young guy would call me and call me a hero. >> reporter: not a hero. if they only knew the real story. >> yeah, i'm not a hero. >> reporter: you went to visit janet every day for that first week of her life in the hospital. why did you do that? >> because i wanted to see her. i was totally amazed.

yeah, she was perfect. just a tiny, little thing. i just almost didn't want to give her up, you know? i felt, if someone else had her, they could give her a better life than i could. >> reporter: four years later, still single, she finds herself pregnant yet again. why weren't you using birth control? >> stupid, crazy, not thinking, >> reporter: julie, like janet, would be born at home. her mother, with no medication, no help, cuts the umbilical cord herself. julie was born on one of your sons' birthday. >> yeah, january 19th, yeah, my oldest son. >> reporter: after you left her at the happy mart, you came back and threw a birthday party. >> yeah, i did. yeah. >> reporter: how did you do that? >> that was tough. because i was not feeling too great after i had her. >> reporter: photos from that

day capture a pale joann smiling through the pain of just giving birth and then abandoning her second child. what was going through your mind as you're celebrating the birthday of one child, having just given birth to another child and left it behind a store? >> i felt like i was the biggest hypocrite in the world, you know? >> reporter: and shockingly, it wouldn't be the last time. the very next year, joann is pregnant again with dean. for the third time she endures labor alone. delivers a son alone. and cleans up alone. >> i remember driving around with him in the car. i was like, what can i do? what am i going to do? i knew the first time he cried, they would probably open their door and find him right there. you know? >> reporter: an inconceivable act to do once, let alone three times. how much did you think about these three children? >> all the time, every day. >> reporter: and then one day,

in 2013, you find out janet is looking for you. were you excited? >> yeah, i was thrilled. it was just like, "oh, my god, there she is. and she's a grown woman." >> hi. >> hi! >> reporter: looking back, a closer examination of that reunion gives it a whole different meaning. over and over, joann pulls janet back to look at her face. >> when i look at it, i see someone who's very proud of janet. it looks like more of a motherly proudness. >> reporter: yet again, she passes up the opportunity to tell the truth. >> reporter: what is it like to live with that kind of guilt?

>> it gives them a heart attack. it's just, i'm blown away at their at their kindness. >> reporter: their forgiveness. have you forgiven yourself yet? >> i don't think i have. i don't know how i'm going to get there. everybody's encouraging me to, you know, "forgive yourself, forgive yourself." well, how do you do that? what, is there a formula for that? now i'm facing major heart surgery in a week. >> reporter: a mother, filled with remorse, trying to reconcile with the very children she abandoned now facing that dreaded operation. for the three siblings, could this be the last good-bye from their newfound birth mother? ♪ headache?

motrin helps you be an unstoppable "let's rock this" kind of mom. back pain? motrin helps you be a... "side planking, even though you'll feel it later" kind of woman. body pain? motrin helps you be an... "i can totally do this in one trip" kind of woman. when pain tries to stop you, motrin works fast to stop pain. make it happen with motrin® liquid gels. also try motrin pm to relieve pain and help you sleep. ♪ "lean on me♪ by telekinesis ♪ ♪

♪♪ mcdonald's quarter pounder with cheese seared on our grill and made with 100% real beef with no preservatives, fillers, or additives. introduces new, easy-to-swallow tablets. so now, there are more ways, for more people... to experience... complete protection from frequent heartburn. nexium 24hr. the easy-to-swallow tablet is here. thereno one i'd rather have dinner and a movie with. no one i'd rather lean on. being in love is an amazing thing. being in love with your best friend... ...is everything. the ever us two-stone ring. one diamond for your best friend... one for your true love. for the one woman in your life who's both. ever us. available at zales, jared and kay.

>> it is 5:00 in the morning and i am here at the hospital because my biological mom is having heart surgery. did you get any sleep last night? >> a little bit. >> reporter: it's time to mend a mother's broken heart. janet wonders if this hug is her last. >> i love you. >> i love you, too. >> reporter: just before she goes in to surgery, joann has one last gift for her children, the names of the men who fathered them. >> even if she made a lot of bad choices in the past, she's making good ones now. >> this is never a phone call that someone is expecting to get. >> reporter: cece coaches janet through a phone call to the father, kent. and after leaving a message, a call back. >> what do i do? >> pick up. >> hi, kent, how are you? yes, you may be my father. i actually do know who my mother is. her name is joann. were you with a woman named joann in the '80s, early '80s? >> reporter: kent truthfully

acknowledges he was with joann back then, but says he's in shock. he's just trying to take it all in. >> i couldn't imagine what you would be going through with a phone call from someone random. "hey, i'm your daughter." oh. >> reporter: but then, something unexpected. choking back tears, he tells janet he always wanted a little girl. >> bye-bye. oh, that broke my heart. he's crying. >> i know. >> reporter: a few days later father and daughter meet for the first time. >> so good to see you. i love you like my little girl. >> reporter: little did kent know he's also a grandfather. and janet wasn't the only one who got to meet her birth father. julie meets her birth father, bobby. >> nice to meet you. >> wow, you do look like my mom.

>> reporter: who immediately takes out a photo of his mother. there is a striking similarity. >> it's scary how much i look like her. >> reporter: after an afternoon of catching up on a lifetime, good-byes and promises to keep in touch. but dean's reunion with his father is not to be, at least not yet. even though dean has his name, he can't find him. could he be watching tonight? as for joann, she made it through her surgery. it's now been six weeks. now the really hard healing can begin. cece predicts joann's toughest critics will be herself, and the millions of viewers she confessed to tonight. >> she will be judged, unfortunately. i don't think that judgment helps anyone. i've learned that foundlings are the most forgiving, loving people when they grow up that i've ever met. they want that connection, and so in order to have that and foster it, you have to let go

all of that negativity. >> reporter: a recipe for redemption. a family is building their own new memories together. a first haircut for a grandson. a backyard barbecue. and a toast to a once-torn fabric now stitched together into a portrait of an american family. >> cheers. >> cheers, to family. >> cheers. >> so, you just heard cece moore talk about that judgment. how do you judge what she did? let us know, use #abc2020. thank you so much for watching tonight. i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, have a good weekend. happy mother's day, and good night. coming up on "action news" how much longer will the drearies dragon, the answer from accu weather and young

child is taken from his parents, "action news" investigates why, next. it is friday night, and a big story on "action news" tonight is a slow move away from days of dreary and rainy weather, it is not happening, without a last shot from mother nature. we are ending up, with over an in o