DELAWARE — The missing pieces in Cynthia Fuller’s life are starting to come together, but she’s wondering if there’s anyone out there who can help fill in the gaps.

The former Youngstown resident is searching for information about her biological family and said she learned she was the baby abandoned at an area hospital in 1972.

That same year, The Vindicator published a story, asking for leads on the baby’s identity and followed up with another story in 1997.

“I found out I am that baby,” she said but explained her adoptive parents — James and Lorine Yancey — didn’t know much beyond the fact she was dropped off and had a torn quilt around her when she was found outside the hospital.

With the help of ancestry.com, Fuller, 51, matched with thousands of people related to her biological parents, but most of the people she’s tried to connect with aren’t talking.

Fuller, a 1990 Rayen High School graduate, lives in Delaware outside Columbus, with her husband, Dawan.

She said she didn’t think anything would turn up when she started the search in October 2021. She has a cousin on her biological father’s side who’s helped fill in some blanks but said the people she’s contacted on her biological mother’s side were mum.

She said she wonders if the circumstances of her birth were controversial for the time.

“They were probably pretty young,” she said. “I’m assuming my mom had no prenatal care.”

Fuller said she thinks her mother hid the pregnancy and wonders if she gave birth at home, given the lack of medical records.

“There’s other people who know this story and they’re not talking,” Fuller said.

What she does know is that she was born in late August 1972 and abandoned a few days later at Northside Hospital in Youngstown.

The newspaper clip said the baby was four or five days old and left on a cart at the hospital’s maternity entrance.

She went from the hospital to Mahoning County Children Services, where they listed her birthday as Aug. 25. Fuller said she believes her true birthday is a few days earlier.

Fuller said the Yanceys learned that a baby had been abandoned and they contacted the organization to express their interest in bringing her home.

At the time, her parents were older — in their early 50s — and Fuller said they were upfront with her, telling her around age 5 that she was adopted. The Yanceys already had four biological sons and another daughter, also adopted.

What Fuller is after is her true birth date and any knowledge about her biological father.

“He may still be alive and not even know he has a child out here,” she said.

Fuller is a payroll supervisor for UPS and will mark her 27th year with the company in May. She retired last year from Giant Eagle, where she was a part-time pharmacy technician.

She said she was a straight-A student in high school and a member of the National Honor Society. Fuller attended Clemson University in South Carolina for a time, before returning to Youngstown in 1992, eventually moving to Columbus in 1996.

Fuller has a stepdaughter and two grandchildren. She said her adoptive family and husband have been supportive of her decision to try and find her biological family.

The Yanceys gave her a wonderful life, Fuller said, and they provided her with everything she needed to thrive.

“They made my life exciting,” she said, explaining she “had hatred in her heart” for those who gave her up, but that she has since forgiven them.

“For me, it’s just a journey,” she said. “It’s an emotional journey.”

While it’s not something she dwells on every day, Fuller said it hits hard around her birthday and Mother’s Day.

Capt. Jason Simon, chief of detectives with Youngstown Police, said he spoke with Fuller and will continue looking through the department’s microfilm for a police report related to her case.

He also conferred with the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office but noted there’s nothing to proceed with legally if she’s able to locate her parents.

Even if there was a crime committed in relation to her case, he said, it’s well beyond the statute of limitations.

Despite this, he said he’s happy to help her in any way he can. “She wants some answers,” he said. “We get that.”

If you have any information relative to the case, call Simon from YPD at 330-742-8240.