In the past week, we've reported on multiple cases of human trafficking and adoptive abduction.
In all those cases, the parents have been left forelorn and forsaken, wondering where their children are.
Tonight we have a different twist on that; it is the story of a US Marine who was adopted in Belize as a newborn and now he's back home trying to find his biological parents.
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger was born in Southern Belize on December 6th., 1982 and adopted at birth, reportedly by a woman named Shelly Kellog who adopted him on behalf of the Tysingers, an American couple.
28 years later he's sailed into Belize aboard the visiting Navy Ship, the USS Gunston on regular duties, but it's also a homecoming, except he doesn't know where home is.
So, in addition to the Gunston's mission, Lance Corporal Tysinger says has his own personal mission, that is to locate his biological parents, who are from somewhere in the south.
He recruited the media to assist him in getting the word out - and we met him on the Gunston this morning. He told us he's always felt a void and now he wants to fill it - but with little or no information, he doesn't know where to start:…
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger
"Nothing was told. They knew that they lady who came down to get me - her name was Shelly Kellog and that's all I know. I didn't have a surname or anything. Nothing more than that."
Reporter
"Did she say to you whether it was from one of the villages or Punta Gorda Town itself."
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger
"I think it was from one of the villages west of PG and I was flown out of PG to Belize City and then to Miami Florida and came to Virginia in the states."
Jim McFadzean
"At what age did you realize that you were adopted?"
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger
"When I started to realize is that my skin tone was different, my foster parents are both white Caucasian but we are close nit family, it was probably when I was 4-5 years old in the states."
Jim McFadzean
"You have not any connection with Belize until this visit to Belize?"
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger
"That is correct, 28 years later. I have had no contact but I'll tell you what they've - the Belizeans have welcomed me with open arms, everybody is so friendly, it really feels like I am home. There has always been a void in my heart that I felt like I belong somewhere else or I came from somewhere else. And I have felt like I have fulfilled that void in coming back home for the first time."
Jim McFadzean
"At what age did your adoptive parents tell you that you were adopted and the reason or reasons why they adopted you and what were the circumstances which surrounded your adoption?"
Lance Corporal Philip Tysinger
"It's funny that you should ask that because it really never came up in conversations. Our family is very close; actually my brother and sister are adopted also. My mother was infertile so she couldn't have children so she adopted two more kids from San Pedro Sula, Honduras. So my brother and sister looks like me, they are Hispanic and little bit lighter but that's just how our family has been, the Tysinger's are a adopted family."
Tysinger says he harbors no ill will against his biological parents; he simply would like the pleasure of meeting them:…
Lance Corporal Tysinger
"Meeting my real parents, i have never had any contact with them; my foster parents have never told me anything about them. I have no idea how to get in touch with anybody so i have a great desire to see why I have no grudges against them or what not. America's giving me a lot. So i would like thank them for giving me the opportunity that they have given me. I don't know if they were poor or what not, but regardless, I would like to shake their hand and give them a hug."
Jim McFadzean
"Will you have some time during this trip to visit Punta Gorda or at least spend some time in trying to determine whether your biological parents are indeed from Punta Gorda?"
Lance Corporal Tysinger
"No, unfortunately, we are leaving here soon in a few days, to head back to the Americas, to the states but I would really like to spend some more time on my own accord, because my first mission is the United States Marine Corp. Can't do too much on a tax payer's dime, but i would like to when I come back on maybe vacation, or I've got a lot of phone numbers and connections since I've been here. It's amazing how welcoming everybody's been."
Tysinger says he hopes to return someday and eventually make Belize home.
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