News

Actions

Chance encounter reunites Utah man with Dominican birth family

Posted at 9:40 PM, Nov 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-22 23:40:13-05

DRAPER, Utah – Chris Hinton spent the first 36 years of his life not really knowing who his biological parents are, but a strange twist of fate changed that last month.

“It’s one of those things I’ve always wondered about,” said Hinton about meeting his parents. “And then boom, it happened.”

Hinton works for the moving company "All My Sons" in Salt Lake.  He got called out to a house in Draper to give an estimate on a family’s move.

“When he was at the house, he heard me and my wife talking Spanish,” said Jose Ubiera, the customer. “He asked, ‘Hey guys, are you Dominicans?’ and we were like 'How do you know that?'”

That’s when Hinton told Ubiera that he was adopted, and that his biological family was from the Dominican Republic as well.

“It just so happens that these people were from the mountain area that I was from,” Hinton said.

Hinton is from San Jose De Las Matas, an area without many technological advancements, or medical assistance.

“If I wasn’t adopted, I probably wouldn’t have made it,” Hinton said.

As luck would have it, Ubiera’s family member happened to know a family member of Hinton’s and connected Hinton to his mother via FaceTime just a couple days later.

“She started crying, and I showed her my kids. I could tell she was just happy I was still alive and doing well.”

Hinton said he and his wife and kids plan to visit his mother and siblings down in the Dominican Republic some time in the next 6 months.