She was robbed in Spain when she was a baby and, after 32 years of research, she found her family thanks to her DNA

A woman victim of the first case of robbery of babies in Spain revealed today that after 32 years of research, she had found her biological family through a US DNA bank, voluntarily donated adoption.

The discovery of the victim, Inés Madrigal, marks a turning point in her personal life and can change the only sentence handed down in Spain on thousands of cases of babies stolen from the Franco dictatorship until the 1980s, which sentenced a doctor to the pension he has acquitted of the prescription of the crimes.

Madrigal, the first victim to appear at her trial, where she claimed that Dr. Eduardo Vela had stolen her at birth, explained today that her biological family had told her that she had been given for adoption, although it was then given to his adoptive family for "outside the legal channels."

"I have already met four brothers, great people who have opened my arms and heart and made me feel in a few days that I was part of the family," said the woman. at a press conference in Madrid.

"For the first time, I have the puzzle of my life, now I know who I am and where I come from," he added.

When she gave birth in the summer of 1969, the mother of the victim was not married and social and family pressures led her to accept that her daughter be delivered to Dr Vela at San Ramón Sanatorium. from Madrid.

Madrigal has described as "triumph" the fact of having found his "real family", although the news is bittersweet because his biological mother died in 2013 at the age of 73 years.

The victim has already informed the court of his finding, which has led prosecutors to question his four biological parents, who have acknowledged the baby's "delivery for adoption".

Madrigal found her biological family thanks to an American DNA bank who put her in touch with a first cousin, who informed her that her biological brothers were also looking for her.

When she was 18 years old and believed she was his mother, Inés Pérez, she confessed to Madrigal that she had been adopted and that a priest knowing the convent, a friend of the Dr. Vela intervened.

In October 2018, after the milestone that led to the trial, the Provincial Court of Madrid acquitted the 85-year-old doctor of the crimes of unlawful detention, birth-taking and falsification of documents, of those who took him to court. found guilty, declare the facts examined prescribed.

The sentence was appealed to the Supreme Court, which has not yet been resolved.

Although Madrigal was given for adoption, the case does not discredit the existence of the practice of stealing babies used by the Franco dictatorship, which in Spain had the particularity of having been extended to the point of death. 39 at the end of the 1980s.

Thousands of cases have been reported, although 80% have been clbadified for lack of evidence, precisely because of the difficulty of victims in accessing DNA documents and tests.