Best friends of 17 years, Ashley Thomas and Latoya Wimberly, have just discovered that they are biological sisters.
The pair shared a lot of interests, had identical gaps in their front teeth, high cheek bones and the same complexion.
They had met once before, but it was at a birthday party in 2004, when they were young teens in Philadelphia, and remain close even 17 years after.
For many years, they even referred to themselves as sisters, in February, they learned they are exactly that — biological sisters.
“It was a puzzle, and it’s like all the pieces came together so fast,” Thomas said.
In January, when Wimberly, 29, had a party to celebrate her engagement. Thomas, 31, shared photos from the party on Facebook. Some of the photos included Wimberly’s father, Kenneth Wimberly.
While looking at the photos online, a friend of Thomas’ mother saw Kenneth and realized she knew him.
“Ashley’s mom’s best friend told her she had no idea my dad was Kenny,” Wimberly said. “She said she and Ashley’s mom used to hang around him back when they were young. When Ashley told me, I knew something didn’t click. So I asked her to send me a picture of her mom’s best friend and showed it to my dad and asked him if he recognized her.”
Kenneth immediately recognized the woman. And later, when shown a photo of Thomas’ mother, he recognized her, too. In fact, he said the two had had a brief romantic relationship.
In that moment, he also learned that Thomas did not know who her biological father was, and questioned whether it might be him.
To find out, the three decided to split the cost of a DNA test.
On February 21, the results came in confirming that Kenny was indeed Thomas’ father.
