After DNA testing from the FBI proved that a Michigan resident was not 1955 kidnapping victim Steven Damman, his family and the Damman family are reeling from the whirlwind of publicity and questions. John Barnes truly believed he was the Long Island toddler who had been kidnapped at age two—partly because he never thought he fit in—and even appeared with Damman's sister Pamela Sue Horne, who was seven months old during the kidnapping, on the Today show hours before the DNA results were revealed. Horne was contacted by Barnes last fall, and she submitted to a DNA test that did not rule out that they could be related. She told Newsday this morning, "It's been a very long night," and was later seen in a wheelchair. And Cheryl Barnes, who was raised alongside John Barnes, told the Times, "This is all out of nowhere. He’s always saying something, and now it’s this? Is he saying our dad is a kidnapper?" more ›

Update: The AP is reporting that DNA test results have shown that John Barnes is not the same man as the toddler kidnapped on Long Island 54 years ago. Jerry Damman, the father of the missing Stephen Damman, said to reporters, "It's too bad we had to go through all of this for actually nothing in the end." The story from earlier continues below. more ›

The man who believes to be the young boy kidnapped on Long Island over fifty years ago has come forward and talked to reporters today about piecing together his confused past. John Barnes, 54, told reporters that from childhood he never felt as though he fit in with the family that raised him. Barnes found old pictures of the two-year-old kidnapping victim, Steven Damman, and noticed a resemblance while doing online research looking for clues about his past. The News says that Barnes has a scar on his face and mole behind his right calf that suggest he is the child whose high-profile kidnapping case has baffled detectives for years. He is still awaiting an official DNA test being conducted by the FBI. more ›