David Kellman, Bobby Shafran, and Eddy Galland were identical triplets who were separated at birth and unknowingly adopted by different families. Their incredible and heartbreaking story gained national attention and was later documented in the 2018 film Three Identical Strangers.
In 1980, Bobby Shafran arrived at Sullivan County Community College in New York for his first day and was surprised to be warmly greeted by students who seemed to recognize him. Another student, Michael Domnitz, realized Bobby was identical to his friend, Eddy Galland, who had attended the same school the year before. The two young men soon met and were shocked to find they were long-lost identical twins.
Their story was published in a local newspaper, and soon after, David Kellman saw the article and noticed the striking resemblance between Bobby and Eddy—because he, too, looked exactly like them. He reached out, and the three young men reunited, realizing they were, in fact, triplets who had been separated at birth.
But their parents – none of whom knew that their child was a triplet – had questions for the adoption agency. But the agency simply defended the decision, claiming it was easier to place three single children to families than them all as a unit.
It wasn’t until 1994 that it was discovered that scientists had deliberately split the babies in a secret experiment, as other separated twins began to find their missing siblings.
The triplets were born in 1961 and had been placed in separate homes by the adoption agency Louise Wise Services. It was later revealed that their separation was not random but part of a secret psychological study conducted by psychiatrist Dr. Peter Neubauer. The study aimed to examine the effects of nature vs. nurture by placing identical siblings in families with different socioeconomic backgrounds—Bobby in an upper-class home, Eddy in a middle-class home, and David in a working-class home. None of the adoptive parents were informed that their child had identical siblings.
