After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando

After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she hadn't seen since she was a toddler.

Susan Jacobson

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 20, 2009


For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old Wisnoski sitting in her mom's lap.

The yearning to know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17 years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child with Burgos' father and stepmother while she tried to kick a drug habit.

On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found her mom — homeless and living in Orlando.

After years of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a Salvation Army shelter in Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida.

During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them.
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After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando