Man reunites with family in Jackson after 3 decades

JACKSON, Tenn. — After more than three decades, a man is reunited with his family.

“We searched for him for 34 years, and to pick him up at the airport, it’s like finding my child again, my son, one of my children,” said Uncle Jamie Richardson.

A family was filled with tears of joy after 35-year-old Andrew Richardson reunited with his loved ones in Jackson just two days ago.

“At the moment it’s very surreal and a little bit scary, but it’s really good for me,” Andrew said.

Uncle Jamie’s brother Timothy married a woman from Germany while stationed there in the early 80’s. In 1985 Timothy, his wife Jeanette and their son Andrew moved back to West Tennessee.

Timothy’s brother said Jeanette took Andrew back to Germany.

“For a period of time, we almost felt like we would never see him ever, ever in his life,” Uncle Jamie said.

A few months after Andrew’s grandfather passed away, Andrew’s wife saw his obituary online. That led Andrew to his Aunt Teressa Mehlberg on Facebook.

“He sent me a picture of my brother, who was deceased, which is the same picture I have in my house, and a picture of him as a baby,” Mehlberg said.

That’s when Mehlberg says she knew they found Andrew. Andrew is now staying with his Uncle Jamie in Jackson.

“It’s kind of like closure. Where has this child been all of his life?” Mehlberg said.

“Finally God allowed that to happen, and so we are just really grateful for that,” Uncle Jamie said.

The Richardson family has a big reunion celebration planned with Andrew over the weekend.