Two Women Who “Look Similar” Have Much, Much More In Common
When Rochelle Dyer moved across the country, she left her entire family and twin sister behind. At least, that’s what she thought her new life in Virginia would unravel a 50 year long family secret that shattered everything Rochelle knew about her identity. Had Rochelle moved anywhere else in the world, this wouldn’t have happened. Had she not gotten a job at a particular school, she would have never learned about her identity. Learn the miraculous story that’s inspired and gobsmacked thousands of people across the Internet.
In 2004, Rochelle Arthur Dyer packed up her belongings to make a lifechanging move. For years, she’d worked as an elementary school teacher in Seattle, Washington. Rochelle had grown up in the city, but she decided to move across the country to Virginia Beach. In Virginia. Rochelle was leaving all her family and friends behind except for her husband.
However, Virginia Beach held a secret connection that Rochelle could never have anticipated. For Rochelle, the hardest part of leaving Washington was saying goodbye to her twin sister, Crystal Arthur Harrington. The twins had grown up together in Seattle with their adoptive parents and two younger brothers. Rochelle’s move meant that she would be separated for the first time, as close sisters do. Crystal and Rochelle kept in touch.
Although neither of them knew it at the time, Rochelle was moving to the right place at the right time. Within the next couple of years, Rochelle resettled in Virginia Beach. She successfully found a job teaching. Working as a special education assistant teacher at the Tallwood Elementary School. She divorced her husband, but also formed new friendships.
Life threw its ups and downs in this new town across the country. However, as Rochelle grew closer to her colleagues at work, she kept hearing a peculiar statement. Her coworkers swore that they had met her before at her work. Rochelle’s coworkers kept bringing up that they’d seen her face before. Of course, that couldn’t be possible since Rochelle just moved to the town.
But her colleagues assured her that she looked just like a former teacher at the school, Shannon Holly Nicholl. Shannon had worked at the school several years before Rochelle she left to work at a neighboring school, Kings Grant elementary. The staff thought the coincidence was funny and tried to unite the two. Although Michelle’s Coworkers wanted to get the lookalikes together, they didn’t organize the meeting until 2009. Michelle and Shannon met at a Kenny Chesney country concert that passed through the area.
Their friends accompanied them to the fateful meeting. When Shannon and Rochelle met, they laughed and agreed that they did look alike. Rochelle reportedly said, wow, this is kind of like looking in the mirror. The two teachers snapped a photo together to capture the moment. Although both Rochelle and Shannon agreed that the resemblance was uncanny, they thought nothing more of it.
It was pure coincidence that Rochelle’s coworkers were Shannon’s childhood friends who happened to spot a similarity. It was an exciting AHA moment, nothing more. For eight years, Rochelle moved on with her life. She remarried and had a son. She remained in education and visited Washington for holidays.
In time, however, Rochelle would understand that this was more than just a chance meeting. In 2007, genetic testing became more accessible than ever. Many of the residents of Virginia Beach were trying it out to learn about their heritage. When he learned about the test at work, Rochelle’s husband came to her with an idea. He said that they should try it.
Since Rochelle and her twin were adopted, Rochelle had always wondered about her ancestry. Since she received little information about her birth bound, she decided to go through with the test. In March 2018, Rochelle’s genetic test results arrived. Rochelle sifted through her ancestry and found her results fascinating. Of course, she shared her findings with her twin crystals.
However, Rochelle didn’t comb through the results as thoroughly as she should have. Rochelle thought that her genetic tests were a fun way to learn more about herself. In the next couple of months, Rochelle would end up returning to her tests and learning something extraordinary about herself. A while after Rochelle received her test results, the discussion of genetics swirled around her workplace. The teachers were working with students on an ancestry and genealogy project.
Everyone was discovering new things about themselves in genetic biology. While discussing the projects, the principal recommended that Rochelle should look more closely at her results. Most genetic sites compare your results to other people’s and will list any similarities online. When Rochelle revisited her test, she uncovered a link that she never anticipated. As expected, Rochelle’s ancestry website compared others DNA to the DNA that she submitted.
Once the site finds a connection, it predicts how closely related the two people are. Rochelle did locate a match with a woman named Tracy Hall. According to the test, Tracy Hall was Rochelle’s first cousin. When Rochelle contacted her, Tracy wasn’t too surprised. She had an enormous family secret that would explain Rochelle’s origins to the rest of the family.