VICTORIA Hill sent a DNA sample to the genomics company 23andMe in 2020 when she was experiencing health issues.
The 40-year-old hoped to decode any genetic quirks that might have been making her poorly – but what she found out was far more sinister.
In a sick twist, she learned that her mum’s fertility doctor had used his own sperm to inseminate her without her knowledge.
The truth hit Victoria: she had been born out of fertility fraud due to the twisted actions of then-School of Medicine professor Burton Caldwell.
“I view this as a form of sexual assault,”; she testified to the Connecticut General Assembly in March 2024.
When half-siblings initially popped up on Victoria’s 23andMe results, she ‘dismissed it’ as a technical fault on the app.
She was forced to address these results when a woman, who later turned out to be her half-sister, was repeatedly emailing her.
“As she continued to push, she asked, ‘did your mother go to Yale Fertility Treatment Clinic for help with fertility?’,”; Victoria recalled.
“When she said that, she got my attention because I did know that my parents struggled with fertility.
“She had my attention and then she gave me the rest of the information that this doctor – my mother’s fertility doctor – was in fact my biological father.”;
Victoria’s mum, who had been visiting twisted doctor Burton Caldwell for eight years, wasn’t the only victim – her ex-boyfriend’s mum was too.
The pair had had a romantic and sexual relationship during secondary school, but had no idea about their genetic relations.
They split but remained friends as adults, and realised their mums had attended the same clinic while discussing their family fertility dynamics over dinner one night.
There and then, he called his mum, who confirmed it was Caldwell who performed her procedures.
“We all just sat there in disbelief that this was something we were even entertaining,”; Victoria shared on .
Victoria’s ex-boyfriend then submitted a DNA sample of his own to 23andMe to confirm their suspicions.
“It just felt very surreal,”; she added. “And sure enough, within a couple of weeks, he sent me the screenshot and said, ‘you are my sister’.
“It felt like I was on The Truman Show.”;
Victoria knows of 24 of her half siblings, but believes this number will continue to grow as more people join the 23andMe DNA database.
They all live in close proximity to each other, with five of them attending the same secondary school in New England, US.
Bearing no resemblance to her own father, Victoria had always joked that she was the mailman's child.
But the suspicions became real when she had started experiencing issues that neither of her parents had.
“Growing up, there was a part of me that felt a bit different or distant,”; she recalled.
“We used to have a joke between my father and I that the only thing similar was our hands.
“In some weird ways, it kind of clicked.”;
Caldwell reportedly used his own sperm on multiple of his patients without telling them, with at least 25 children being born as a result of his sick actions.
The twisted doctor refused to speak about the shock claims publicly.
However, Victoria confronted him at his home one night after finding out that he was her biological father.
She said he showed no remorse and merely offered the excuse that he was ‘in the business of making babies’.
Shockingly, Caldwell’s actions were not illegal.
Services like 23andMe are exposing more and more fertility fraud cases and relations between people every year, making it harder to hide the truth.
New law proponents claim to be aware of at least 80 such cases.
This Morning reached out to Yale New Haven Hospital for comment but did not hear a response.
