In this KARAMO interview, 39‑year‑old Abdul shares his lifelong quest to locate his biological father, Michael Evans, using Ancestry.com and a DNA test. The conversation reveals Abdul’s upbringing without a father, his involvement with the criminal element, and his eventual discovery of Michael through a distant cousin’s message and a Facebook outreach. Tomika, who believes she may be Abdul’s sister, expresses skepticism and demands proof, questioning the reliability of genealogy DNA results. Michael Evans recounts his surprise at learning he might have a son, recalling a brief past encounter with Abdul’s mother but never knowing about Abdul. The group discusses the emotional impact of the DNA confirmation that Michael is indeed Abdul’s father, the complexities of family dynamics, and the need for healing, listening, and apologies. The episode ends with a hopeful tone as the family embraces the newfound connection while acknowledging lingering pain and the work required to rebuild relationships.
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Today we have a 39-year-old DNA mystery. Abdul has been trying to find a man named Michael Evans his entire life. Michael is the man he believes to be his father. Just a few months ago, Abdul found Michael and is confident that the mystery has been solved. But Abdul's alleged sister Tomika has her doubts, okay? She's like, mm-mm, and feels like the mystery is only beginning. Everyone, please help me welcome Abdul to the show.
Hey Abdul, how you doing, man?
Hey brother, how you doing?
All right.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you.
This is a long time coming. How many years?
39.
Oh my gosh.
39 years.
So what did you know about your father growing up?
Nothing. His name, You know, I kind of doubted if that was his name. It was so Michael Evans.
Yeah.
You know, so I didn't know much. My mom, she, you know, didn't have much information for me. I tried to do book reports. Hey mom, I'm doing family tree. I need some information.
Just digging and trying to find something.
Just anything.
What was life like without him?
Well, you know—
Without having a father?
It is a void that you had and you try to fill it with things. It takes you places unsupervised, you know, with a single mother.
Yeah.
So you end up getting into the mix with maybe the wrong people, you know? So it took a while to get outta that influence and back on a positive road.
Makes sense. Were you close to your mom's family?
Oh, absolutely. You know, my mom, you know, come from a nice loving family.
Is that your mom right there?
Yeah, that's my mom.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and my family, they never let me know it. You know, my grandmom, she's so awesome. I never knew people had two grandmoms till I was in high school, 11th grade.
Wow, makes sense.
My best friend said he had two grandmas. I said, "Wow, you got two?
Dang." So you said like, you know, people without their fathers get caught up. Did you get caught up in stuff?
Yeah, you know, I got caught up. I went down a little path where I, you know, got involved in the criminal element and, you know, I did my time and I came home and, you know, started to rebuild my life. So this is a nice addition. Yeah.
Good job. 'Cause that's hard and I'm proud of you for that. So I wanna know, how did you start looking for Michael?
Well, it was ancestry.com.
Okay.
You know, I put a little thing in there, filled out my information, and I got a distant cousin, you know, that wasn't on my recognized family tree. So it led to some mysteries. We started messaging each other, and the messages, I didn't have too much information. There's nothing she could pull on. So the conversation really died. And right before I stopped using the app, she messaged me like, "I found your dad." [Speaker:KARAMO] Wow. [Speaker] You know, and I didn't see that message. And that message must have came in like December. And the message actually had my dad's name, his phone number. If I had read it, I would've connected with him.
[Speaker] Wow.
[Speaker] And so we went some time and then April Fools, He reached out on Facebook and messaged me. He said, "Heard we might be related." Wow. You know, so that was like April Fools. I didn't know how to take it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. You're like, "You punking me right now?" Yeah.
You know, but my mom, she confirmed it. You know, she seen his profile picture and he had one from back in the day and she was like, That's him.
So I know y'all met for the first time on Father's Day.
Yep.
Why that day?
Well, again, you know, we April Fools, so Father's Day was coming up soon and I'm like, wow, this might really be my dad. And I don't wanna go another Father's Day without my father.
Oh wow.
So, you know, I live in PA. Yeah. And he lives in Louisiana. So, you know, I got the rental and we road tripped it.
Wow. So how did it feel when you finally met him?
Oh man, it was like looking in the mirror.
Your potential sister's here who you've never met before.
Right.
My God. So before we meet her, I want you to take a look at what she said.
I really can't believe that I possibly have a brother that I haven't known about for almost 40 years. My family's so convinced that Abdul is my brother, but I need proof at this point. I just need everybody to chill. Just because someone takes a genealogy DNA test doesn't mean that it proves the exact relationship. I don't know anything about this man Abdul. What's his story? Where did he come from? My father has a very common name. I'm sure there were a lot of Michaels in the military. I just can't believe that I could have had a brother that I have known nothing about for almost 40 years. I'm a mother. I could never imagine letting my kids grow up without knowing who their father is or their family. And if my dad actually knew about him and didn't say anything, I'd truly be devastated. This has gone on way too long. It is time for the truth to come out one way or another. 39 years. That we've missed on being able to develop a relationship.
If he's your brother?
Correct. I mean, you know, I'm the product of, you know, him and my mom were high school sweethearts. I'm thinking too, like, I'm doing the math. You and my mom broke up when I was 3. He's a year younger than me. And then I have another brother that's like a year and a half younger than me.
Oh wow. So dad was getting around.
That was busy.
So I'm like, did my mom mean anything to him?
Yes, it totally destroys the other relationship. But Abdul, for you, I know that you're staying close. Tomika still has doubts. She has doubts. How does that make you feel?
I mean, I just wanna love 'em away, you know? And if the test can help.
That's actually really sweet. I wanna love 'em away. Wow, I like that. Well listen, I think there's somebody that we need to bring in here, which is Michael, your potential father. So everyone, please help me welcome Michael to the show. Hey, you smooth. How you doing now?
How you doing?
I'm good, good, good. So Michael, you said that the news about finding out about Abdul was a bombshell to you. Talk about that moment.
I was in Florida, and I had a first cousin call me, and she said, hey. What are you doing? And I said, well, I'm chilling.
Yeah.
And she was like, are you sitting down? And I was like, for what? She said, I have some news. So, man, you know, actually I thought somebody died. She said, uh, you may have a son. I'm like, how I get a son? I mean, what happened?
You know, so it's like, and, and I'm married, so I'm like So did you know about Abdul at all before he showed up on your doorstep 3 months ago or a few months ago? Never. Never?
Never had an inkling. I was in Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Mm-hmm.
I met his mom one time before, but there was no verbal interaction. We was all at somebody's house, military, playing cards, drinking, and just, Me and my girlfriend kind of got into it, and I was like, OK, I'm just going to the club. You know, it's the weekend. And I ran into his mom again. And we conversed. We danced. We drank.
We know where this is going. No date.
And we made a dope decision that we was going to leave together.
Yeah.
One thing led into another and now it's here.
Yeah.
But you know, I hurt my daughter. I'm sorry. I, when I finally talked to my daughter, she said, Dad, you've been cheating on my mom. Mm. Not only once, but his mom too, you know? And I heard her.
Mm-mm.
And when I first answered the phone, and there was this burst of energy coming through the phone, "Hey, Dad!" And I was like, mm.
Yeah, you were hesitant.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, I never met him. I never saw him. And for him to call me dad, I didn't know how to respond. I really didn't.
That's what I was gonna say though. Like, hey Mike.
Yeah. Well, I mean, I've said it here, like even though you've embraced this, we really don't know if this is your father. You know what I mean? And so I can understand those feelings. Like, were you uncomfortable by hearing him say dad?
Yes, it threw me off.
Yeah.
But are you sure you didn't know about him?
No, I didn't know about him. No, I didn't know.
I wanna talk to your mother. She's in the audience. Wallah. Okay. So Wallah, I gotta ask you immediately. We just heard you say that. Did Michael actually meet Abdul when he was younger?
Yes.
Did he hold him?
Yes.
So he knew about Abdul The entire time.
So I didn't know who his father was. So that could be his interpretation of not knowing.
But you did tell him, I'm assuming, when he held him that it could possibly be his.
Did you?
We didn't have that exact conversation. It was, he showed up, he came over, and I said, "This is my son," and that was that.
We didn't have no big conversation. I didn't even know where you lived.
Abdul, I think at the end of the day, we gotta figure out the DNA outcome. How important is it to you to find out this right now?
I mean, like, I really just want the family to be able to bond, to be able to heal.
But if this is not your father, what are you gonna do? Because you put a lot of importance in saying that this is your father.
He'll still call me.
I mean, you know.
What are you gonna do?
Still call, still call. I mean, we got a connection. Yeah. You know, so if he not my dad, then—
I'm his friend.
He, yeah, that's Uncle Mike, you know.
Well, are you ready to know if you all are related? Are you ready?
I'm ready to know. I, you know, I just, my brother Andrew especially is very close to Abdul and he lacks that relationship. You know, for everyone's sake that it comes out that he is because we're invested at this point.
Got it. Well, all right. Well, listen, Abdul, here you go. This is the DNA outcome. I want you to open it. If you'll please read it out loud. Oh.
Ready? All right. Michael is your father.
Good job.
Good job. Good job. I'm happy about that.
I'm happy for you.
I'm happy for you. Make up on you.
Look, thank you. Thank you for a nice son. But the being called a dog, look, was I a busybody? I was a busybody.
Yes, you was. We were young, Al Michaels.
And to me, they'll say, I loved their mom too, I'm telling you. But I'm telling you, I knew the word love, I just didn't know how to do it. Michael, I wanna give you, come take a seat, come take a seat for me.
At the end of the day, I'm really happy that this family has answers and that you all know because there was a lot of confusion that was making you seem like a bad person. At the end of the day, you did have actions when you were younger This is affecting your life.
I never held him at 3 months old.
You're happy. Hold on, let's take a moment. You're happy because you're—
Y'all can judge me. I never held him at 3 months old.
Your son is having an emotional moment because it's finally happening.
It's the missing piece.
Look at that.
It's the missing piece.
This is truly your dad. There's healing here.
You know, Dad, Mika, you know, I just wanna love y'all.
I love you too.
We love you too.
And one thing, this is the thing, there's a lot of healing that needs to happen here. Right. And I know that you—
I'm trying.
I know, but I will tell you, the thing that I would tell you to do a little bit more is to just to listen to your kids a lot more. I think a lot of what you do, is I do believe you're there for your kids, but I think a lot is defending who you were and the actions you made. And at this point, it's just about apologizing and just trying to listen to them and make amends.
Right.
Says the offender.
And I didn't mean to hurt you. I know it makes me look bad. I didn't mean to abandon you. I didn't mean to abandon him. But I was abandoned too because I have 4 kids and I'm very active in their lives and it's very unfortunate for any father to have a child out there and not know it. I mean, it's just unfortunate.
Now that this is confirmed, there's still gonna be pain and hurt even through this smile that's gonna pop up. Your daughter still has pain and hurt. Her mother has pain and hurt. It's just for you just to make amends with everyone when you can just by listening and not defending. Can you do that?
I can do it.
If you can do that, I believe this family will be all right and I'm happy for you.
Thank you.
I'm happy for him too.
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