Couple Who Raised Girl Switched At Birth Died In July 4 Car Crash

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The mystery of two baby girls switched at birth in 1995 took a sad twist with the disclosure that the couple who raised one of the girls died in a car crash last month, a day after the woman raising the other baby discovered the girl was not her biological daughter.

The couple, Kevin Chittum and Tamara Whitney Rogers, died on July 4 in a head-on crash on Interstate 81, in western Virginia, that killed five other people. Their 3-year-old daughter, Rebecca, was at home with relatives, who have taken care of her since the accident.

When those relatives saw a newspaper picture of Paula Johnson's blond-haired, blue-eyed girl, Callie Marie, they were shocked, USA Today reported today. "She's the spitting image of our family," said Mary Watts, Chittum's aunt.

Yesterday officials at the University of Virginia Medical Center, where the babies were born, said an internal investigation had determined that the mix-up could not have happened by accident. A criminal investigation is under way.

Hospital officials have not released the name of the second child or her parents, and said yesterday they would let the legal system determine what information Johnson should be given about the child.

But Watts told USA Today that the university contacted Rebecca's family last week and conducted DNA tests that confirmed Rebecca was not conceived by Chittum, 25, and Rogers, 19, his fiancee. The couple also had a 1-year-old daughter.

The discovery that two babies at the hospital had been switched came to light when Johnson, a single mother who lives in a small town 25 miles north of Charlottesville, took her boyfriend to court, saying he wasn't paying enough support for Callie Marie.

Johnson's boyfriend, Carlton Conley, denied that he was Callie Marie's father, prompting the court to order a paternity test on Conley. That test indicated he was not the father.

Johnson then had herself tested and discovered that Callie Marie was not her biological child either. Friends said Johnson was distraught by the test results.

Her quest to discover what had happened led to the University of Virginia Medical Center, where she had given birth June 29, 1995.

Dr. Thomas Massaro, the hospital's chief of staff, said yesterday that a call from Johnson's attorney last month was the hospital's first indication that there was a problem. He said doctors quickly determined which other baby was involved, but he declined to say how they arrived at their conclusion.

He said the hospital sent a doctor and a nurse to the second family's home to break the news.

Both families have been offered the services of a hospital counselor.

Hospital officials denied allegations attributed to Johnson that an identification bracelet was not placed on her baby before the infant was taken from the delivery room.

Her account runs counter to the hospital's written policy requiring that wrist and ankle bracelets be placed on newborns at birth, with a bracelet bearing matching serial numbers also placed on the mother, Massaro said.

The baby "was banded within minutes of delivery," Massaro said.

However, he said he did not know whether hospital officials have determined that the bracelet gave the baby's correct identification.

In a statement yesterday, Johnson said she has maintained only that no bracelet was put on her baby in her presence immediately after the birth.

Hospital officials said the medical center will immediately improve security by installing video cameras in the nursery. In addition, parents no longer will be able to see their babies in the nursery, to reduce the possibility of switching, Massaro said. Improved technology also will be used to obtain and store better-quality footprints from babies as a means of positive identification.

Massaro said the revelations have hit the hospital staff hard.

"I'm a pediatrician and a father of three," he said. "It's easy to personally identify with these issues. This is something that affects us as people."