Seperated By War, Soldier Reunites With Daughter(video at link)

(CBS4) HOLLYWOOD A Hollywood security guard who spent years hunting for the daughter he thought was lost forever was reunited with her Saturday, thanks to a chance meeting on the social networking site Myspace.

Alex Estrella was sent to war shortly after April Lynn was born about 21 years ago, serving in the U.S. Army in Korea. When he was overseas, his wife left home with the baby.

Almost two decades later, he e-mailed a message to someone in Ft. Meyers on a social networking site.

He gathered small bits of information about her. He only happened to go on the Web site when a little boy in the building where he works introduced him to Myspace.com.

And in today's edition of The Miami Herald he said he asked that person, "Are you my April?" Then, 21-year-old April Lynn, who now lives near Fort Myers, called him on the phone, "Hi, Daddy".

''I know I am going to cry. I'm excited, scared, nervous, everything,'' said April Lynn Estrella, who is going to school to become a medical assistant and x-ray technician.

Alex, now 48 years old, equally anxious, ''I wish I had an idiot's guide on how to be in situations like that,'' he said. ``I know I am going to melt. That's my baby.''

He met his daughter at his home today.

Yeah the one I chose was pretty crappy..huh?

here is the Miami Herald article story. More details

Nearly 22 years ago, Alex Estrella cradled his newborn daughter in his arms.

But just days after her birth, the first-time father was forced to say goodbye and return to Korea, where he was serving in the U.S. Army.

He never expected that would be the last time he'd see his little girl.

After more than two decades of searching for his daughter, Estrella, 48, found her last week. The unexpected discovery came after an 11-year-old boy who lives in the Hollywood building where Estrella works as a security guard asked him to open the computer room so he could check his MySpace.com account.

Half-jokingly, Estrella asked the boy to search for an April Lynn in Florida. Only one popped up. Later that night, he logged on to the site and messaged April Lynn Estrella, 21, who lives near Fort Myers.

''Are you my April?'' he wrote.

In the e-mail, he jotted down a series of personal tidbits he knew about his daughter: born in Savannah, raised in Florida, her mother's name.

The next morning, his phone rang.

''Hi, Daddy,'' the caller said. ``This is April.''

After talking on the phone for several hours a day for a week, Estrella and his daughter will reunite Saturday morning at his Hollywood home.

It's a day both have dreamed about.

''I know I am going to cry. I'm excited, scared, nervous -- everything,'' said April Lynn Estrella, who is going to school to become a medical assistant and x-ray technician.

Her father is equally anxious.

''I wish I had an idiot's guide on how to be in situations like that,'' he said. ``I know I am going to melt. That's my baby.''

Estrella has held onto the memories of April Lynn as a baby, when he carried her around their Savannah home and stroked her back as she slept in her crib.

While he was serving in Korea, his wife moved with April Lynn and didn't tell him where she was going.

''I don't know the whole story. For years, I always asked my mother about my father. She wouldn't really talk to me about him,'' said April Lynn, who still lives with her mother.

All she knew about her father was his name, that he was Dominican and that he served in the military.

She also knew what he looked like, treasuring a few photographs, which she keeps in an album. One of the photos is particularly special, she said.

''There is one picture of me and him when I was a baby. I carry it everywhere,'' the young woman said.

For Estrella, a former Army Ranger and Gulf War veteran, learning his daughter had disappeared was heartbreaking. ``I almost committed suicide.''

As April Lynn grew up, she always thought of her father, she said. Though her mother married two more times, she never connected with her stepfathers.

Estrella also remarried, and had another daughter, now 17. He has since divorced his second wife.

He said he always thought of his first-born.

Ironically, she was closer to him than he realized. When he was living in Biscayne Gardens, North Miami and Hollywood, April Lynn was with her mother, in Cutler Ridge.

He tried finding her on the Internet, but had no luck.

April Lynn took similar measures to find her father, at one point paying a search firm $80 to locate him. About a year ago, she found a man with her father's name in Hollywood. Doubtful it was him, she never called or wrote.

When they first spoke on Saturday, they immediately made plans to meet a week later. April Lynn will leave Fort Myers this Saturday at 5 a.m. to drive to Hollywood.

She hasn't told her mother about the reunion.

''I'm scared to tell her,'' she said. ``She has been so hesitant to tell me about him. I don't know what she'll feel like.''

For now, she's focusing on getting to know her Dad.

Estrella says they'll go out for breakfast and catch up on two decades.

They hope to spend every weekend together, splitting their time between Fort Myers and Hollywood.

''She was the puzzle in my life I was always trying to solve,'' he said. ``I never wanted to bring a kid into this world and not be there for her. I want her to understand that.''

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