Three Identical Strangers: The Shocking Truth About Separated Triplets

Imagine being told someone out there looks like you, walks like you and even laughs like you. That is exactly what happened to Robert Shafran on his first day of college. A quick call led him to Eddy, and soon after the two discovered David, the third brother. The 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers follows their search for answers and the dark experiment that tore them apart.

Second First Day at School

The campus felt oddly familiar even though Robert had never been there. People greeted him like a returning friend, hugged him and kept calling him Eddy. His roommate Michael mentioned that Eddy Galland had once shared his dorm and had the same birthday, so Robert drove over to meet him. The moment their eyes met, the odd coincidences snapped into place.

DNA Test Reveals a Missing Brother

The DNA results confirmed Robert and Eddy were siblings, and a local paper ran their reunion story. That publicity brought David Kellman forward, saying he looked just like them. Another test confirmed he was the third brother, and suddenly three strangers who had lived apart for two decades were national curiosities. They rode the wave of attention, enjoying talk shows and fast friendship.

The Agency and the Hidden Study

Questions followed the joy, and the brothers traced their past to Louise Wise, the adoption agency that placed them. The agency claimed a policy of separating siblings, but an adoptive father saw staff celebrating and smelled a cover-up. A journalist then uncovered that Dr. Peter Neubauer and the Child Development Center had recruited the boys for a nature versus nurture study, placing each sibling in a different social class while controlling other factors. The men realized they had been unknowing subjects in a long-running experiment.

Aftermath, Tragedy and Fight for Justice

The truth reopened old wounds. Eddie battled depression and in 1995 took his own life, a loss that left Robert and David seeking accountability. They demanded apologies, access to records and compensation while the documentary Three Identical Strangers pushed the story back into public view. Today Robert retrained as a lawyer, David works in insurance, and both keep pressing for full disclosure and justice.

Deja Vu?

When Robert met his roommate, Michael Domitz, the plot thickened. Michael hadn't just met the mysterious Eddy character, he had shared a room with him. He explained that the mystery guy's name was Eddy Galland and that the resemblance between him and Robert was uncanny. The only explanation that made sense was that the pair were twins. Sure enough, Michael revealed that the identical strangers shared the same birthday. By this point, Robert was set on meeting his mysterious doppelgänger.

The First Meeting

Michael knew that Eddy was adopted and so he did not hesitate to call his ex-roommate up and tell him about the familiar looking man now sleeping in his dorm. Eddy was taken aback the news but was excited to meet his "new brother". Robert drove to where Eddy was living and when he knocked on the door Ed opened. When their eyes met, the rest of the world faded into nothing. The two didn't just look alike, they were identical. Looking into each other's eyes was like looking into a mirror and it started to make sense to Robert why so many people on campus had mistaken him for Eddy.

Two Peas In a Pod

Once they had gotten over the initial shock of their matching appearances, Robert and Eddy began chatting. It turned out that they didn't just share the same birthday, they shared a birthplace too. They had similar facial expressions, mannerisms and even laughed the same. Interestingly, they also shared a birthmark and had the exact same IQ score. It was as if they were the same person. The only explanation that made any kind of sense was that the pair were twins that were separated at birth. They were both adopted and so this was possible but they would need to do a DNA test to find out for sure.

Bizarre Coincidences

Eddy and Robert had to wait for the results of their DNA test but they had a strong feeling that they were long lost brothers. They tried not to get ahead of themselves but it all just seemed like too big a coincidence. If they were strangers, then the extent to which they looked alike would be extremely bizarre. If they were really twins, on the other hand, it would be equally bizarre that they both happened to go to the same college and share a roommate.

David Kellman

When the DNA results arrived, Robert and Eddy were finally able to stop hypothesizing and find out the truth. Sure enough, the test revealed that Rob and Eddy were brothers. The pair were over the moon with the discovery and a local newspaper decided to publish their touching story. Everyone responded positively to the reunion tale but there was one person that had a particularly strong response. This man was named David Kellman and he claimed that he looked exactly like both Robert and Eddy. After a DNA test, David learned that he was in fact the third brother.

Adjusting to the News

The arrival of David added a whole new level to the unique story. In the film, Robert aptly sums the events up when he says: “I wouldn’t believe it if someone else was telling it.” The triplets had lived for two decades without having a clue that they actually had siblings. Initially, they were shocked and then excited. Once they had come to terms with the fact they each had two identical brothers, they realized that they had an awful lot of questions and that their story was far from over.

Popular News

Obviously, the news that three strangers had discovered they were siblings was popular news. The boys' realization is major and uplifting too and so it is natural that people wanted to share it. The media jumped on the opportunity to report their story which eventually spread across the nation. The boys had to quickly adjust to the limelight and found themselves being interviewed by the likes of Tom Brokaw and Phil Donahue. Their entire lives had been transformed so abruptly and yet nothing could prepare them for what they were about to find out next.

Bonding Time

In spite of the overwhelming media attention, the brothers still managed to find the time to get to know each other. After all, they now had two decades worth of lost time to make up for. Robert described the experience, saying: "Once we got together, there was a joy that I had never experienced in my life and it lasted a really long time.” It turned out that they all had more in common than they thought. They even smoked the same cigarettes and shared a love of Italian food. Funnily enough, they also shared a preference for older woman.

A Dream Come True

Reuniting was a wonderful experience. Individually, each had felt like there was something missing from their lives but this hole was filled by the arrival of their long-lost brothers. What made things even more beautiful was that it seemed to be fate that brought them together. By total coincidence, Robert had ended up attending the same college and sharing a dorm with his brother's ex-roommate. At least, that's what they thought… It was soon to be revealed that the surprise reunion wasn't as coincidental as they were led to believe.

Basking In Their Success

At this point in the story, the brothers were having a great time and were basking in their success and newfound fame. They were regularly appearing on talk-shows and their story was featured in tabloids and magazines. They suddenly had access to all kinds of privileges including exclusive nightclubs like Limelight, Copacabana and Studio 54. In 1985, they even had cameo roles in Madonna's movie Desperately Seeking Susan. In fact, they were such big successes that they were able to open a SoHo steakhouse together. But realistically… how long can happiness really last?

The Triplet’s Steak House

The steakhouse that the triplets opened had a very successful opening year. The restaurant didn't just attract steak lovers but it also drew in crowds who wanted to sneak a peek at the celebrity triplets. The brothers fittingly named the steakhouse "Triplet's Old New York Steak House." Their popular reunion story definitely helped business prosper and they did an excellent job running things together. By now, they were living entirely different lives together than they were when they thought they each had no siblings.

Need to Know More

After a while, the excitement fizzled out and Eddy, Robert and David were left with burning questions. They wanted to know where they came from and why they had been separated at birth and denied the chance to grow up with their brothers. There were plenty of questions and answers to follow and the first answer was unfortunate news. It turned out that they were actually quadruplets but the fourth brother had died when he was born. This was just the first revelation of a series of dark and surprising news.

Other Reunions

The tale of long-lost siblings reunited is not extraordinary. There have been several similar stories of children who were separated at birth as a result of a hospital mix-up or family death. Occasionally, the circumstances in which siblings reunite are as bizarre as Robert, Eddy and David's. For example, twin sisters Adriana Scott and Tamara Rabi coincidentally met at college when a mutual friend picked up on the striking similarity between them. The story is actually surprisingly similar to the story of the triplets.

Retracing Steps

The siblings wanted to find out more and so they traced back their steps in the hope that they could meet someone who could give them answers. The first place they started was at their birthplace, the Long Island Jewish Medical Centre. They also knew that they were adopted via Louise Wise Services. The adoption agency was the most well-known New York adoption agency for Jewish children. This seemed like a good place to begin their quest and all six adoptive parents of the triplets took a trip to the agency in the hope of finding answers.

Dark Secrets

Louise Wise Services was founded in 1916. It built up an excellent reputation and became the most popular adoption agency for Jewish mothers and adopters. That said, its reputation was also tainted by some dark secrets. The company is reported to have run a Staten Island home for unwed mothers who wished to sell their infants to adopters. There have been many reports of the agency withholding information regarding the health of the children and they have been accused of lying on several occasions.

Suspecting Lies

When Robert, David and Eddy approached the Louise Wise adoption agency, they had some interesting answers. First, they claimed that they had a policy which meant they were compelled to separate birth siblings upon their adoption. They explained that this was to avoid sibling competition for the adoptive parents' attention. The young men were far from convinced by this answer. They suspected that they were being lied to and became even more determined to uncover the truth so they could conclude their story.

Dodged a Bullet?

One of the adoptive fathers of the triplets returned to the office out of the blue to retrieve an umbrella that he had left after the meeting. When he entered, he spotted the senior administrators celebrating with a bottle of champagne in a fashion that suggested they had just "dodged a bullet." This led him to believe that something suspicious was going on and the parents were just as determined as their sons were to uncover the truth. They were just as in the dark about everything as their triplets.

What Are They Hiding?

Robert, Eddy and David were shocked to hear that the adoptive father had walked in on the agency celebrating. By now, they had a pretty strong suspicion that something was being hidden from them and that the agency were very desperate to keep it that way. They wondered what role the agency had played in their separation and they decided that they would not rest until they had discovered exactly what secrets the agency was hiding and who they were protecting.

Developmental Study

The boys and their parents all had a chat and they each discovered that their adoptive parents had no idea that their sons had brothers either. Each were led to believe that they were raising an only child.

What the parents did know was that the triplets were each part of a childhood development study. The adoptive parents were told that their children would be visited regularly by researchers who would administer behavioral tests. Each child had displayed signs of separation anxiety during infancy but the parents had no reason to suspect that being separated from secret siblings could have caused it.

Oddly Specific Circumstances

The discussion also revealed that each of their upbringings shared some specific similarities and surprising differences. For example, each of the boys had grown up with a sister who was about two years older.

When it came to their family's socioeconomic background, however, each triplet's experience differed drastically. On one hand, Robert was raised by a wealthy family and his adoptive father was a doctor. Eddie, on the other hand, was raised in a middle-class home and his father was a teacher. Lastly, David was raised by a working-class family and his father owned an immigrant store known as "Bubala."

Interfering Agency

By this point, Eddy, Robert and David suspected that their circumstances were not coincidental at all. It appeared to be the case that their adoptive parents were not chosen at random but were selected rather meticulously. They arrived at the conclusion that the Louise Wise adoption agency had made predetermined decisions regarding the boys' future. Of course, this did not mean that the mystery was even close to being solved. The next question they wanted to know the answer to was why the agency had interfered with their life in this way.

Help of an Outsider

The truth was revealed when an outsider stepped in. Author and journalist Lawrence Wright was doing research for a book he was writing on twins. During his research, he stumbled across a psychological study on the subject of the nature vs. nurture debate. He spotted that the Louise Wise adoption agency had provided triplets and five other sets of twins to be included in the study. The study aimed to conclude whether environment or biology determines a person's behavior and development.

Human Studies

In order for science to be deemed valid and reliable, experiments must have controlled factors. The more factors that can be kept consistent, the more valid the results. When it came to studying the triplets, the researchers wanted to test the impact that different socioeconomic background would have on their development. The factors they kept the same were ensuring each grew up with two parents and a sister that was about two years older. The crucial shared factor was that the subjects shared the same DNA.

Unconsenting Subjects

When it comes to researching the nature vs. nurture debate, supporting evidence usually comes in the form of case studies. This means that data is collected through interviews or assessments after the twins or triplets have been separated. It is considered immoral to deliberately keep siblings apart and so studies can only be done when separation has occurred accidentally and has been resolved. David, Robert and Eddy were the unconsenting subjects of the first experiment to follow and document the lives of separated from siblings from birth through to maturity.

The Man Responsible

The man responsible for the immoral experiment was child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Peter Neubauer. Dr. Neubauer served as the director of the Child Development Center in Manhattan. What is eerily ironic is the fact that the psychiatrist was in fact a World War II refugee from Austria. During WWII, horrific and immoral experiments were carried out on unknowing human subjects.

Separation Anxiety

The effects that the separation had on Robert, Eddy and David cannot be fully understood. The researchers involved in the study did learn, however, that each sibling suffered from separation anxiety. Even though none of them remembered that they had brothers, they were intuitively aware that they had been separated from the people they shared a womb with. They just didn't understand why they were suffering from the separation because they did not know what or rather who they were being separated from.

Imaginary Brother

The adoptive mother of David, Claire Kellman, revealed that as a child, David often talked about a heartbreaking feeling he had that there was something missing from his life. He even invented an "imaginary" brother who he needed. She recalled: “David began talking very early. I remember him waking up and saying, ‘I have a brother.’ “We would all talk about his ‘imaginary brother’. It later emerged (that) all the boys exhibited symptoms of separation anxiety during infancy, but that only made sense in hindsight.”

Long-Term Effects

What is sinister is that psychologists have been aware for a while that separating siblings is likely to cause a long list of negative long-term effects on children. These effects include difficulty maintaining relationships, low self-esteem, drug and alcohol use and even severe depressive behavior. By subjecting the boys to the separation, the adoptive agency was knowingly subjecting them to a more difficult life. In the film, one of the brothers said: "Those who were studying us saw there was a problem happening. And they could have helped… and didn’t."

Profound Suffering

Even more shockingly, some accounts indicate that siblings will suffer the side effects of separation anxiety after just a few hours apart. Some will feel it later in life if siblings attend different colleges or move to a different city. Robert, Eddy and David had to suffer all of this separation anxiety for two decades. What is even worse is that they felt all of the anxiety without ever knowing what could be causing it or how it could be solved.

Old Trauma Resurfaces

Now that the truth had been revealed, a lot of these feelings of anxiety resurfaced. The triplets had been so excited to meet initially but unfortunately, the damage had already been done. Reports surfaced that Robert had been convicted of manslaughter in 1980 when he played a role in a robbery in which an elderly woman was murdered. Robert was sentenced to community service as the judge decided his role was minimal. Nonetheless, all the media attention and the recent discovery regarding the experiment caused old trauma to resurface which was troubling for Robert and his siblings.

A Heartbreaking Tragedy

Eddie suffered mentally and battled depression for years. In 1995, he took his own life in his home in Maplewood, New Jersey. The brother was only 33 years old and left behind his wife and daughter. Even though there is no way of knowing what led Eddie to commit suicide, it is undeniable that the separation anxiety he faced as a child had a profound psychological impact on him. David and Robert believed that being separated from them for almost 20 years was the reason and that those who conducted the experiment were consequently responsible.

Requesting an Apology

The Louise Wise adoption agency had done everything they could to avoid admitting the truth. They had said that the separation was to ensure more parents were able to receive babies. When it was revealed that the study was performed by the Child Development Center with the agency's knowledge, the siblings and their adoptive parents were furious. They demanded that the Jewish Board take responsibility and requested an apology and monetary compensation. The agency had caused internal damage to three innocent children and Robert and David wanted justice for their brother.

No Excuses

The immoral experiments that Louise Wide adoption agency permitted will continue to affect the lives of all the siblings, twins and triplets who were separated at birth. Separation anxiety is long-term and people suffer the effects well into adulthood. Regardless of what scientific or psychological knowledge is gained, it does not justify putting innocent children through trauma and psychological harm. There is just no way to excuse what they did.

Three Identical Strangers

In 2018, the surviving brothers decided to share their story with the world. A documentary was released titled Three Identical Strangers and it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The documentary told the story of the siblings from Robert's first day in college up to the present day. The film received rave reviews and raised awareness of the experiment and their tragedy. It also put even more pressure on the Jewish Board to confess and take responsibility for their part in the experiment.

Call to Make Amends

David and Robert will not put the traumatic events behind them until the board have made amends. Robert said in an interview with The Washington post: “I think the first thing the Jewish Board should have done once they became aware of this movie is reunite any twins still surviving and advise those who’ve been deceased, just so they can know who they are.” He also admitted that the Board still has not confessed to the immoral actions.

Raising Awareness

Robert, Eddy and David are just one set of triplets that were separated at birth. Their story is touching and tragic and sharing it with the world has opened our eyes to the importance of keeping siblings together. Unfortunately, their case is not unique. Many siblings were separated at birth thanks to Dr. Peter Neubauer’s experiments. The triplets were lucky that they were able to meet under coincidental circumstances but many of the siblings who were separated are still completely unaware that they have another brother or sister out there.

Lacking Compassion

Dr. Neubaeur never expressed remorse or showed compassion towards those he psychologically harmed in his studies. Psychologist Nancy Segal met with the doctor and recalled: “What struck me most was he showed absolutely no remorse for what he had done. He still felt he had done the right thing.” She also concluded that Naubaeur's work provides evidence that “genes have a more pervasive influence than we thought” as more often than not, the separated siblings “ended up being extremely alike.”

No Comment

Unsurprisingly, the Jewish Board wanted no part in the documentary. A spokeswoman shared her statement with the Washington Press: “The Jewish Board does not endorse the study undertaken by Dr. Peter Neubauer, and is appreciative that the film has created an opportunity for a public discourse about it. We hope that the film encourages others to come forward and request access to their records. The Jewish Board had no role in the separation of twins adopted through Louise Wise.”

The Present Day

Today, the triplets' lives have changed drastically since they were reunited all those years ago. For a while, the brothers successfully ran their SoHo restaurant named "Triplet's" but after Eddy's death, Robert quit the restaurant and retrained a lawyer. David, on the other hand, went onto become an insurance consultant. Nowadays, Robert and David spend a lot of their energy promoting their film, Three Identical Strangers. They are still seeking justice for what happened to them and hope their efforts will help others who were separated thanks to Neubauer’s immoral experiments.

New Documents, Still Few Answers

Some of the study records were handed over to an institution for safekeeping, but the brothers have only ever seen heavily redacted files. That limited access left them with more questions than answers and no clear conclusions about what the researchers learned. Robert and David continue to push for fuller access, arguing that the redactions block the truth. Until those files are opened properly, the story stays unfinished.

Why Release Has Been So Slow

The institutions tied to the study have resisted handing over full records, offering statements but not full disclosure. The Jewish Board reiterated that it did not directly cause the separations, while the agency linked to the adoptions stuck to its official line. The film rattled those walls, but the formal paper trail remains locked down and contested. That bureaucratic silence keeps the family waiting for a real accounting.

The Film Brought the Story Back

The documentary revived public interest and forced uncomfortable questions back into the open. It gave Robert and David a platform to press for answers and to urge others affected by the study to come forward. The film did not close the case, but it turned private pain into a public conversation. That spotlight has kept pressure on the agencies involved.

Big Questions That Remain Unanswered

We still do not have the full picture of how many siblings were separated, what conclusions the researchers reached, or how many lives were affected. The redacted files offer fragments, but not a full explanation of motive and method. Until institutions release clearer records or take responsibility, those gaps will haunt the surviving brothers and their families. The lack of closure is part of the lasting harm.

Where Robert and David Stand Today

Robert and David keep pressing for accountability while trying to rebuild ordinary lives. They have reconnected and use the film to remind people the consequences of what happened to them, asking for apologies and help finding any surviving siblings. They still want the agencies to admit what they did and to make amends where possible. That demand for responsibility is the through-line in their public work.