Craigslist Helps Texas Woman, Lori McInturff, Find Long Lost Brother, Matt Beaumont

A Texas woman has found her long lost brother thanks to a serendipitous post on Craigslist, ABC News reports.

For most of their lives, neither Lori McInturff nor Matt Beaumont knew of the other's existence. Siblings by birth, the two have never met in person.

According to KCBD News, McInturff, 50, was adopted when she was three days old and has long wanted to learn more about her biological family.

After years of searching, McInturff tracked down her original birth certificate late last year. She learned that both her biological parents had passed away, but that she had a brother.

"When I heard 'full blood brother', I made it my mission. I was going to find him," McInturff, who lives in Levelland, Tex., told ABC.

Armed with a name, an age, a photograph she'd found on the Internet and some inkling of his location, McInturff began to look for her brother -- a 48-year-old man called Matt Beaumont who possibly lived in British Columbia, Canada.

Last month, her expectations low, McInturff decided to post an ad on Craigslist, EverythingLubbock.com reports.

"I thought, that's a stupid idea, no one is ever going to read that. I clicked on Canada and all these towns came up, so I just picked one," McInturff told KCBD. She picked the town of Victoria.

McInturff said that what happened next was nothing less than "a god-given miracle".

Within two hours of her post, McInturff received an email. It was Matt Beaumont. The email's subject: "You found me!"

According to EverythingLubbock.com, Beaumont's friend had seen the Craigslist post and told him about it. Immediately, Beaumont -- who had no idea that he had a sister named Lori -- sent her the email introducing himself.

Since then, the siblings have spent hours video-chatting over the Internet, catching up on almost five decades of lost time and marveling at their many similarities -- from sharing the same cheekbones to the same phobias.

"I can't even explain the completeness -- I'm 50 years old and I'm finally complete," McInturff told ABC.

"To have Lori finally find me and close that circle -- that was the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in my life," Beaumont added.

According to KCBD, McInturff has sent a thank you note to Craigslist in recognition of the central role the website played in helping her find her brother.