SANDPOINT, Idaho — A family has found a brother they thought had died 30 years ago in Ohio.

        A tangled case of mistaken identity that began three decades ago was resolved over the past few months. Mary Strickley, the man's sister who lives in Sandpoint, was among the last in her family to reunite with her brother.

        “It was like the feeling you get as a child when you cannot wait to open your Christmas gifts,” she said.

        Visiting her brother Eddie for the first time in March at a Toledo, Ohio, nursing home, she instantly noticed the lighthouse mobile dangling above his bed. Lighthouses just like she had collected for years.

        Her family was told in 1972 that her brother, Eddie Barnes, had died in the Granger Group Home. The only memory Strickley, then 7 years old, had of her developmentally and physically disabled brother was of sitting in a pew at his funeral.

        But his file at the home had been switched with that of another boy there, Eddie Schabbing, who died. An explanation has eluded both families and officials at the home, where Barnes still lives.

        “There is not even a single staff person here now who was here at that time,” owner Gary Granger said.

        Eddie Barnes, now 42 and disabled since birth, was cared for by his family until he was 6, but he suffered continual seizures and other medical problems.

        His parents put him in a state hospital in Lima, Ohio. He was transferred to another state institution where Eddie Schabbing also lived. Within a month of each other, both boys were moved to Granger.

        The two were the same age and were strikingly similar in appearance.

        When Eddie Schabbing died, he was mistakenly identified as Eddie Barnes. Schabbing's mother tried to prove the boy still alive was not her son.

        Her daughter, June Drake, succeeded, after uncovering the records of Eddie Barnes.

        Then DNA tests showed that the patient identified as Schabbing was not related to Drake but a strong match to Barnes's brother, Gaylord.

        Eddie had not had a visitor in 30 years.

        Slowly, he was reunited with his family. In March, it was Mary's turn. She knelt down in front of his wheelchair and held his hand.

        “At that moment we held each other's gaze,” she said. “I swear he was able to make a connection with me because he actually smiled at me. There was a spark of recognition and then he took his hand and put it on top of mine.”

        Eddie will stay in a place he has called home for 30 years. One brother lives nearby and can visit him more than the other siblings.

        “Eddie is our lighthouse,” Mary said.

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