When Kat Came Back

Chapter 39

Home At Last

PEOPLE - Patrick Stump sits in his mother's kitchen with a cup of coffee in front of him. He's smiling a wide smile that you'd be hard pressed to wipe from his face.

"I feel like I haven't stopped smiling since that day," he says.

But Patrick isn't talking about the day Fall Out Boy was signed or when their first single went platinum. In fact, what makes him smile the most these days isn't even related to his band, although they did play a big role in this particular moment in his life.

Patrick is smiling because sitting at the table with him is his younger sister. The baby of the Stumph family (Patrick dropped the H professionally to avoid mispronunciation).

Ashlynn Stumph is 15, and has only been home for a little over a month. Ashlynn was a six month old infant the last time her family saw her. Kidnapped from her stroller, the Stumphs never thought they'd see their infant daughter again.

"We had to come to terms with the fact that we were probably never going to see Kaitlyn alive again," Patricia Stumph, Patrick and Ashlynn's mother, says. "And in a way, we didn't."

Raised as Ashlynn Summerlin, the teen spent her life believing she was adopted. The family she was raised in moved around the country frequently through her young life.

"Houston, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Washington DC, Ann Arbor, umm, Seattle and L.A.," Ashlynn lists off the cities she lived in with the people she believed were her adoptive parents.

They were, in fact, her kidnappers [see sidebar]. Rather, the woman she believed to be her mother for 15 years, Karen Summerlin, was in fact her kidnapper. Brian Summerlin, while not involved in the kidnapping was, however, complicit.

The Summerlins are being held in an L.A. jail without bail as they are considered a flight risk. Their trial is expected to begin in the New Year. Whether Ashlynn will have to testify in the case is still unknown.

"She had a rough go," Patrick says, looking at his sister, who blushes. "I just wish I'd realized it was her sooner."

Patrick noticed Ashlynn in the audience of a show in L.A. in early October of this year. She stood out to him because not only was she near the front row looking like she wasn't enjoying herself but he was startled to see she looked almost exactly like his older sister Megan when she was 15.

When the two were finally able to meet, a meeting Patrick was able to set up, he realized she was also the same girl he'd glimpsed in Miami a couple of years earlier, when the band was at a mall signing event. He'd seen her pleading with who she, and Patrick, at the time, believed to be her mother, to go see the band.  Ashlynn had caught Patrick's eye, but he didn't act on his instincts.

A DNA test revealed Ashlynn Summerlin was actually Kaitlyn Stumph. The family was reunited within the week.

Because Patrick was the one to find Ashlynn, and was on business in LA, the teen spent the week with her newfound brother and his bandmates before returning to Chicago where her parents and older siblings were waiting to see her for the first time in 15 years.

Ashlynn however became close with her brother and his bandmates during their week in Los Angeles. Drummer Andy Hurley took the girl under his wing and grew protective of her. Guitarist and vocalist Pete Wentz saw her struggles and offered to be a sounding board if she needed someone to talk to. And bassist Joe Trohman offered comfort and jokes (and the occasional chocolate bar or cookie) when Ashlynn seemed overwhelmed.

The first days home in Chicago were tumultuous, with Ashlynn being struck by a car in a mall parking lot and requiring surgery and intense rehabilitation. She was also enrolled in the same high school her siblings had attended, and learning to navigate her new life.

Ashlynn had been abused by her kidnappers and was not used to the affection the Stumph family was. It has been a long road for Ashlynn to learn to accept her parents and siblings affection. 

"It was hard at first," Ashlynn says of the hugs doled out by her brothers and sister and her parents. "Brian and Karen weren't that affectionate."

"She's making incredible strides," Patrick says. "She was angry at first, when I brought her home. But with help and therapy, we've all learned to navigate this whole thing."

"It's been a joy having her home," Patricia Stumph says. "We've had some ups and downs, but for the most part, I have my daughter back. It's taken some time for me to come to terms with Ashlynn being Ashlynn. I spent too long after she came home expecting her to be Kaitlyn. And that wasn't fair to Ashlynn, it wasn't fair to the rest of us. And it wasn't fair to Kaitlyn."

Patricia mentions that she mourned her lost baby, but celebrated the return of her daughter.

"We're still navigating a lot of things," Patricia says. "Getting to know Ashlynn, what her life was like growing up, learning her likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams and learning who Ashlynn is. Kaitlyn is gone. I'll never get my baby back. But my daughter is home."

Sidebar
Who Is Karen Summerlin?

Karen Summerlin sits in the LA County Jail awaiting trial for kidnapping, endangering a minor, child abuse and failing to provide the necessities of life.

Karen Summerlin, and her husband Brian Summerlin, are accused and charged with the abduction of Kaitlyn Stumph, 6 months old at the time, in 1991.

Karen suffered a mental breakdown after the death of her own infant, Chloe Summerlin. After her release from a treatment facility, Karen sought to replace her deceased daughter. 

That child was Kaitlyn Stumph, then six months old.

Kaitlyn Stumph is now known as Ashlynn Stumph, and is the youngest child in the Stumph family. She is also the sister of Patrick Stump, the lead singer of Fall Out Boy.