In what was part of a secret experiment, identical triplets were separated at birth and raised within 100 miles of each other.
Born in July 1961 to a teenage mother in New York, Robert Shafran, Edward Galland, and David Kellman were put up for adoption and placed with three different families within a 100-mile radius of each other.
Unbeknownst to them, their separation was orchestrated as part of a controversial study on nature versus nurture led by Dr. Peter Neubauer.
This experiment remained hidden for many years.
The brothers' paths first crossed in their late teens through a series of coincidences. Robert and Edward, both attending Sullivan Community College, were unaware of being related until a mutual friend noticed their striking resemblance.
Upon learning they were both adopted, the two pieced together the truth and realized they were brothers.
David's entry into the story came after Robert and Edward's remarkable discovery made headlines.
Recognizing a strong familial resemblance, David contacted Edward's family, leading to the trio's emotional reunion.
The brothers formed an immediate bond, and genetic testing later confirmed they were triplets.
The triplets' story, chronicled in the documentary Three Identical Strangers, is so extraordinary that Shafran remarked: “I wouldn’t believe it if someone else was telling it.”
The siblings’ reunion revealed they had been part of a secretive, decades-long psychological experiment.
According to Three Identical Strangers director Tim Wardle, Neubauer’s study initially lasted a decade, but “it’s clear from some of the study records that the scientists continued to follow from a distance and collect data on the triplets’ progress for many years after this.”
The aim of the experiment was to explore the nature versus nurture debate.
The triplets were placed with families of different economic statuses: Kellman in a working-class family, Galland in a middle-class home, and Shafran in an upper-middle-class family.
Behavioral problems were apparent early on, with all three boys regularly banging their heads against their cribs in distress - a sign of separation anxiety, according to Kellman.
Mental health issues persisted into adulthood. By college, both Kellman and Galland had been in psychiatric hospitals, while Shafran was on probation for a crime connected to a 1978 robbery.
“Those who were studying us saw there was a problem happening. And they could have helped,” Kellman told The New York Post.
“That’s the thing we’re most angry about. They could have helped... and didn’t.”
They briefly met their biological mother in the early 1980s. Her story, according to Kellman, was “a prom night knock-up.” She had drinks with them but didn’t pursue further contact.
In 1988, the triplets opened Triplets Roumanian Steakhouse in Soho, which eventually closed in 2000.
During their early years together, the brothers’ bond was strong. However, as time went on, they sometimes felt the strain of their complex relationship.
Tragically, in 1995, Galland, who exhibited signs of bipolar disorder, took his own life.
Wardle notes that Galland had moved several times to be closer to his brothers, ultimately living across the street from Kellman when he died.
Following Galland’s death, Shafran and Kellman’s relationship became strained.
Shafran became a lawyer in Brooklyn, while Kellman works as an independent general agent in New Jersey.
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