In 2003, wealthy businesswoman Kay Chancellor recalled a repressed memory suggesting that she had given birth to a second child in addition to her son Brock Reynolds (via Soap Central). It would later be revealed that during a year-long separation with her first husband Gary Reynolds in the late 1950s, Kay had a brief affair with Gary's golf buddy Judge Arthur Hendricks, which resulted in a pregnancy. Wanting to protect Kay's reputation, her good friend Charlotte Ramsey offered to put the baby up for adoption for her, and put her own name on the birth certificate.

After remembering these traumatic events, Kay became determined to track down her long-lost child. For several years it was thought that Jill Abbott (Jess Walton) was Kay's daughter due to information from Charlotte. However, it was later discovered in 2008 that Charlotte had lied and a DNA test confirmed that Kay and Jill were not related (via Soaps in Depth).

In 2009, Jill felt it was time for Kay to be reunited with her unknown child and hired Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) to investigate. Paul's research led him to an orphanage near the Canadian border, which pointed him toward a woman named Joanne "JoJo" Glover (Caroline Aaron) in South Dakota, who turned out to be a convicted felon and rough and tumble bail bondsman, according to Soaps. Jill convinced Kay to meet the woman thought to be her daughter and JoJo returned with them for a trip to Genoa City. Soon after, Jill and Kay had a secret DNA test done in hopes of confirming that the brash woman was not actually Kay's daughter, and they were proven correct.