Benjamin Paul Santosh Combs was born in Satara, Maharashtra State in India on Oct. 4, 1989. He was placed in Preet Mandir orphanage by his birth mother in 1990 and she released him for adoption due to her deteriorating health.
Benjamin arrived in the United States on April 23, 1993 and was introduced to his adoptive family. He was formally adopted into his new family on April 10, 1994. Ben lived with his family in Portland, North Dakota, Sedan, Kansas, Marshall, Missouri, Waukon, Iowa and then Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin where he graduated from high school in 2008.