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14th Jan 2017

Newborn Baby Kidnapped From Hospital Found ALIVE, Age 18

Katie Mythen-Lynch

A woman who was kidnapped from a maternity ward as a newborn baby in 1998 has been found alive and living in South Carolina. 

Kamiyah Mobley was stolen from the arms of her mother Shanara Mobley just hours after she was born by a woman posing as a nurse at University Medical Centre, Florida.

Using grainy footage from a hospital surveillance camera, police created a photofit of the kidnapper, which was widely circulated throughout the FBI investigation.

Despite a huge search, no trace of the child was ever found; until last week, when detectives reopened the cold case to do a DNA test for a woman who “had an inclination” she may not belong to the woman who raised her.

Police have charged Gloria Williams (51) of Walterboro, South Carolina, with her kidnapping. She will be extradited to Florida and faces life in prison.

According to Williams’ neighbours, there was nothing suspicious about the woman and her daughter, who they knew by the name Alexis Manigo. They were both well liked and involved in the local community.

“She wasn’t an abused child or a child who got in trouble. But she grew up with a lie for 18 years,” Joseph Jenkins, who lives in the same street as Williams, told the Associated Press.

Speaking about her daughter’s disappearance in 2008, Shanara Mobley told The Florida Times-Union newspaper that on her daughter’s birthday every year she wrapped a piece of birthday cake in foil and placed it in the freezer.

“It’s stressful to wake up every day, knowing that your child is out there and you have no way to reach her or talk to her,” she said.

Shanara Mobley was just 16 when her daughter was born and spent eight hours with the child before she was taken. She later sued the hospital and was awarded $1.5m. Shanara went on to have three more children who are all eager to meet their older sister.

Kamiyah’s father Craig Aiken was in prison when his daughter was abducted. He told the press he is looking forward to meeting her for the first time.

Kamiyah is understood to have met her biological family over video call and plans to visit them in the coming days. However, various reports suggest that she has also defended the woman who raised her and has visited her in prison since her arrest.

Posting on Facebook, Kamiyah said: ‘My mother raised me with everything I needed and most of all everything I wanted,’

‘My mother is no felon.’

Images: Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office

Topics:

Missing,news