GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

**Max** Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:54 am

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/753953/girl-baby-stolen-at-birth-hospital-jacksonville-florida-Kamiyah-Mobley-Gloria-Williams

Girl stolen at birth from Florida hospital found ALIVE at 18 in South Carolina

A BABY stolen at birth from a Florida hospital 18 years ago has been identified as Kamiyah Mobley, who has been living in South Carolina.

By JOEY MILLAR
PUBLISHED: 17:51, Fri, Jan 13, 2017 | UPDATED: 19:05, Fri, Jan 13, 2017

Police said Ms Mobley was stolen just hours after she was born by a woman disguised as a nurse at a Jacksonville hospital in 1998.

CCTV footage of the kidnapper was too grainy to be of use to police and the case went cold.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams today announced a woman named Gloria Williams has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and interfering with custody

He said: "It is as complicated an investigation as you can imagine."

Just hours after she was born, a woman entered Ms Mobley's room pretending to be a nurse.

She told her the baby had a fever and would need to be checked up. She then left the room and disappeared.

Police searched every room of the hospital but could not find the baby or the suspect.

A year after the kidnapping, police had 2,000 leads and were offering a $250,000 reward.

Police have contacted Ms Mobley's birth family. They said it is up to Ms Mobley herself to decide whether or not she wants to be reunited.

**Max** Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:05 am

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4118058/Kamiyah-Mobley-alive-South-Carolina-18-years-kidnapping.html

'My mother raised me with everything I needed... she is no felon': Teen girl who was snatched from hospital by a woman dressed as a nurse 18 years ago defends her abductor after she is found living with her in South Carolina

.Kamiyah Mobley, now 18, was found living in South Carolina as Alexis Manigo
.She was kidnapped as a baby from a Florida hospital allegedly by Gloria Williams
.The 18-year-old girl was found living with her alleged abductor by police
.Kamiyah was allowed to see Williams in jail after arrest and cried out 'Momma'
.The teenager defended Williams on Facebook saying 'my mother is no felon'
.Police said Williams will be extradited from South Carolina back to Florida
.Girl's biological family had spoken to her on video chat from Florida on Friday

By Anneta Konstantinides and Emily Crane For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 17:41, 13 January 2017 | UPDATED: 03:11, 14 January 2017

The baby girl who was kidnapped from a Florida hospital by a woman dressed as a nurse 18 years ago has defended her alleged abductor after she was found living with her in South Carolina.

Kamiyah Mobley, now 18, was found alive and well in South Carolina living under the name Alexis Manigo. The 51-year-old woman she long-believed was her mother, Gloria Williams, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping.

The teenager took to Facebook to defend Williams on Friday as news of the woman's arrest spread.

'My mother raised me with everything I needed and most of all everything I wanted,' she wrote. 'My mother is no felon.'

The mystery of Kamiyah Mobley became a national sensation when she was taken from her mother Shanara Mobley's arms at the University Medical Center in Jacksonville in July 1998.

Jacksonville police said the teenager found out on Friday morning that the woman who has raised her in Walterboro, South Carolina her whole life is not her real mother.

Williams will be extradited back to Florida and is being held without bond, according to Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams.

Kamiyah, who has graduated high school and is believed to have a steady boyfriend, was allowed to spend a few emotional moments with Williams on Friday.

She cried 'Momma' through the caged window of a security door after Williams waived extradition to Florida, News4JAX reports.

The news came as a shock to neighbors who have only ever known Kamiyah to be Williams' daughter. They say Williams seemed like a normal person who went to work, volunteered and attended church every Sunday.

'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 across the street, told the Associated Press.

A cousin of Gloria Williams said the revelation was 'brand new to all of us.'

Tesha Stephens spoke briefly with reporters on Friday outside the Walterboro home where Kamiyah was raised. She said she didn't know how the young woman discovered her past.

'Right now she's holding up... She's processing everything and she's probably going to have to take this day-by-day,' she said. 'This was something brand new to all of us.'

The sensational news shuts closed a cold case that accumulated more than 2,500 leads and tips and captivated both the city and the country for more than a decade.

It was a tip last year that led Jacksonville police to South Carolina, where they found an 18-year-old woman with Kamiyah Mobley's birth date but a different name.

They soon found out that fraudulent documents had been used to establish her identity.

A DNA sample from the teen was taken and submitted to a crime lab, where it was matched with the original newborn DNA taken the day Kamiyah was born.

The test confirmed the teen was, in fact, Kamiyah.

Sheriff Williams said Kamiyah appears to be in 'good health' and a 'normal 18-year-old woman'.

He said she first 'had an inclination' a couple of months ago that she may have been involved in the national kidnapping case in some way. Authorities didn't say why she suspected this.

Sheriff Williams said the teen only found out on Friday morning that her concerns had been confirmed.

'She's taking it as well as you can imagine,' he said. 'We have victim's advocates up there, she has a lot to process, a lot to think about.'

Gloria Williams was arrested on Friday morning at her home. Kamiyah was not present when she was taken in to custody.

Court records show that Gloria Williams has an extensive criminal record and has been found guilty of writing fraudulent checks and welfare fraud.

The sheriff said Kamiyah had lived at the home with Williams and other members of her kidnapper's family. There are no other suspects at this time.

Williams said he did not know if Kamiyah planned to reunite with her biological family, who he said was 'elated' by the news.
'They were extremely excited, as you can imagine,' he said. 'Overwhelmed with emotion.'

But Kamiyah's father and grandmother, Craig and Velma Aiken, revealed they have already spoken to her on FaceTime, as did Kamiyah's mother Shanara, who has since had three more children.

Craig and Velma revealed that they immediately noticed that Kamiyah looked like her father, according to First Coast News.
'I can't wait,' Craig said of an upcoming reunion. 'It's been 18 years. I can't wait no longer.'

Velma, 66, said her granddaughter chatted with the family as if they had known each other her whole life.

'She looks just like her daddy,' she told The Associated Press. 'She act like she been talking to us all the time. She told us she'd be here soon to see us.'

Velma, who prayed she would see her granddaughter before the day she died, told the New York Daily News 'everyone broken down in tears' during the conversation.

She added that Kamiyah is 'well and looking good' but revealed the family has not set an official reunion date yet and don't want to rush her.

'We lost her for 18 years,' Velma said. 'We don't want to lose her again.'

It was just after 3pm on July 10, 1998 when a woman wearing a blue floral smock and green scrub pants took eight-hour-old Kamiyah in a white blanket and disappeared.

Authorities said the woman had roamed the halls of the University Medical Center, now UF Health Jacksonville, for 14 hours, according to The Florida Times-Union.

She had spent five hours with Kamiyah and her mother Shanara, who had just turned 16 at the time. But nurses thought she was a member of their family.

It was Velma who became suspicious when she saw the woman leave with a pocketbook slung over her shoulder as she carried Kamiyah away.

'I just feel like if I would have reacted on my feelings… I could have done something,' Aiken said. 'I could have taken that lady out with my bare hands.'

But by the time the hospital staff was notified, it was too late.

Every floor and room of the hospital was searched. Police called bus and train stations and airports to look out for baby Kamiyah. The FBI became involved.

There were no pictures of Kamiyah and only grainy footage from the hospital surveillance camera of the suspect.
Authorities made a composite to try and illustrate what the newborn looked like. Sketches were released of the mysterious woman who had posed as a nurse.

The case took over the county, where women who matched the sketch were stopped in local grocery stores and babies' footprints were compared to those taken from Kamiyah when she was born.

A $250,000 reward was offer and Kamiyah's story was told on CNN and America's Most Wanted.

Craig was in jail at the time of her kidnapping on a drug charge, according to WJXT.

Her disappearance led to even more time behind bars when Aiken, 19 at the time, revealed he was the father - and that Kamiyah had been conceived when Shanara was 15.

Aiken pleaded guilty and spent five months in prison, wondering if he would ever see the baby daughter he never had the chance to meet.

Shanara, who used to cut a piece of cake and put it in the freezer for each one of Kamiyah's birthdays, received a $1.5million settlement in 2000 after suing the hospital.

As the years passed the mother said she woke up every day knowing her firstborn was still out there - but that there was no way to reach or talk to her.

'I wonder, 'What does she like? What kind of food? What kind of colors? How smart is she? Does she have long pretty hair? Does she have my eyelashes?'' Shanara said in 2008.

Now, she may finally have the chance to find out.

'I always hoped and prayed this day would happen. I always felt she was alive. I always felt she would find us,' said Craig.
'Now we have the rest of our lives together.

**Max** Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:19 am

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4119220/This-news-dreaming-receiving-Parents-Maddie-McCann-fresh-hope-American-girl-safe-18-YEARS-abducted-child.html

'This is the news they are dreaming of receiving themselves': Parents of Maddie McCann get fresh hope after American girl found safe 18 YEARS after being abducted as a child

.Friend of McCanns say they are encouraged by Kamiyah Mobley's discovery
.Maddie, who was three, vanished in May 2007 in Portugal's Praia da Luz
.Detectives have less than three months of guaranteed Government funding to continue to unravel an 'important' new tip
.The mystery of Kamiyah Mobley's kidnapping became national sensation in 1998
.Kamiyah was taken from her mother's arms by a woman who said she had a fever
.She has been found in Walterboro, South Carolina by Jacksonville police
.Gloria Williams, 51, charged with kidnapping, interference with custody

By Tracey Kandohla and Anneta Konstantinides For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 02:02, 14 January 2017 | UPDATED: 02:07, 14 January 2017

The parents of Madeleine McCann have been given fresh hope their daughter could still be alive after a girl kidnapped in America was found after an incredible 18 year search.

Kate and Gerry McCann, who are facing the 10th anniversary of Maddie's disappearance, have been 'buoyed up' by the news across the Atlantic, a close pal said last night.

Newborn baby Kamiyah Mobley was snatched from a Florida hospital nearly two decades ago by a woman pretending to be a nurse.

Kamiyah, now 18, was found living in South Carolina on Friday being raised as Alexis Manigo.

The 51-year-old woman she thought was her mother, Gloria Williams, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping.

After news broke of the discovery, the McCann family friend said: 'It shows that dreams can come true and this teenager being found so many years after the event is another example that will give Kate and Gerry hope.'

And the McCann's pal continued: 'This is the news they are dreaming of receiving themselves one day.

'They have recently said they believe Madeleine could still be alive and are always buoyed up when they hear stories of kidnapped children being found. It really does give them renewed hope and some joy.'

Three-year-old Maddie vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz in May 2007. She would now be aged 13.
At Christmas former GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 48, appealed to Maddie's abductor and people close to their tormentor to finally 'do the right thing' and come forward.

They wrote in a global website message: 'Somebody knows. We just hope they find the courage and compassion to let us know too.'

The couple from Rothley, Leicestershire, have always insisted they will never give up searching for their daughter unless there is evidence to prove she is dead.

Facebook campaigners promoting the hunt for Maddie said in a New Year posting: 'We still have great hope and believe in miracles. Let's get her home.'

British police are chasing a final 'last throw of the dice' clue which could solve the riddle which has gripped the nation.

Detectives now have less than three months of guaranteed Government funding to continue to unravel an 'important' new tip.

A source close to the investigation, codenamed Operation Grange, revealed last month that they are working on a final theory that Maddie was kidnapped by a European trafficking gang.

Detectives have explored dozens of theories about Maddie's disappearance from being snatched by paedophiles and murdered during a botched burglary to being accidentally killed by her parents. Despite nearly 9,000 potential sightings across the globe police have struggled to unearth any new clues.

But in Operation Grange's potentially final few months of searching they are concentrating solely on the fact she was sold by child traffickers – her parents' and their first team of private investigators' initial hunch – and could still be alive and possibly be living in Europe or North Africa.

After Kamiyah was found yesterday, she took to Facebook to defend Williams on Friday as news of Williams' arrest spread.

'My mother raised me with everything I needed and most of all everything I wanted,' she wrote. 'My mother is no felon.'

The mystery of Kamiyah Mobley became a national sensation when she was taken from her mother Shanara Mobley's arms at the University Medical Center in Jacksonville in July 1998.

Jacksonville police have since revealed the teenager found out on Friday morning that the woman who has raised her in Walterboro, South Carolina her whole life is not her real mother.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Williams will be extradited back to Florida and is being held without bond.

Kamiyah was allowed to spend a few emotional moments with Williams on Friday.

She cried 'Momma' through the caged window of a security door after Williams waived extradition to Florida, News4JAX reports.

A cousin of Gloria Williams said the revelation was 'brand new to all of us.'

Tesha Stephens spoke briefly with reporters on Friday outside the Walterboro home where Kamiyah was raised. She said she didn't know how the young woman discovered her past.

'Right now she's holding up... She's processing everything and she's probably going to have to take this day-by-day,' she said. 'This was something brand new to all of us.'

The sensational news shuts closed a cold case that accumulated more than 2,500 leads and tips and captivated both the city and the country for more than a decade.

It was a tip last year that led Jacksonville police to South Carolina, where they found an 18-year-old woman with Kamiyah Mobley's birth date but a different name.

They soon found out that fraudulent documents had been used to establish her identity.

A DNA sample from the teen was taken and submitted to a crime lab, where it was matched with the original newborn DNA taken the day Kamiyah was born.

The test confirmed the teen was, in fact, Kamiyah.

Sheriff Williams said Kamiyah appears to be in 'good health' and a 'normal 18-year-old woman'.

He said she first had an inclination a couple of months ago that she may have been involved in the national kidnapping case in some way.

Sheriff Williams said the teen only found out on Friday morning that her concerns had been confirmed.

'She's taking it as well as you can imagine,' he said. 'We have victim's advocates up there, she has a lot to process, a lot to think about.'

Gloria Williams was arrested on Friday morning at her home. Kamiyah was not present when she was taken in to custody.

more on link

**Pedro Silva** Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:25 am

**bb1** Sat Jan 14, 2017 10:27 am

Thanks, Max.

Poor Kamiyah, though, finding out the truth about the woman she regarded as her mother - IMO, she is going to need a lot of help in coming to terms with this.

**Sabot** Sat Jan 14, 2017 3:41 pm

This is the real horror story, and the one I don't want to think about. Excepting some sort of life for Madeleine. But better by far than such of which might have been seen by the really horrible people.

I am totally incapable of imaging that anyone would steal a child of three years old for sexual preferences, and if they wanted to then that they would not have gone to such lengths. There are far too many vulnerable children out there who no one really cares about

Madeleine was a well nurtured child, and prime for someone who knew what they wanted.

Sponsored content

GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Re: GIRL STOLEN AT BIRTH FROM FLORIDA HOSPITAL FOUND ALIVE AT 18 IN SOUTH CAROLINA