In February 2018, Williams pleaded guilty to kidnapping and interfering with state custody. Im only, true enough, Im only 16 years old but I have feelings, too. I have to start doing things where I dont hurt no more.. Kamiyah was abducted eight hours after birth by a woman dressed in hospital garb who entered the room, assisted and conversed with the mother, and then walked out of the room with Kamiyah in her arms. "I dont deal with disrespect, she said through tears. Another birthday. Why Williams chose Jacksonville, or University Medical Center, or Kamiyah Mobley in particular, remains a mystery. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. I kidnapped you.. The older Mobley still feels betrayed. She had no way of knowing that the hang-up phone calls she received in 2015 were made by her then 17-year-old daughter. The fake birth certificate listed that Kamiyah was born at Trident Medical Center in Charleston. Aiken says he wasnt aware that Williams filed this motion. Im not saying they werent going to be good parents, Alexis told ABC reporter Eva Pilgrim, referring to Mobley and Aiken. Mobleys relationship with her biological mother, Shanara Mobley had been strained in part due to Kamiyahs continued relationship with her kidnapper, Gloria Williams.Williams is now serving an 18-year prison sentence for stealing baby Kamiyah. "I need her away, far away, where she cannot contact my baby, where my baby cannot get to her, she said. And I truly feel it in my heart; I just wish she would not have come back. The father says that despite not knowing each other for years, it always feels like Mobley has been part of the family. According to USA Today, Shanara had had a tough life, and she saw her new baby as a chance to get things right. The no-contact order wasnt pursued again in court. That turned out to be used to make the match.. 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In a Florida Times-Union interview from his dorm at the Montgomery Correctional Facility in Jacksonville, Aiken alleged that police were barking up the wrong tree by investigating the Mobley family. So, shes not a threat to me Shes nothing to me.. Mobley never gave up hope that her daughter was alive and would be found. Yes, Mobley said, adding she wished there was a way to get a court order so that her daughter and Williams could not have any contact. Ever year, on Mobleys birthday, Shanara had started a tradition of buying a cake and putting it in the freezer just in case Kamiyah showed up. "I think in part she's still processing [] if I have to be honest," said Robin Roberts in a recently-published interview with Eyewitness News. Each year shed buy a cake for the little girl she didnt know. We got the cord blood to FDLE. She has since had three more children. When you find out youve got another family out there, its just more love., Protective of the woman who raised her, Alexis told Pilgrim she forgave Williams. But shes so perfect to me.. They showed up in Walterboro, conducted DNA tests, and confirmed the secret that Williams had tried to hide. He says shes gotten close with her five sisters and two brothers. She was one of those mothers, she was like open to sleepovers, open to company. Nobody is leaving me unattended, she said. So many days so many days so many days I just wanted to pick that child up and say, Come on, lets get in this car and go. I just couldnt. It wasnt just police who considered Mobley a suspect. She has accumulated her wealth from her successful career as an actress. We may earn a commission from links on this page. Another wish. They currently do not speak. Also read about Matt Zaffino. Instead, Williams put Mobley in a bag, walked to her car, and drove home to South Carolina. Kamiyah Mobley is an American woman who was abducted from a Florida hospital when she was only eight hours old on July 10, 1998. She wanted her daughter to understand something: Im still hurting. You go to the hospital for the most joyous day of you life only to have someone steal that new life from you. This is not our life., Woman who kidnapped Jacksonville newborn Kamiyah Mobley in 1998 wont have sentence reduced, Gloria Williams sentencing hearing: Kamiyah Mobleys mom testifies, says I am your mother Kamiyah, Teen abducted from Jacksonville hospital at birth reunited with parents in South Carolina Teen abducted from Jacksonville hospital at birth reunited with parents. We were going to be this big, happy family, she said. She volunteered for veterans groups, and for Habitat for Humanity, which built her Walterboro home. She was introduced to her biological parents in January 2017, an experience she compared to spending time with distant relatives in an interview with Post and Courier. Sitting at her large kitchen table, Mobley began to cry. On Jan. 13, 2017, police tracked down Kamiyah, who was going under the name Alexis Manigo, in Walterboro, South Carolina. Mobley refused. Kamiyah was raised as Alexis Manigo, the daughter of Craig Aiken (father) and Shanara Mobley (mother) (mother). Kamiyah is working on her bond with Shanara. Kamiyah was kidnapped as a newborn in Jacksonville in July 1998 and lived her life as "Alexis" in South Carolina. Florida State Attorneys OfficeKamiyah Mobley and her kidnapper, Gloria Williams, who raised her as her own child. Family, Parents, Siblings, Education. Gloria Williams, who was about thirty-three years old at the time, later forged documents to create a new identity for Mobley. Others, such as the baby in Connecticut whose DNA was flown to Jacksonville and checked against Kamiyahs, were much more complicated. She loves that womans family, including the two brothers she was raised with, as well as her abductors parents. Workers initially thought the woman who kidnapped Kamiyah belonged to the Mobley family. The abducted child was happy, she learned. WebKamiyah Teresiah Tasha Mobley was abducted from a Florida hospital on July 10, 1998, when she was only eight hours old. In that time the kidnapper, Gloria Williams, was tried and recently sentenced to 18 years in prison, and Kamiyah was reunited with her biological family. The exact details of the heinous crime were found out in January 2017, just after the 19-year-old Kamiyah graduated from high school. ABC News' Doug Lantz, Julia Jacobo, Rachel Katz and Amanda Maile contributed to this report. Most of the information I know about Gloria is from Kamiyah, and its very little because we dont really talk about her, he said. Kamiyah took part in dozens of television programs following Williams' arrest. Coverage that informs. In March 2022, she even wrote a letter asking for Williams early release. Aiken, 24 years old at the time of the July 1999 jail interview, had been arrested in mid-October 1998, for lewd, lascivious and indecent assault on a child under the age of 16. That was 1998, Schoenfeld says. We can only ask that everyone respect her privacy, give her time to take things in, and continue to pray for the well-being of each and every person whose life has been touched by this almost 20-year chain of events.". In fact, Kamiyah was kidnapped before the hospital even had the chance to test her for strep B, which her mother Shanara had contracted during her pregnancy, or for sickle-cell anemia, for which Shanara is a genetic carrier. Jobs meant shelter and money. Instead, the girl had told Williams to run if she had to. Motherhood, she said, has always been her desire. I feel like Im being robbed all over again every time she reaches out to my daughter, she added. Over the approximately four-year period preceding April 2016, he says, no babies were kidnapped from U.S. hospital maternity wards. According to Lowery, NCMECs artist traveled to Jacksonville to create a composite drawing. Kamiyah Mobley was just hours old when she was abducted from her mothers hospital room. Now that some time has passed, Aiken feels hes ready to visit his daughters kidnapper in prison to ask her questions about Mobleys upbringing. Indeed, Kamiyah Mobley has stuck by Williamss side. If she does and it's a girl, she plans to name her Starr Blessed Faith Mobley. Robert Lowery is Vice President for Missing Children at NCMEC. That image, along with the sketch of Kamiyahs abductor, hit the airwaves, with only the following descriptors of her abductor: a black woman, about 5 feet 5 inches, 150-160 pounds, likely wearing a wig. She never returned. Manigo the name she has chosen to go by, at least for now loves the woman who stole her from the University Medical Center maternity ward. From that one mistake, I was given the best life. A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. They write letters. I was ready to go then. On January 12, 2017, DNA tests confirmed that Alexis Manigo is, in fact, Kamiyah Mobley, a baby who was taken from her mothers arms by a stranger posing as a nurse at what was then University Medical Center in Jacksonville. None of us can imagine that level of pain, he says. Authorities found Williams, and DNA tests proved the girl she called Alexis Manigo was, in fact, Kamiyah Mobley. Back in Florida, Shanara was ecstatic. This is a battle that I cant keep fighting. I wish they never would have found her.. Shanara Mobley, 16, gave birth to Kamiyah on July 10, 1998. These are quick facts you may need to know about actress Alexis Manigo: Mobleyage is 24 years old as of 2022. Or, learn how Natascha Kampusch survived eight years in her kidnappers cellar. She had been raised under the name Alexis Kelli Manigo. On July 10, 1998, Schoenfeld had just reported for his 4 PM shift as supervisor for the JSOs homicide division, which investigates stranger abductions. According to the NCMEC, abductors often become familiar with doctors offices and hospital maternity wards, learning hospital layouts and using fire exit stairwells to escape with their victims. There is no baby-footprint data base, Shoenfeld says. She shouldnt have never left outta my arms from the beginning, the distraught young mother cried. Shanara Mobley, Kamiyahs biological mother in Florida, was awarded $1.5 million after settling a lawsuit against the previous University Medical Center. ET on Showtime. RELATED: Gloria Williams given 18 years for kidnapping Kamiyah Mobley. Gloria Williams posed as a nurse and stole Kamiyah Mobley from a Jacksonville hospital in July 1998 before giving the child a different name, Alexis Manigo, and raising her as her own in South Carolina. Im about to start calling her Alexis so I wont be hurt. Kamiyah Mobley, after all, saw Gloria Williams as her mother. Mobley was only 15 when she and Aiken conceived Kamiyah. But when she tried to get a Social Security number, she learned that her life was a lie. In South Carolina, the infant Mobley was miles from her mother, Shanara, who was in later footage seen sobbing in her hospital bed after Kamiyah was taken. Mobley went back to her uncles house, but the bassinet, bottles and clothing she had in her room for her daughter haunted her. Its going to be painful on both sides.. She left her abusive relationship, regained custody of her sons, remarried, and raised Mobley as her own daughter though now renamed Alexis Manigo. Last month in court Williams apologized to Mobley's birth parents. Its done on a cart or bassinet. We did however get the cord blood, Schoenfeld says. As a 2017 article by The Cut reveals, she couldn't go a day without speaking to Williams long after her arrest. And Gloria Williams trial revealed the tension and deep pain that existed across the two families. If you was faking a pregnancy I mean, if you just cant have no kids, I mean how do you think I feel? Williams neighbors and friends were astounded by the news and never suspected anything unusual about her. I had everything I needed, wanted. Mobley named Vanzant expletives as well as threatened to assault her several times. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 2023 Cox Media Group. In 2018, a judge sentenced Williams to 18 years in prison. In 2017, the story of her captivity and eventual rescue made national headlines. Oh man, I was ready to go. I will tell you what Gloria did changed hospital facilities forever. Detective Sergeant Don Shoenfeld, who retired from the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office in 2010, remembers numerous details from the day the eight-hour-old newborn was snatched by a stranger dressed in nurses scrubs. In January 2017, after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received two tips, investigators with the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office found Kamiyah Mobley living in rural South Carolina. problems. Other abductors have also impersonated healthcare workers. "It hurt me more that she was in cuffs, it was just so surreal for me," she added. Kamiyah was found safe in South Carolina in early 2017 when she was 18 years old, after being kidnapped from a Jacksonville hospital as a newborn in 1998. Your email address will not be published. Gloria Williams passed off the baby as the child of her former romantic partner, Charles Manigo, and they raised her as their own. She said shed like to have another child. I'm almost like a big aunt: worried how she is going to handle all of this," the executive producer of Stolen by my Mother added shortly afterward. Their loved one, husband, or significant other is aware that a child is expected. Though these kinds of kidnappings are rare, he has seen a handful of similar long-term abduction cases. According to USA Today, Mobleys continued loyalty to Williams caused tension with her birth mother, who even blocked her daughters number at one point. God always gives me what my heart desires, Mobley said. A woman who was abducted at birth is now pleading for the early release of her kidnapper, whom she considers her real mother. I understand what my daughter is going through somewhat because shes brainwashed in year of being raised by this genius. Later, Shanara was interviewed, pleading for her daughters return. According to an arrest warrant filed by the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office in January of this year, Alexis told a National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) tipster that shed suspected since 2015 that the woman who raised her, 51-year-old Gloria Bolden Williams, was not her biological mother. As long as she can call her and go see her, thats her momma, Mobley said. Her claim was repelled. Her home life was spent bouncing between relatives and friends or lying about her age so she could get live-in babysitting jobs. Im being rejected for a kidnapper; how do you think that feels?. Its good to know that the case is closed. Even though Kamiyahs then-16-year-old mother Shanara Mobley was understandably inconsolable, she made a desperate plea for help on TV. Williams had worked at a veterans hospital in Charleston at one time, possibly as a social worker or as a medical records specialist. The trail grew cold for nearly 18 years, but investigators never gave up on finding Kamiyah Mobley. We felt like the best opportunity we would have to see this person [the abductor] was the camera that was on the nursery window. At this writing, Williams is charged with kidnapping and custodial interference and is awaiting trial as an inmate in the Duval County jail. It made her happy. Im tired of being hurt.. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Over the past two years, Craig Aiken says hes watched his daughter grow from a teenager into an adult. Mobley was only 15 when she and Aiken conceived Kamiyah. When called to the witness stand, Mobley lashed out at Williams. I know I wronged you and Im so sorry, she told Shanara and Aiken, insisting that she hadnt gone to the hospital meaning to kidnap a baby. When he and his lady friend were asked by a doctor to step out into the hallway while Mobley was given an epidural, they left the hospital. She still calls her Mommy. Kamiyah Mobley kidnapping case: Teen tells Gloria Williams 'I love you' in jailhouse letters Authorities released a series of images of evidence in the Kamiyah Mobley case in 2018. Same thing this year. Unbeknownst to Mobley, shed been abducted in 1998 from a Florida hospital just hours after she was born. The children in her home shower her with love and attention on Mothers Day. At the time, she described her relationship with her brothers and sisters as peaceful and harmonious. Pretending to be a nurse, Williams kidnapped Kamiyah just hours after the little girls birth at University Hospital, which is now known as UF Health Jacksonville. However, at the end of the day, I love my mother and I wholeheartedly support her! The abductor was thought to be between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five, and he may have worn glasses and a wig. As Shanara Mobley struggled to put her life back together following Mobleys kidnapping, everything in Gloria Williamss life seemed to fall into place. The baby was said to have an umbilical hernia, and Mongolian spots on her buttocks, which generally fade as the baby grows. She still calls her Mommy. She exercised. Then, she walked into Shanaras room and found her with her infant daughter. Mobley was raised in South Carolina under the name Alexis Manigo. I dont, he continued. In 1998, a newborn was stolen from a maternity ward at a Downtown hospital just hours after her birth. Thats my first child.. Police tracked down Kamiyah, who was going under the name Alexis Manigo, in Walterboro, South Carolina on January 13, 2017.Police in Walterboro matched up the birthday of the missing girl with a different name and fraudulent documents. It wasnt then what it is now. Shanara Mobley told the Florida Times-Union, in an article published on her first-borns tenth birthday, that each year she would slice a piece of cake for Kamiyah, wrap it in foil, and put it in the freezer. While in a juvenile detention program she met a teen mom with a baby named Kamiyah. But the name Gloria Williams is a name the family will not bring up, he says. "I love her [] It was like the regular, stereotypical mother-daughter relationship," Kamiyah told Today in an interview. She had nightmares. I just didnt want to be here, she said. 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