At age 17, most girls just want to have fun. Her daughter sat several rows back, either with an attorney from South Carolina or by herself. In a case that made national headlines, Gloria Williams pleaded guilty in 2018 to the abduction of Kamiyah Mobley, now 23, and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The teen also continues to live in Williams home in South Carolina, saying that she looks forward to the day Wiliams is released. Family, Parents, Siblings, Education. She can reach out to my daughter every daymy sentence wont stop until shes dead., The last time Kamiyah and Shanara spoke was the night before Mothers Day. She was found alive in Walterboro, South Carolina in January 2017. 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. WebBirth Name: Kamiyah Teresiah Tasha Mobley NickName: Alexis Manigo Age: 24 years Date of Birth: 10 July 1998 Place of Birth: Jacksonville, Florida, United States Height: 5 feet 4 inches Weight: Moderate Education: Not available Father: Craig Aiken Mother: Shanara Mobley Siblings: Three Marital Status: Not known Childrens: Not available The trail grew cold for nearly 18 years, but investigators never gave up on finding Kamiyah Mobley. Im only, true enough, Im only 16 years old but I have feelings, too. After Mobley continued calling her names along with threatening her, Vanzant ended the show. DNA tests confirmed that the girl was the missing newborn. Distractify is a registered trademark. The young adult came forward to defend Williams on many occasions, insisting that she raised her with everything she needed. Shanara Mobley, 16, gave birth to Kamiyah on July 10, 1998. Her children, she said, shouldnt have to struggle like she did, and does. The couple split in 2003. We bump heads so much cause we so much alike, Mobley wrote on Facebook with a photo of Shanara in 2021. Growing up in Walterboro, South Carolina, Manigo went to school, attended church, and spent time with her mother, Gloria Williams. "Though the sentence imposed today was more than we had hoped for, we appreciate the time and attention Judge Aho took to fully consider this matter," Johnson added. As for Williams, Shanarawho readily acknowledges that she hates the kidnapperis hoping that the woman will let her daughter go. Unbeknownst to Mobley, shed been abducted in 1998 from a Florida hospital just hours after she was born. In one interview Arika Williams surmises that Gloria Williams may have targeted then-pregnant Mobley at the hospital because she was only 16. The baby was beautiful, she said, and she loved the how the name rolled off her tongue. Doctors wanted to induce labor on June 30, 1998, and told the teenager to go to the hospital. The babys father, Craig Aiken, was in jail on a drug charge. What's more, Kamiyah has publicly criticized the unfair treatment Williams received, stating that the 18-year-long sentence was unnecessary. Coverage that informs. Detective Schoenfeld declined to comment about early investigative inquiries into whether Kamiyahs birth family had anything to do with her kidnapping. Arika told People that Alexis, or Lexy, as her family and friends knew her, started pestering her mother for her birth certificate and Social Security card in 2015 when she started applying for jobs. Kamiyah, now 19, was taken from a Jacksonville hospital just hours after her birth on July 10, 1998, at University Medical Center, which is now UF Health Jacksonville. The serial podcast, a first for the Times-Union, retells the kidnapping of Kamiyah and search for the missing newborn, offering new insights into the case from key figures, including interviews with Kamiyahs mother, Shanara Mobley, then-Sheriff Nat Glover and others, as well as details from court documents and trial testimony. Over the next 2 years Jacksonville Sheriffs Office investigators followed more than 2,000 leads from as far away as Nova Scotia, but none led to Baby Kamiyah. If you want to be her child, be her child. Florida State Attorneys OfficeKamiyah Mobley and her kidnapper, Gloria Williams, who raised her as her own child. She believes people, even the very people she helped financially, have snickered at her. Lowery scoffs at the idea that Williams years spent caring for Alexis diminishes the severity of her crime. I know 18 years might sound like a long time for some people but imagine me going through this for right here for 18 years. Kamiyah Mobley with her biological parents. Shed wrap Kamiyahs piece and place it in the freezer just in case. She pled not guilty on April 5. Kamiyah, then 19, was introduced to her biological mother, Shanara Mobley, and father, Craig Aiken, raced to South Carolina following Williams' arrest. I have never met a good kidnapper. Over the approximately four-year period preceding April 2016, he says, no babies were kidnapped from U.S. hospital maternity wards. DNA testing proved that Kamiyah was not the daughter of Gloria Williams, her abductor. According to the Post and Courier, she screamed at Williams to leave her family alone at one point and told the judge she wanted the death penalty for her daughters kidnapper. Click here to take a moment and familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines. Still, Mobley said, she feels like the community still faults her, believing she played a part in order to get money from the hospital. Williams, for her part, expressed regret for what she had done. She was in an abusive relationship, shed recently lost custody of her two sons, and, worst of all, shed suffered from a miscarriage that she kept from her loved ones. There should be no safer place than a hospital maternity ward, Lowery says. Sometimes, thered be family trip or a big party in honor of the child that wouldnt be there. Kamiyah Mobley was kidnapped on July 10, 1998, only eight hours after she was born. And Gloria Williams trial revealed the tension and deep pain that existed across the two families. The first time round, Gloria stole my baby by herself. 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. As a 2017 article by The Cut reveals, she couldn't go a day without speaking to Williams long after her arrest. Help me to forgive you. But it wasnt exactly the happy reunion shed always imagined. At Friday's sentencing, Williams, 52, was given credit for her 511 days of time served. 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. I dont, he continued. Mobley said she understands that second family, which includes siblings she never before knew, does not change the truth of the past or justify Williams actions. Alexis also told the New York Times that Williams doted on her, taking her on trips to the zoo, to aquariums and Sea World. She is building a relationship with her biological father and his wife. I will tell you what Gloria did changed hospital facilities forever. She was sheltered from very little. I would like to make it very clear that she is my mother, Kamiyah wrote, as reported by WCSC. As Shanara Mobley struggled to put her life back together following Mobleys kidnapping, everything in Gloria Williamss life seemed to fall into place. On the 20th anniversary of the abduction of Kamiyah Mobley from a Jacksonville hospital, the Times-Union andjacksonville.compresent a new podcast, Have You Seen Kamiyah?. Though shed since had more children, shed never forgotten her firstborn baby. Mobley continued to have children: Christopher, Chrisanna, Savannah and Journye, who, at 3, is the youngest. Cord blood is the umbilical fluid that contained Kamiyahs DNA. The sentencing "closes a painful chapter for all involved," Mobley's attorney, Justin Bamberg, said in a statement. Her uncle drove her to the hospital late that Thursday night. That was about a six- to seven-hour job right there, Schoenfeld says. Her claim was repelled. She was one of those mothers, she was like open to sleepovers, open to company. On July 10, 1998, Schoenfeld had just reported for his 4 PM shift as supervisor for the JSOs homicide division, which investigates stranger abductions. Lowery credits hospital security directors and nursing staff for the plunge in maternity ward abductions. Velma Aiken, Kamiyahs paternal grandmother, would blame herself for the next 18 years, constantly regretting not acting on the strange feeling she got when she saw that the nurse carrying baby Kamiyah was also carrying a purse. Williams was sentenced to 18 years in prison in June of 2018. She has not received any major honors yet but based on her work, she may receive nominations in the future. Indeed, the Mobley familys lawsuit, filed in October 1998, and settled in 2000, alleged that newborn Kamiyah was carried down a stairwell, where video surveillance was inadequate. What is a good parent kidnapper? What is a good kidnapper? 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. Its been exciting, Aiken said. Police had to rely on composite drawings of the baby. Williams had miscarried a child a week prior to, which is believed to be Kamiyahs motive for the abduction. I chose to do right: to have a beautiful baby.. According to a WTLV-TV 12 report from January, the younger Mobley and her attorneys were paid $1.2 million in 2000, with an additional $725,000 put into an annuity or structured settlement, so that she could receive monthly payments for life. Aiken says he wasnt aware that Williams filed this motion. Sometimes, it wasnt so splashy. But though Shanara and Aiken had gained their daughter back, Kamiyah Mobley had lost the woman she saw as her mother. Theres nothing she can stop me from doing with my daughter. Family, Parents, Siblings, Education Shanara Mobley, 16, gave birth to Kamiyah on July 10, 1998. WebBirth Name: Kamiyah Teresiah Tasha Mobley NickName: Alexis Manigo Age: 24 years Date of Birth: 10 July 1998 Place of Birth: Jacksonville, Florida, United States Height: 5 feet 4 inches Weight: Moderate Education: Not available Father: Craig Aiken Mother: Shanara Mobley Siblings: Three Marital Status: Not known Childrens: Not available "Kamiyah is now processing what it means for the woman shes known as [her] mother to receive an 18-year prison sentence," he said. Obviously we were let down. In 1998, newborn Kamiyah Mobley was kidnapped from a Florida hospital by Gloria Williams, who had recently miscarried a baby of her own. Im your mother, Kamiyah. On July 10, 1998, Kamiyah Mobley was abducted only eight hours after her birth from a Jacksonville hospital. That was 1998, Schoenfeld says. I feel like Im being robbed all over again every time she reaches out to my daughter, she added. Im not saying they werent going to be good parents, Alexis told ABC reporter Eva Pilgrim, referring to Mobley and Aiken. On July 10, 1998, Kamiyah Teresiah Tasha Mobley was taken from a Florida hospital at the age of eight hours. Im like, 'This is really my baby; so big, so beautiful.' Becky Little. I just want to know about my daughter. However, at the end of the day, I love my mother and I wholeheartedly support her! It wasnt then what it is now. That way she could finally start a relationship with her daughter. Kliff was born in San Antonio, Texas to a Vietnam War veteran father Tim Kingsbury, and a soft tissue sarcoma mother Sally, who died in 2005. She currently lives with her mother, Shanara Mobley, her father, Craig, and their extended family. Then Miss Gloria just broke down and told her, This is why right here, you cant do this. She had been raised under the name Alexis Kelli Manigo. You couldnt see what you wanted to see. Gloria Williams stands with her attorneys as she is sentenced by Judge Marianne Aho in the kidnapping of newborn Kamiyah Mobley, June 8, 2018 at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. Shanara Mobley, birth mother of Kamiyah Mobley, smiles as she leaves the sentencing of Gloria Williams, June 8, 2018 at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. Kamiyah Mobley, who was raised with the name Alexis Kelly Manigo, sits in the courtroom before the sentencing hearing of Gloria Williams, May 3, 2018 at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. Now that some time has passed, Aiken feels hes ready to visit his daughters kidnapper in prison to ask her questions about Mobleys upbringing. But always, there was a cake with candles and shed make a wish or two. It fits with the behaviors weve seen with these abductors They present themselves as a healthcare worker or a nurse. Oh yeah, she calls and still gets on me. Last month in court Williams apologized to Mobley's birth parents. Police were able to compile a few sketches of Williams. Kamiyah was Alexis Kelli Manigo. Robert Lowery is Vice President for Missing Children at NCMEC. The way that children are transported on maternity wards is different. I can see that its my child, but I can also see traits from the kidnapper in her, the mother said. Even though Kamiyahs then-16-year-old mother Shanara Mobley was understandably inconsolable, she made a desperate plea for help on TV. Looking into a video camera, Mobley had this to say to her daughter: If you want to be Alexis, be Alexis. Shanara was pregnant with Kamiyahs fourth maternal sibling at the time. Mobley said she was willing to look past some things, like her daughter knowing she was abducted but not doing anything. Williams declined to address the media but extends "her appreciation to everyone involved in her defense as well as all of the people who either wrote letters or appeared on her behalf," Williams' attorney, Diana Johnson, said in a statement. But no one would know what happened to her for 18 years. Its done on a cart or bassinet. But the relationship between Kamiyah Mobley, her kidnapper, and her birth parents, is anything but simple today. There are monitors placed on children now in many facilities. According to USA Today, Shanara had had a tough life, and she saw her new baby as a chance to get things right. But much of the time she chose not to go. More than 2,500 tips were given to officials that led to the arrest of then-51-year-old Gloria Williams. Required fields are marked *. 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