Newborn Kidnapped From Hospital In 1998 Found Alive
It has been over a decade since a newborn was kidnapped from a Jacksonville hospital in 1998. On Friday she was found living in South Carolina with the woman accused of adducting her.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced the finding of Kamiyah Mobley, now 18 years old, living in a town called Walterboro.
According to the sheriff’s office, tips made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children led officers to Gloria Williams, 51. Williams is the woman accused of kidnapping Mobley from a hospital room at University Medical Center, now known as UF Health-Jacksonville.
Investigators said Mobley was abducted by a woman posing to be a nurse. The woman supposedly entered Mobley’s hospital room and told her mother, Shanara Mobley, that Kamiyah had a fever and needed to be checked over. When the woman left the room with Kamiyah she left the hospital.
At the time of the abduction surveillance cameras were able to capture grainy images of Kamiyah’s abductor. Those images were later released as composite images of Kaliyah and her abductor by authorities.
Tips reported that Kamiyah was alive and living in South Carolina. Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office traveled to South Carolina and with police there arrested Gloria Williams at her home, where she lived with her children.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported that Kamiyah was not home on Friday morning when Williams was arrested.
Kamiyah was identified after a recent DNA swab matched a DNA swab that was taken from Kamiyah when she was born, said the JCSO.
At a news conference Friday, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Kamiyah had a feeling she may have been a kidnapping victim. “I think she had an idea that something occurred,” he said, via WFLA. No other details were given as to why she may have thought she was a kidnapping victim.
“Imagine the gravity of what she’s dealing with,” said Sheriff Williams, via WFLA. A victim’s advocate is with Kamiyah helping her with the life-changing news.
Since Kamiyah is now an adult it is ultimately her decision to reunite with her biological parents.
Williams is facing charges of kidnapping and interference with custody.