Gloria Williams, who kidnapped a baby 20 years ago and raised it as her own, was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Friday.
19 year old Kamiyah Mobley, did not attend the sentencing but announced that she accepted the verdict via a statement afterwards.
Williams testified that she never planned to kidnap the baby. “I felt like I was on autopilot. My life was out of control, I lost everything,” Williams said in the court.
According to Williams' testimony, after losing her own baby, she drove to Jacksonville from South Carolina on July 10, 1998.
She entered the hospital at the University Medical Centre in Jacksonville, wearing blue scrubs and surgical gloves, she walked into a room, and placed a baby who was born several hours before into her bag before leaving the hospital.
A sketch of Williams released after Mobley's parents called the police.
Williams changed the baby’s name to Alexis Manigo and raised her in Walterboro, South Carolina until she was arrested in January 2017.
During the past 19 years, Manigo never discovered her true identity until she applied for a driving license and found that she needed a Social Security card.
This eventually led to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children being informed of her whereabouts, shortly after Williams was arrested.
After learning who she really was, the girl changed her name back to Kamiyah Mobley, and spent most of her time with her newfound biological parents while still financially supporting the mother she had lived with for 20 years.
“The family in this case suffered not knowing what happened to their child for approximately 18 years,” Judge Marianne Aho said before announcing the sentence.
“I am going to remain focused on mending my family. Hopefully, the situation will help other parents,” the teen’s biological father, Craig Aiken, said.
Kamiyah (left) grew up in South Carolina with Williams (right) before finding out the truth.
Shanara Mobley, 36, Kamiyah’s biological mother, attended the court to watch Williams as she was sentenced.
For her, no punishment was severe enough to compensate for the pain she had endured over the past 20 years, according to an interview.
“I will always love you, always. But you are not mine. Your mother and father are sitting right here,” Williams said in the court.
“I sympathize with her, I am not mad at her,” Kamiyah said, “Of course, I forgive her.”
Comments
Post a Comment