Kamiyah Mobley Was Kidnapped at Birth, Found Alive
The 18-year-old kidnapped at birth is defending the woman who police say snatched her from a Florida hospital - the woman she called "mom" for nearly two decades. “From that one mistake, I was given the best life,” Alexis Manigo told ABC News. “I had everything I needed or wanted. I had love especially.”
Alexis Manigo is, in fact, Kamiyah Mobley, who was abducted from a Florida hospital in 1998. Last week, she learned her true identity leading to the arrest of 51-year-old Gloria Williams, the woman they say took her and raised the girl as her own daughter in the small town of Walterboro, South Carolina.
A court affidavit filed in the case sheds some light on how police made the discovery. Additional court documents also reveal that a settlement with the hospital where Manigo was abducted set aside money for the kidnapped girl if she was found before her 18th birthday. (Details on both court documents below.)
During a brief court appearance on Friday, Williams told Manigo she loved her. “I love you, too,” Manigo said before bursting into tears.
“I understand what she did was wrong, but just don’t lock her up and throw away the key like everything she did was awful,” Manigo told ABC News. “She loved me for 18 years. She cared for me for 18 years.”
EXCLUSIVE: 18-year-old abducted at birth speaks out on @GMA with@ABC's @EvaPilgrim: https://t.co/GOejfDeDuG pic.twitter.com/kY4uYKtXHU
- Good Morning America (@GMA) January 18, 2017
Here’s what we know so far about this bizarre story:
How was Manigo kidnapped?
On July 10, 1998, Manigo, who was just eight hours old, was kidnapped from University Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida. According to police, Gloria Williams spent hours at the hospital pretending to be a nurse while befriending the baby's mother, Shanara Mobley, who was 16 at the time. Hours after the child’s birth, Williams allegedly told Shanara Mobley she was taking the child for medical treatment and then left with the baby. Hospital workers reportedly thought Williams was a relative.
The abduction launched a massive search with helicopters circling the hospital and the city on high alert. Thousands of tips poured in over the years but authorities had no clue where she was. The only picture of Kamiyah was a composite sketch; there was no actual picture of the newborn.
What did Gloria Williams tell her friends and family about the new baby?
Police aren’t sure why Williams kidnapped Manigo. About 20 years ago, she miscarried in her ninth month, according to WJXT in Jacksonville. The miscarriage led to a nervous breakdown, a family friend told the TV station.
Williams had a baby shower before the miscarriage, according to Arika Williams, who believed she was Manigo’s half-sister. “Gloria was pregnant at the baby shower and had people there bringing homemade quilts saying Alexis’ name on it,” Arika told People magazine.
The man who believed he was Manigo’s father, Charles Manigo, who was Gloria Williams's boyfriend, said his ex-girlfriend told him she gave birth while he was out of town. The two dated until 2003. After their split, the couple shared custody of Manigo.
“She was the love of my life,” he told ABC News.
(People pointed out that a Facebook post that appears to be from Manigo disputes the doting father stories Charles told ABC News. “YOU WERE NOTHING TO ME MY WHOLE LIFE,” the person wrote on Facebook.)
How did Manigo discover she had been kidnapped?
Authorities said last week that Manigo had an inkling she’d been kidnapped, which led to a DNA test and, ultimately, a match through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But Manigo has so far declined to elaborate on what led to that feeling in the first place.
However, Arika Williams told People that Manigo learned her true identity about two years ago. According to Arika, Manigo got a job at a local restaurant, which needed her birth certificate and social security number.
“Lexy didn’t have that so she asked Miss Gloria for it and Miss Gloria kept brushing it off,” Arika said. “Lexy kept being hard on her mother, like ‘Momma, where is my stuff? I want to get this job.’ Then Miss Gloria just broke down and told her this is why right here, you can’t do this. I kidnapped you.”
Police say they aren’t sure what she knew. “We know that obviously there was conversation about her maybe not being her daughter,” Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams told People. “Did she confess completely to her, or did she just give her pieces of it? We are not quite sure at this point.”
An arrest warrant affidavit sheds more light on the timeline. Roughly a year and a half ago, the document says, Manigo learned of her kidnapping. Last summer, she admitted this to a friend and then, on August 8, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an anonymous tip about Manigo. The center contacted authorities.
Exactly three months later, on November 8, the center received a second anonymous tip. This one said Gloria Williams had admitted the abduction to associates.
On Jan. 10, detectives from Florida went to Walterboro to track down Manigo's birth certificate and social security card from her high school. Both were fraudulent. The Social Security number listed on the card was for a man in Virginia who had died in 1983.
Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in Florida then obtained a cheek swab from Manigo. The DNA tests confirmed her identity.
What happens next?
On Saturday, Manigo, who is living in Walterboro, South Carolina, met her biological parents for the first time. "First meeting was beautiful, it was wonderful, couldn't went no better ... she was glad to meet us," Her father, Craig Aiken, told WCSC in South Carolina.
Manigo told ABC News she plans to give her biological parents a chance. “I’m not saying they weren’t going to be good parents,” she said. “I’m not saying that at all. It would have been a different life. When you find out you have another family out there it’s just more love.”
Manigo visited her biological family in Jacksonville on January 21, when she went to a birthday party for her biological father at a local nightclub, according to WJXT in Jacksonville. All of her biological family members on her dad side were at the club.
But Manigo also said she speaks with Gloria Williams daily. “She will always be my mom,” she said.
Williams, who is charged with kidnapping and interference with custody, appeared in court for a second time on Wednesday, Jan. 18, where she was denied bail. If convicted, Williams faces a possible life in prison, according to the Fox affiliate in Jacksonville.
But Manigo’s testimony could influence the sentencing (again, if she’s convicted).
"Kamiyah could also be the person to advocate on behalf of Gloria and say, 'Listen, she treated me so well. This is the only mother I know.' And Kamiyah may be able to have that same influence on her biological parents," Jacksonville attorney Rhonda Peoples-Waters told WJXT in Jacksonville.
Williams’s next court appearance is Feb. 8, when she’ll likely enter a plea.
What about the money the hospital set aside for Manigo?
Previously sealed court documents offer details on the settlement University Hospital in Jacksonville reached with Manigo's biological mom, Shanara. In 2000, according to FirstCoast News, the ABC affiliate in Jacksonville, the hospital paid $1.9 million to Shanara and her lawyers. An additional provision set aside $725,000 to be paid to Shanara at a rate of about $3,000 per month for the rest of her life.
FirstCoast News said Shanara sold her future rights to 120 months worth of payments in 2009 in exchange for a lump sum. She did this because of financial hardship.
But the hospital also established a separate fund for Manigo: $307,000, in the form of an investment fund, which would be paid to her if she was found alive by July 10, 2016-her 18th birthday. Otherwise it goes to her mother, Shanara.
It's unclear whether Manigo received that payment or if it went to her mother, according to FirstCoast News.
This story was updated on January 25 with new information from the court affidavit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Follow Michael on Twitter.
You Might Also Like
