By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. January 21, 2011 / 6:45 PM Her parents already did that on her behalf and had long since spent the $750,000 settlement by the time she learned her true identity. Leonardo DiCaprio keeps it low-key as he leaves a friend's birthday party wearing face . However, several months later, she contacted both of her biological parents individually, having had a bit more time to process the situation; she later publicly stated that the issue over settlement funds was "just a misunderstanding." "I wasn't able to take my daughter to school, take my daughter to day care, watch my daughter get on the bus and, you know, have birthday parties with my daughter," he said. Ann Pettway, 51, had pleaded guilty to kidnapping in February and offered details of the 1987 kidnapping. At that point, 23-year-old White started scouring the internet for clues as to her true identity. It was wrong.''. Pettway finally had to confess to White that she wasnt her biological mother. The dad is like I was talking to a stranger.. Her parents were thrilled about the new addition to their family, but when White was just 19 days old, she developed a high fever. Carlina White/FacebookCarlina White was reunited with her birth parents in 2011. Joy White (Sherri Shepherd) confronts Ann Pettway (Aunjanue Ellis), the woman who kidnapped her baby girl and raised her as her own, in this scene from Abduc. She was released in April 2021, after serving her time in Alabama. Pettway turned herself into FBI officials in Bridgeport, Conn., on Sunday. The woman who raised White told authorities that she tried to create a fake birth certificate for her, renaming her Nejdra Nance, but was unable to create a fake document that appeared real, according to court documents. In 2010, she noticed that a photo of a missing child in a database looked like her own daughter Samani, according to the Chicago Tribune. Pettway boarded a train for her home in Bridgeport, Conn., and told friends and family member the baby was her child. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. Her skin was much lighter than Pettways, and though relatives often called her little Ann, she didnt see a physical resemblance at all. "For 23 years, Ann, you had me suffering. Relatives told CBS station WCBS that White was raised in an abusive home in Connecticut and then later moved to Georgia. "She's concerned about the impact this has on all the members of her family, but she is trusting that all the true facts will come out and when they do, she will be looked at in a very different light," Baum said. hospital to rest after their baby was admitted in the middle of the "Now I have two moms and two dads and my life is richer now because of that," White told the outlet, noting that she was writing to Pettway in prison. Pettway then admitted that she was someone else's daughter, but claimed she had been abandoned by a drug addict. To secure medical assistance from the state, she had to provide her original birth certificate. White explained, There was a part of me that wasnt even there, and now I feel whole. Plus, flyers with her photos and information had been circulated nationwide. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After a quick visit, White returned to the airport to catch her flight back to Atlanta. Ann Pettway faces at least 20 years in prison. Though White distanced herself from her birth parents for some time after their initial reunion due to the overwhelming media attention and her complicated feelings for the family that raised her, she toldNew Yorkin late 2011 that they were on good terms and spoke occasionally on the phone. ABC News' Kaitlyn Folmer contributed to this report. Here's everything we know about White's miraculous case, from her shocking kidnapping to her triumphant reunion with her birth parents. It was wonderful, she didnt even seem like a stranger, she just fit right in, Whites biological grandmother Elizabeth White said. She then reached out to the organization, which put her in touch with her birth parents. Daniels, with the help of the FBI, arranged a neutral location to meet Pettway. Though White was already somewhat suspicious of the fact that she seemingly bore no physical resemblance to Pettway, the first real red flag appeared in 2005, when White got pregnant and asked Pettway for her birth certificate so she could obtain health insurance. Joy White said she remembered Pettway, posing as a nurse, consoling her before picking up the baby and waking away. She knew something was wrong but when Netty confronted Ann Pettway, the woman who raised her, Pettway told her that her mother was a crack addict who deserted her and never came back. Shockingly, between 2:30 a.m. and 3:55 a.m., someone removed the IV from baby White and abducted her from the hospital. The indictment against Ann Pettway was. White nonetheless searched for her biological parents for several years, eventually finding a photo on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website that looked like her own daughter. Soon, she got in touch with her biological family. Dis friends have said she referred to the doctor as the love of her life.. "It was wrong," Pettway told the judge when she entered her guilty plea today in a New York courtroom. Police began a thorough investigation, and for a while they thought they had a suspect. A family member worked with authorities to arrange Pettway's surrender. According to ABC News, Pettway initially went on the run after White's story made the news, but she eventually surrendered to police. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Carlina Renae White was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City on July 15, 1987. It wasn't until White was in high school that she. The statute of limitations for the state kidnapping law had expired in New York, but there is no statute of limitations for the federal law on kidnapping. DNA tests last year confirmed her as the daughter of Joy White and Carl Tyson. We all went up there, we had dinner together, her aunts were there. I just always believed that she would find me. A North Carolina woman accused of snatching a newborn from a New York hospital more than two decades ago has been indicted on a kidnapping charge. Nevertheless, the family continued to try to build a relationship, and White flew to New York to meet them for the first time. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Even the City of New York offered a $10,000 reward. "We say listen, the Whites . The last thing Joy White could recall about the nurse was a bizarre comment she made as her newborn daughter was admitted: The baby dont cry for you, you cry for the baby. She now believes it was the womans attempt to get rid of her. Meanwhile, Carlina's abductor, Ann Pettway, had renamed her Nejdra Nance. Sentencing is scheduled for May 14, 2012. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It wasn't until 2010, when she was 23 and living in Atlanta, that she decided to try expanding her search outside of Connecticut, and found a photo of a baby who had been abducted in 1987 and looked just like her own young daughter on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's website. "I'm not really satisfied with the sentence because I figure Ann Pettway should have received 23 years in jail because Ann took 23 from me," said White's biological father, Carl Tyson. Heres how it works. Carlina White's biological father, Carl Tyson, doesn't believe that Pettway is sorry. Kates coat was a Catherine Walker rewear; Diana wore her Moschino suit numerous times. Instead, Ann had experienced several miscarriages and failed pregnancies, and it was the stress of not knowing whether shed ever become a mother again that led her to kidnap baby Carlina. In July 2012, Pettway was sentenced to twelve years in prison. [16] Her lawyers had asked for leniency, saying Pettway had been severely depressed after suffering from multiple miscarriages and stillbirths. As documented in the show, White was was kidnapped by Ann Pettway in 1987 when she was 19 days old. (CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Ann Pettway, the woman who kidnapped a newborn from a New York City hospital more than two decades ago and raised the girl as her own, pleaded guilty Friday to a kidnapping. "I took a child. Of all the missing children cases in Episode 6 of Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2, only one has a happy ending: the case of Carlina White, who was eventually reunited with her family. Pettway posed as a nurse, took the baby from the couple and pretended to take her for treatment. Pettway did not enter a plea at her arraignment at the U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan, where she faced between 20 years and life in prison for kidnapping. Netty said this about the whole ordeal: Im not mad at Ann any more. Pettway went on the run after the kidnapping and reunion of White with her biological family made headlines, police said. New York, She was wanted on a parole violation in North Carolina but is accused of kidnapping Carlina . However, the judge said she was selfish and "inflicted a parent's worst nightmare on a couple." [10][11] White stated, "I just hope that the officials be able to get her in their hands, so we can just hear her side of the story now. White recognizes that she caused her biological family pain when she pulled away after meeting them, but she was overwhelmed by the media attention and felt guilt about abandoning the family who raised her. She did not believe she would ever be able to be a parent," according to a court document filed by FBI Special Agent Maria Johnson who interviewed Pettway. She pleaded guilty in February to kidnapping the three-week-old Ms White from hospital. The case represents one of the longest known gaps in an abduction in which the victim was reunited with the family in the United States. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. She has been incarcerated since surrendering to Bridgeport police in January, ending a several-day manhunt that began in North Carolina. But no one ever came forward, and the parents had to wait 23 years before gaining some closure. Tyson also went on to talk about all the things he never got to experience with his daughter. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Angry protests erupt over Greek rail disaster, How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists, Fire knocks out half of Argentina's power grid, How 10% of Nigerian registered voters delivered victory, Sake brewers toast big rise in global sales, The Indian-American CEO who wants to be US president, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip. It's believed that she is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama, to complete her term. But now I know who I am. Carlina keeps in touch with her birth parents, but they are not. Carlina White's father, Carl Tyson, insinuated the punishment was too lenient and felt as though Pettway should receive prison time equivalent to the years his daughter was kept away from him. Pettway kept repeating, She left you and never came back.. Joy White and Carl Tyson had brought their newborn daughter to the hospital after she developed an infection and high fever; within a few hours, she was smuggled out of the hospital by Ann Pettway. A security guard had seen someone matching the womans description leave the hospital around 3:30 a.m. She didnt have a baby with her, but he believed it was possible that the missing infant had been hidden in her smock. I'm here to right my wrong," she said in court. Carlina White described Pettway to the New York Post last year as an abusive mother who would throw things like shoes at her. On Aug. 4, 1987, Joy White and Carl Tyson rushed their newborn daughter, Carlina White, to the hospital due to a fever. She did not believe she would ever be able to be a parent," a court document filed by FBI Special Agent Maria Johnson, who interviewed Pettway, stated. [3] A guard said a woman matching the suspect's description left the hospital at 3:30am, and that no infant was visible, although the baby could have been concealed in the heavyset woman's smock. She contacted the agency and finally learned the truth in 2011. After being unable to shake off a sense that she did not belong to the family that raised her, Carlina White began her own inquiries. In his, Carl told Pettway, "What you should get is 23 years, what you took away from me," while Joy said, "I'm broken into a million pieces." The Whites had brought their 19-day-old infant, who had a high fever, to Harlem Hospital in Manhattan on August 4, 1987. She claimed that White was abandoned by her mother at birth. That was something that I always believed in myself, you know, that she would come and find me and thats the same way that I thought it would happen, Joy White said of receiving the miraculous email. White, who had been brought to the hospital with a fever by her concerned parents at 19 days old and was hooked up to an IV. Prosecutors increased their recommended sentence to 20 years, saying they had uncovered new facts about the case. White was discovered missing early in the morning of Aug. 4, and a security guard reported having seen a woman matching Pettway's description leaving the hospital around 3:30 a.m. Pettway raised White as Nejdra Nance, nicknamed Netty, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with the help of her own mother. White solved the case herself 23 years later after finding her photo on a website with images of missing children. The case made headlines internationally and solved a mystery that had baffled police for more than two decades. This also included an attempted embezzlement charge from 2010. The hospital had video surveillance, but at the time it was not working. 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