Kamiyah Mobley, an hours-old infant who went missing from a Jacksonville, Florida hospital in 1998, has been located alive. The baby, now 18, was abducted before she could have her metabolic screening. Her mother, Shanara Mobley did test positive for sickle cell anemia and step type B while pregnant.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said in a press conference that Mobley was found and that 51-year-old woman, Gloria Williams was arrested in South Carolina. She’s being brought back to Jacksonville to face charges. Williams was charged with kidnapping and interfering with custody.
|
Advertisement |
According to the Charley Project, authorities never had a photo of Mobley as a baby to use since she was abducted just eight hours after her birth on July 10, 1998 at 7:00 a.m. at Jacksonville’s University Medical Center (now UF Health-Jacksonville).
Authorities could also only describe what Mobley looked like as a baby, noting that she had an umbilical cord hernia (a raised belly button) at birth. She was also born with Mongolian spots on her buttocks, which usually fade six to eight weeks after birth. Police only had composite images, as no photo of Mobley was taken before her abduction. First Coast News reports that authorities did have a hospital video of the abduction, but it was too grainy to help identify the abductor. After Mobley was born, the suspect told Shanara that Mobley had a fever and would be back with Mobley in her arms in 20 minutes. She never came back and the suspect was never seen again. h/t heavy
After the suspect left with Mobley, police searched the hospital and called in the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement to help. There was a $250,000 reward offered, but the leads authorities received did not help.