A South Carolina woman who is in prison for kidnapping a baby from a hospital and raising her as her own will not see her 18-year prison sentence reduced after a judge rejected her request.
In 1998, Gloria Williams kidnapped Kamiyah Mobley from a Jacksonville, Florida, hospital just hours after her biological mother, a then-16-year-old Shanara Mobley, gave birth to her.
The crime wasn’t discovered until 2017, and Williams subsequently pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
In December, she asked the judge to cut her time behind bars in half, citing good behavior and personal development.
Kamiyah, now 23, supported her efforts, writing a letter in which she called Williams her mother and asked ‘for the court’s grace and mercy.’
But according to the Atlanta Black Star, Duval County Circuit Judge Marianne Aho denied her motion, saying that it was filed too late, but even so, she ‘did not find a basis to undo the original sentencing judges’ decision.’
In 1998, Gloria Williams kidnapped Kamiyah Mobley from a Florida, hospital hours after she was born (pictured together). A judge has denied a request to reduce her 18-year jail sentence
Williams’ motion to reduce her sentence included a letter saying that she had completed character development and faith programs. She also said she wanted to become a certified peer facilitator.
‘There are many things I have learned since coming to the Department of Corrections, but the overall lesson of my incarceration has been one of accountability,’ she wrote.
‘I know and understand now that there is a ripple effect, that the consequences of my actions are never mine to suffer alone.
‘What I see happening is Kamiyah is bringing her biological family to South Carolina to introduce them and to spend time with my mother (her nana), her sisters, nieces and nephews,’ she went on.
‘Everyone is coming together to give Kamiyah the best of both worlds and to bring her life into fulfillment.’
Kamiyah also wrote a letter to the judge, which was which was obtained by Actions News Jax.
Kamiyah wrote a letter in support of Williams’ bid for a reduced sentence. She said Williams raised her, provided for her needs, and loved her unconditionally, and she grew up well
‘I am writing this letter in support of my mother, Gloria Williams,’ Kamiyah wrote. ‘I would like to make it clear that she is my mother. She raised me, and not only provided for my needs, but she loved me unconditionally.
‘I had a well-rounded life; and I am an independent, college educated, and deeply spiritual person, because of all my mom gave me. I am fully aware of how our lives came to be, what they are, and how my mom came to be my mom.
‘I have met my birth parents, and I am grateful to have me my birth parents, and I am grateful to have a 2nd family in my life — especially to have siblings.
‘I understand that none of this modifies the truth of the past, nor does it justify my mom’s actions in any way,’ she continued,
‘However, at the end of the day, I love my mother and I wholeheartedly support her! I ask for the court’s grace and mercy, as I need my mother home.’
The letter was included in Williams’ motion to a judge to consider shortening her sentence in December.
Williams was arrested in 2017 and pleaded guilty to kidnapping. In 2018, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison
Williams’ motion to reduce her sentence included a letter saying that she had completed character development and faith programs
Williams pretended to be a nurse when she snatched Kamiyah, then just a few hours old, from the hospital
Williams had worked at the medical records department at Joint Base Charleston and pretended to be a nurse when she took Kamiyah from the hospital in 1998.
She had recently miscarried but kept it a secret, so her family always assumed that Kamiyah was her biological daughter.
She raised her as Alexis Manigo in Walterboro, South Carolina, with her two sons, Antoine and Andre.
She told Kamiyah her biological father was Charles Manigo, who worked at a car dealership, and that the pair had split before she was born.
Kamiyah considered stepdad Wrenoskie Williams, a 55-year-old truck driver whom Williams married when Kamiyah was in middle school, more of a father figure.
The deception finally began to unravel when Kamiyah applied for a restaurant job two years before Williams was arrested in 2017.
When she demanded her social security number, Williams broke down and confessed to the abduction.
Kamiyah pieced together the majority of her backstory by herself from Google. She once called her biological mother, but hung up when she heard her voice.
‘I would like to make it clear that she is my mother. She raised me, and not only provided for my needs, but she loved me unconditionally,’ Kamiyah said
‘I had a well-rounded life; and I am an independent, college educated, and deeply spiritual person, because of all my mom gave me,’ she went on
‘At the end of the day, I love my mother and I wholeheartedly support her! I ask for the court’s grace and mercy, as I need my mother home,’ she wrote
According to court documents, investigators finally cracked the case based on two tip offs: a friend who said Williams confessed to them, and an individual who claimed to have heard it from Kamiyah.
In January 2017, police arrested Williams on charges of kidnapping and interference with custody.
Kamiyah, then 19, was introduced to her biological mother, Shanara Mobley, and father, Craig Aiken, raced to South Carolina following Williams’ arrest.
Mobley was just 15 when she became pregnant with Kamiyah. Aiken was in jain when she gave birth on on July 10, 1998.
Around eight hours later, Mobley remembers a woman wearing blue scrubs and surgical gloves coming into the room at Jacksonville’s University Medical Centre.
Still exhausted and groggy from giving birth, she assumed the kindly figure carrying away her 8 lb. 2.5 oz, infant was a nurse.
Within hours, Mobley would be in front of national news cameras pleading hysterically for the return of her daughter.
‘When they first handed Kamiyah to me I said “open your eyes so you can see how pretty your mama is.” She smiled right back at me, it was the best feeling ever,’ Mobley told DailyMail.com in 2018.
Williams had recently suffered a miscarriage and passed off Kamiyah as her own
‘I was groggy, I was a young girl getting my first epidural. Then this lady comes in, nicely spoken, intelligent woman. She befriended me. She seemed to be really nice and so kind but she was evil at the same time. She was a devil dressed up in sheep’s clothing.
‘I let her hold the baby and now that I look back on that day, she looked at the baby as if she was perfect. She looked at her like, yeah, this is the one.’
It was Aiken’s mother, Velma, who first realized something was wrong when she caught a glimpse of the ‘nurse’ picking up Mobley’s baby bag on the way out.
Suspicious family members alerted staff who raced around the hospital but couldn’t find any trace of the newborn infant.
Mobley recalled how investigators were so baffled by the disappearance they started accusing her of selling her own baby.
‘Before Gloria came into my room she was in another lady’s room but the girl’s parents walked in there and the kidnapper immediately got up and walked out,’ she revealed.
‘She was deliberately targeting women my age maybe because she didn’t think they would believe us. The detective punched my hospital bed and said, “What did you do with that baby!” They accused me of selling her or giving her away.
‘I think they should be lenient. It’s not like she took me and tortured me my whole life. She took care of me very well,’ Kamiyah said
‘They wanted me to confess to something I didn’t do. I think they thought that way right up until the day she was found.
‘People still say to this day that I sold her to Gloria. They would say that woman ain’t gonna go to jail by herself, she’s gonna snitch on Craig and Shanara.
‘That’s what the woman did to me for all these years. Not only did she steal my child, she had people thinking I was a liar.’
As days became months and months became years, Mobley fell into a devastating depression, splitting up with Aiken, and contemplating suicide.
Exacerbating her anguish were the constant rumors and accusations that she had somehow played a part in Kamiyah’s disappearance.
When they were finally reunited 19 years later, they ’embraced for five to ten minutes. No words can express how I felt,’ said Mobley.
But when DailyMail.com caught up with Kamiyah one year later, she admitted that she was torn between her true identity and her upbringing as Alexis Manigo.
She went by different names on different occasions, spending weekends and holidays with Aiken but still living at her childhood home in Walterboro and calling Williams each week in jail.
Kamiyah even issued a plea for leniency on her kidnapper’s behalf, telling DailyMail.com: ‘It’s not like she tortured me.’
Kamiyah, then 19, was introduced to her biological mother, Shanara Mobley (pictured), and father, Craig Aiken, raced to South Carolina following Williams’ arrest
She has built relationships with them but is still close with Williams and phones her in prison
She has also had the opportunity to get to know her younger siblings
Kamiyah has had plenty of special moments with Mobley — but by 2018, Mobley had grown tired of being ‘disrespected’ by Kamiyah, who continued to have contact with Williams.
‘When we first met we were inseparable. We talked every day. I felt she would just come on into our lives,’ she said.
‘I didn’t know this kidnapper had such a hold on her. I can see that it’s my child but I can also see traits from the kidnapper in her. She would defend the kidnapper to me. She blames me for everything. I think she blames me that this woman is sitting in jail.
‘She’s blocked now because I don’t want to argue with her. I’m tired of being hurt. I’m not saying there’s not a time that we can get closer but I really should not have to compete with that woman.’
She even issued an ultimatum, insisting: ‘I shouldn’t have to compete with a kidnapper – she has to pick one of us.’
‘It’s like a tug of war between us. Whenever I feel I’m winning her back, boom, the other side pulls me down,’ she said.
‘Nobody acknowledges my pain. I feel like I’m being robbed all over again every time she reaches out to my daughter.
‘Every phone call they share, every Mother’s Day card Kamiyah sends her, it just makes the pain worse. I’m being rejected for a kidnapper, how do you think that feels?’
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk