Teen Allegedly Abducted as Newborn Cries, Calls Out to 'Mama' at Hearing

Kamiyah Mobley was raised as Alexis Manigo
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2017 2:20 PM CST

Heartbreaking video shows Kamiyah Mobley, the 18-year-old abducted as a newborn and raised by a family not her own, sobbing and reaching out toward the woman accused of kidnapping her all those years ago. Gloria Williams, 51, who is accused of posing as a nurse and taking Mobley from her mother's Florida hospital room, had a hearing in South Carolina Friday to waive her right to an extradition hearing. In video obtained by First Coast News, Williams can be seen blowing a kiss to Mobley at the end of the hearing as Mobley begins to cry. A longer version of the video posted to Twitter shows Mobley walking over to the screened window, behind which Williams stood, and reaching out for her through the mesh screen while crying, "Mama." A First Coast News reporter tweeted that Mobley told Williams "she was 'praying for her' and 'loved her.'"

Williams reportedly had a miscarriage a week before she drove to Jacksonville and allegedly took Kamiyah, raising her as her own daughter in South Carolina, Walterboro Live reports. Williams has two younger children, and officials have determined she is their biological mother. Kamiyah was raised Alexis Manigo, News4Jax reports. "I've seen Alexis grow up," says a friend who's known the family for 15 years. "I've seen her in church and in the community. She's very well read, very mannerly, disciplined." Per AP, the Jacksonville sheriff says that since learning the truth, Kamiyah—who reportedly "had an inclination" months ago that she may have been kidnapped, though authorities won't say why that was—has been emotionally overwhelmed. But her birth family is overjoyed to learn she's alive and well, and was able to FaceTime with her Friday. "She act like she been talking to us all the time," her grandmother says. "She told us she'd be here soon to see us." (More kidnapping stories.)

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