The case of a baby abducted from a Jacksonville hospital nearly 18 years ago has been solved, police said Friday, with the newborn girl grown into a healthy young adult.
Kamiyah Mobley was found alive and well in South Carolina, Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies announced at a news conference.
According to NBC affiliate WTLV-TV, over 2,000 leads came out in the year following her abduction, but all ran dry and the case remained cold for nearly two decades. But officers found Mobley, who was living under a different name, and received a DNA sample which later proved she was the abducted infant.
A tip sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploted Children last year helped break the case, sheriff's officials said on the department's Twitter account.
Police did not release the name Mobley has been living under, but did announce the arrest of 51-year-old Gloria Williams on charges that include kidnapping. It was not immediately clear if she had an attorney.
Mobley was taken from University Medical Center on July 10, 1998, just eight hours after she was born. According to reports at the time, a woman posing as a health care worker entered her room saying the child had a fever and needed to be checked before grabbing Mobley and leaving the hospital.
Surveillance video could not identify the person who took Mobley, with nurses at the time saying that person had been with the baby hours before the abduction. A camera inside the nursery was broken and there were no photos taken of Mobley before the abduction.
Local
Mobley is now in good health, and "a normal 18-year-old woman," according to the sheriff's Twitter account. Her biological family is "elated" but the victim will determine how she'll make contact with them.
