Newborn kidnapped from hospital in 1998 found alive

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An 18-year-old girl now living in Walterboro, S.C., has been identified as the child kidnapped from a hospital here hours after she was born in 1998, authorities said Friday.

The kidnapper, visible only on grainy hospital video, never was found. No photos of the child, Kamiyah Mobley, ever were taken.

Gloria Williams, 51, the woman who raised the child as her daughter from infancy, was arrested early Friday, charged with kidnapping and interfering with custody, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said. If convicted, Gloria Williams — whom a neighbor said worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospital in Charleston, S.C.; volunteered in the area for Habitat for Humanity; and led the youth program at a Methodist church — could face life in prison.





In her first court appearance Friday afternoon in Municipal Court in Walterboro, about 200 miles north on Interstate 95 from Jacksonville, Gloria Williams was denied bond, waived her right to an extradition hearing and will return to Jacksonville.

The 18-year-old, in the courtroom with the only mother she's ever known, told Gloria Williams that she loved her and was praying for her. Through the years she came to suspect that she didn't really belong with the people who had raised her, the sheriff said.









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"It is as complicated an investigation as you can imagine," he said. No one else is considered a suspect though the investigation remains open.

In the years since the kidnapping, more than 2,500 tips came in on the case, Mike Williams said.