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Kidnapped Baby Carlina White Reunited with Mother After 23 Years
Carlina White as an infant.
Carlina White has excellent instincts. The 23-year-old recently solved the mystery of her own kidnapping and was reunited with her birth mother, Joy White. Carlina was born in Harlem Hospital on August 4, 1987 and stolen from the maternity ward. It’s unclear who actually abducted Carlina, but she was raised by a woman named Cassandra Pettway, who now lives in Georgia. Carlina was reared in Connecticut under the alias Nejdra Nance. Understandably, Carlina feels no sympathy for her “bogus” mother, as The New York Daily News describes her. She told reporters, “I want her to suffer. I want her to do some time, like I suffered for 23 years.”
What is most remarkable about Carlina’s story is that her own doubts about her identity led her to solve her cold case. According to the Daily News, “she began questioning whether she was really Pettway’s kin after her 16th birthday.” Carlina’s suspicions were confirmed when she became pregnant at age 19 and “asked her fake mom for some paperwork on her background.” Carlina says that was when “That lady told me she wasn’t my mother.”
Carlina began looking for herself on missing children sites, contacting the center for missing children in late December. According to the Daily News, police “found three possible matches – including the 1987 hospital abduction.” DNA tests were taken and matched Tuesday night, confirming that Joy White and Carl Tyson are indeed Carlina’s parents. Joy, Carl, Carlina and her 5-year-old daughter, Samani, are getting to know each other this week in New York. An incredible ending to an unbelivable journey!
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[...] tracks breaking parenting news, adding dynamic discussion and insightful commentary. carlinawhite – Google Blog Search Carlina White has finally reunited with her biological parents, Joy White and Carl [...]
Baby girl stolen from hospital in New York 23 years ago reunites with mother | Popular Searches commented on Jan 20 11 at 1:38 pmMistress_Scorpio commented on Jan 20 11 at 10:30 amSo good to hear a happy ending to one of these cold abduction cases. Every night on my local news they flash the picture of some missing child that is never heard about, never searched for nationally… and I wonder why some cases get wide attention and others get no attention at all.
Manjari commented on Jan 20 11 at 11:00 amM_S, It often seems like a race/class bias when it comes to media attention, in my opinion.
While this is sort of a happy ending, it still seems sad that she missed an entire childhood with her parents. It has to be so hard for her parents too, to suddenly have an adult child and think about all the time they lost.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Jan 20 11 at 12:47 pmExcellent points, Manjari. Upon further thought, this is only the beginning of a possible happy ending. There have got to be a load of issues and feelings to be unpacked here. I hope the reunited family gets the benefit of counseling to see them through the inevitable backlog of conflicting emotions.
lee commented on Jan 21 11 at 2:02 pmi agree with Manjari
i love this site but there were so many post about the new zodiac sign, but one mentioning this story.
mandy commented on Jan 21 11 at 11:22 pmThis is heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine the pain Carlina must be going through. I think I would not even know who I was – like my whole life was a lie. I can imagine that she might be feeling resentment for the family that raised her. And I also think it would be difficult to feel a connection with a brand new family that you don’t even know. Uggg, it makes me nauseous to think what it must have been like for her parents to lose her. I don’t think I could have recovered from that!
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