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Carlina White Biography

Carlina White is an American woman who solved her own kidnapping case and was reunited with her biological parents 23 years.

She had been abducted as an infant from the Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. The case represents the longest known gap in a non-parental abduction where the victim was reunited with the family in the United States. For years, Carlina was living with a woman she thought was her mother, who was, in fact, her kidnapper. She was portrayed by Keke Palmer in the Lifetime film Abducted: The Carlina White Story.

Carlina White Age

Carlina Renae White also known as Nejdra “Netty” Nance, is an American woman who solved her own kidnapping case. She was born on July 15. 1987 in Harlem, New York, United States. Carlina White is 32 years old as of 2019.

Carlina White Daughter | Samani White | Carlina White Daughter Age

Carlina Whites daughter is called Samani White. In 2005, when White was pregnant with her daughter, she requested Pettway to obtain her birth certificate so she could get health insurance. Pettway acquired a forged Connecticut birth certificate, which White attempted to use as proof of identity so she could obtain the health insurance, but the officials told her the document was forged.

At age 23, she turned to sites such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where she found that the images of the kidnapped Carlina resembled infant photos of herself as Nejdra and those of her daughter, Samani.

Carlina White Abduction

Carlina was 19 days old when her parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, took her to the hospital with a fever of 104 °F (40.0 °C) on August 4, 1987. Carlina swallowed fluid during her delivery and had an infection. A woman reportedly dressed as a nurse had comforted the parents at the hospital, but was not a hospital employee. The kidnapper had been seen around the hospital for three weeks prior to the abduction.

The baby disappeared during the early morning, around 2 am when the shifts were changing. The hospital’s video surveillance at the time was not working. They had no way of knowing what the woman in white looked like except for the description given by Joy White and Carl Tyson. The baby had been receiving intravenous antibiotics when, between 2:30 am and 3:55 am, someone removed the IV line and abducted her.

A guard said a woman matching the suspect’s description left the hospital at 3:30 am and that no infant was visible, although the baby could have been concealed in the heavyset woman’s smock.

It was the first case of infant abduction from a New York hospital. A $10,000 reward was offered by the city of New York in 1987 for the return of Carlina. The flyers with the baby’s picture were distributed nationwide but there was no success in locating her. Her parents filed a $100 million suit against the hospital in 1989 and obtained a $750,000 settlement in 1993. Carlina’s parents separated the year after the abduction and remarried.

Carlina White Life as Nejdra Nance

Carlina White was raised as Nejdra “Netty” Nance by Annugetta “Ann” Pettway in Bridgeport, Connecticut, just 45 miles from where her parents had lived. She attended Thomas Hooker School and graduated from Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport. Pettway and White later moved to Atlanta, Georgia. During her teens, White grew suspicious that Pettway was not her birth mother, because of her inability to provide a birth certificate.

When White was pregnant with her daughter in 2005, she requested Pettway to obtain her birth certificate so she could get health insurance. Pettway acquired a forged Connecticut birth certificate, which White attempted to use as proof of identity so she could obtain the health insurance, but the officials told her the document was forged.

In a state of shock later that evening, White confronted Pettway, who broke down and confessed that she was not White’s biological mother. It was entirely surprising to reveal to White as she had begun to notice that she did not share physical traits with Pettway. The kidnapper lied and told White that she had been abandoned by a drug addict.

White turned to sites such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at age 23, where she found that the images of the kidnapped Carlina resembled infant pictures of herself as Nejdra and those of her daughter, Samani. White contacted the center’s hotline and was able to contact her birth family. Test of DNA confirmed in January 2011 that she was, in fact, the missing Carlina White.

Carlina White Investigation and legal proceedings

In 1987, New York City Police Department detectives questioned a woman in Baltimore, who witnesses had identified as having been seen in the hospital, without apparent result.

When Nejdra Nance was confirmed to really be Carlina White, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a search for Ann Pettway. The statute of limitations for the state kidnapping law had expired in New York, but there is no statute of limitations for the federal law on kidnapping. They issued an arrest warrant for Ann Pettway was issued by the North Carolina Department of Correction on January 21, 2011, for violating her probation from a conviction for attempted embezzlement.

White stated, “I just hope that the officials be able to get her in their hands, so we can just hear her side of the story now.” On the morning of January 23, 2011, Pettway turned herself into the FBI office at Bridgeport. She had driven from North Carolina to Connecticut to arrange for her biological son to be taken care of. Pettway told federal investigators that she kidnapped White after enduring several miscarriages because of the stress over whether “she would ever be able to be a parent.”

Pettway did not enter a plea at her arraignment at the U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan, where she faced between 20 years and life in prison for kidnapping. A federal grand jury indicted Pettway on the kidnapping charge on February 17, 2011.

Pettway pleaded guilty on February 10, 2012, to a federal kidnapping charge. Prosecutors agreed to recommend to the judge a prison sentence of 10 to 12½ years as part of a plea bargain. Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Pettway, who was then 50 years old, to 12 years in prison on July 30, 2012.

Carlina White Aftermath

After being reunited with her biological parents, Carlina White’s attorney advised her to ask them about the cash settlement from the hospital. Joy White and Carl Tyson both confirmed that most of this money had been spent during the years before their reunion. Also that a trust fund that had been established was only obtainable if Carlina had been found before the age of 21. The mother later stated that there had been a falling out over the issue of the money.

Robert Baum the Public defender said that he met Carlina White during preparations for Ann Pettway’s trial and that White agreed to testify on Pettway’s behalf in May 2011. White became estranged from her biological parents by the following July. However, several months later, she contacted both of her biological parents individually, having had a bit more time to process the situation; she later publicly stated that the issue over settlement funds was “just a misunderstanding.”

While “Carlina White” is her legal name, as it appears on official documents, she says that she will continue to go by “Netty” in public, since technically, it was neither the name her biological parents gave her, nor the name was given to her by the woman who raised her, but rather is “the name I gave myself.”

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Carlina White’s birth mother fears she won’t get close to abducted daughter even after being reunited

Joy White: Birth mother shares her pain

NEW YORK — The elevator doors swing open on the sixth-floor of a Bronx apartment building, revealing a long, thin banner hanging high on the opposite wall.

The banner is framed by identical photographs of Nejdra Nance, who graduated from Harding High School in 2005, in a sleeveless T-shirt, her young daughter at her side.

“Welcome Home Carlina Renae and Samani,” the banner reads.

But is this her home? And will Nance embrace her real identity and her birth family? Or is she Carlina White in name only — Nejdra Nance, the girl rased by Ann Pettway in Bridgeport.

The DNA tests confirmed she is Carlina White, and that allowed the woman living in the Bronx apartment a dozen yards down the hall to hang this and other banners. That woman is Joy White, who gave birth to Carlina Renae White on July 1987, endured the infant’s kidnapping from Harlem Hospital 19 days later and last month reunited with Carlina Renae White in New York.

Appearing on the NBC “Today Show” on Tuesday morning, Joy White described her fears of losing Carlina Renae White again. Nejdra Nance has since returned home to Georgia, resumed answering to the nickname “Netty,” and started asking Joy White about legal and reward money.

“It’s so hard to explain,” said White, tears welling. “I’m her mother, and it hurts not to have a relationship with her. It really hurts. And I want my daughter back.”

COMPLICATED FROM the START

The longest reunification of a kidnapped child in modern American history was never going to be easy.

“I don’t care how long it’s been,” said John Rabun, a chief operating officer for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which helped connect the family members. “If you’re a parent, you know it’s been 23 years. But when your kid is returned to you, you still expect to get back that baby.”

That, of course, was not going to happen. What’s more complicating is that Carlina’s closest confidant was — and is — Cassandra Johnson, the sister of alleged kidnapper Ann Pettway.

A former Bridgeport resident, Johnson, 43, helped Carlina phone the NCMEC in December, which spearheaded the unraveling of the biological mystery.

Carlina White flew to New York on Jan. 15, Joy White said on Monday and stayed with her biological family for four days.

“I was on much of a high,” White said. “You couldn’t tell me anything else. I was floating on air. I was so happy with the family.”

Then Carlina White flew back to Atlanta, where she lives in the suburb of Snellville with her daughter, Samani, not far from Johnson. When Carlina returned to New York on Jan. 19 — reportedly paid for by the New York Post — her demeanor was different, Joy White said Monday.

“I think it had a lot to do with the Pettway family,” White said. “She’s been with them for 23 years. That’s her family. And I think it’s maybe a lot of pressure on her now, being that she found her mom … and, um, it really hurts. It’s an emotional, overwhelming situation.”

Carlina White hasn’t been back to New York since. This is something that Rabun and the NCMEC tried to prepare the parents for.

“She’s an adult,” Rabun recalls telling Carl Tyson, the biological father. “She’s got her own family. Her mother’s got her own family. Her father’s got his own family.

“I said, `Remember: She’s got her own personality now,’ ” Rabun said. ” `She’s her own person. Reach out to her, God loves you but don’t smother her. You can over parent without even noticing it.’ ”

NO MORE MONEY

On the “Today Show,” Joy White was asked about the $750,000 settlement she and Tyson received in an agreement with Harlem Hospital in the early ’90s. The biological parents each took home about $163,000 and put the remaining $424,000 in a trust fund for Carlina — should she be found by the age of 21.

In July 2009, Carlina turned 22. What became of her trust fund?

“It’s gone,” White said. “We both had to live. We put that money up for her ourselves. And at the time, things were really rocky for me as far as a living situation and stuff like that. And I have two other kids, a son, and a daughter, and I had to take care of myself. I had to live.”

Nance reportedly has also asked about the $10,000 reward for her return — and has reportedly refused to give interviews with the media unless she’s paid, said Meredith Vieira, a “Today Show” anchor. The statement elicited nods from White.

Asked on the show if she’s angry with Nance for this, Joy White said yes.

“I’m disappointed because this was a miracle that happened,” she said. “It’s breathtaking; it’s mind-blowing. I just wanted to get that out there, that we found our daughter. We’re happy; we reunited. I wanted to share that with the world. It really hurts me that it’s about money.

“And that’s what kids are about,” she added. “It’s understandable.” great EXPECTATIONS

The elevator in the Bronx apartment building shuttles back to the ground floor. The ride is slow and disorienting. There’s no signal of what floor you’re on, or if you’re even making progress. Eventually, the doors swing open, spilling out into a wide lobby.

Here there is another banner. It is framed by two photographs of Joy White, Carl Tyson and their biological daughter, Carlina, reunited after 23 years. “Reunited And It Feels So Good,” the banner says.

Right by the door, there are several papers taped to a window. A few announce apartment news. Then there’s a Santa Claus, superimposed on a green wreath, which bears the words: “Ho Ho Ho.”

A third banner hangs above. Joy White is clutching the cheeks of her 23-year-old biological daughter on one side, and they’re both smiling. The other end has a picture of Carlina White, or perhaps Nejdra Nance, all alone. In between, it reads: “Back Together Again At Last.”

Carlina White Iyanla

Iyanla Tried To Fix Abducted Teen Kamiyah Mobley’s Life & This Happened

Iyanla has returned beloveds and one person who wasn’t here for her fixing her life was Kamiyah Mobley. Ms. Vanzant tried to help the 19-year-old, who made national news after it was discovered that a woman posing as a hospital employee abducted the infant from a Jacksonville, FL hospital and raised her as her own.

Stuck with the reality of her new life and torn between loving the woman she’s known as mom and trying to build a bond with her biological family who suffered for almost two decades, things came to an explosive end after Kamiyah blew up on Iyanla and crew following a misunderstanding over an assignment Iyanla gave. It was an uncomfortable episode to watch. Kamiyah often appeared disinterested, defensive and even rarely made eye contact. Let’s take a look at 3 of the revelations that transpired on the Season 5 premiere of Iyanla Fix My Life!

Carlina White Now 2019

Abducted Baby… Alive And Well 23 Years Later

Published on May 3. 2019 in Blog

Too often, the stories we hear about missing children end in tragedy. But it’s the ones that end well that Jess Kimball focuses on. As the author behind the Jess Kimball Thriller Series, I keep myself informed and motivated by the cases of children who were found alive, too.

In 1998 Kamiyah was kidnapped in Florida, just eight hours after being born. Eighteen years later, the true-crime case was cracked by Kamiyah herself. Today I’m going to look at the Carlina White case which has many striking similarities. Both of these cases can teach Jess a thing or two about hope.

Just three weeks after being born, Carlina White developed a high fever. Her worried parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, brought Carlina to the Harlem Hospital in New York where they left her overnight. During a shift change, a woman dressed as a nurse abducted little Carlina. Sadly, the hospital’s surveillance cameras were out of order that night and did not identify Carlina’s abductor.

For the next twenty-three years, Carlina’s parents continued to search for their daughter. Meanwhile, Carlina’s abductor, Ann Pettway, had renamed her Nejdra Nance. Carlina was raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Ann eventually gave birth to a son. As Carlina grew older she began to wonder why she did not look like the rest of her family. After becoming pregnant, her suspicions grew when the woman she called her mother was not able to supply her with a copy of her birth certificate.

In 2010 Carlina was scrolling through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website and came across an image that resembled herself as a baby. A DNA test confirmed that Ann Pettway was not her birth mother and that her real identity was Carlina White. While the discovery brought Carlina’s birth parents’ heartwrenching search to an end, it was the beginning of a confusing journey for Carlina.

While Carlina’s birth parents strongly pushed for Ann Pettway to serve a twenty-year sentence, Carlina expressed mixed emotions and a desire to maintain a relationship with the family that raised her. In 2012 Ann Pettway pleaded guilty to kidnapping Carlina and was sentenced to twelve years in jail.

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