Abducted: The Carlina White Story Page #11

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when he called me,

and I was like,

"You found my daughter?"

So I left my desk,

and I went downstairs

and I just started crying,

and I started screaming.

The caseworker sent pictures

of the girl they'd identified

as Carlina

to Joy and Carlina's father, Carl.

And when he emailed

me those pictures,

I sat there and I cried.

She looked just like Joy

used to look like in the day.

Then I called Joy up...

I said, "Joy. "

She said, "Yeah"...

I said, "Joy,

she look like

she could be our daughter. "

And then Joy got another call.

And she said, "Hi, Mom,"

and that touched me.

She had me on

speaker... we talked.

My aunts was

in the background yellin',

saying "come home"...

they knew it was me.

Nobody couldn't

believe it.

We were all in here

going crazy... so happy.

Joy notified

the New York City

police department.

I said, "Hello,

my name is Joy White,

"and I'm the mother

of Carlina White

"that was

missin' in 1987,

and she have been found. "

In January 2011,

more than 23 years after

a baby named Carlina White

was stolen from Harlem Hospital,

she was reunited with her

birth parents, Joy and Carl.

Okay, big smile.

I was nervous...

I was definitely nervous.

You want some bread

for that pasta?

She flew up here

from Atlanta,

her and my granddaughter,

and I made sure that, uh,

all the family was here.

They... all the...

all my family came over,

and we cooked,

and we just enjoyed each other.

Look, we go, um, forehead

and everything over here.

Carlina, she was a sweet,

adorable, beautiful girl,

And right away I seen Carl,

her father's, eyes.

"Oh God," I said, "you

got your father's eyes. "

So I hugged her,

and I'm like, "Oh my God. "

She saw tears

comin' from my eyes.

I said, "I can't

believe this. "

Joy comin' downstairs,

and Joy said, "That's our baby. "

And I say, "Yeah,

that's our baby. "

At the time, the reunion

was everything

they had hoped for.

When she was here,

it was like, uh,

nothin' never happened,

like she was never lost.

I didn't feel anything

else but happiness.

She would say to me, like,

"Why're you staring

at me like that?"

I don't think that she

understood

how much I missed her,

and I couldn't believe

that she was in front of me,

and it was just, oh God...

it was just so unbelievable.

The whole thing

is unbelievable.

But after the reunion...

...problems quickly developed.

The story of the young woman

who discovered her true identity

became big news.

Now to an unbelievable

reunion...

of Georgia

had long suspected she

wasn't related

to the people who raised her.

By the time she was

headed home to Atlanta,

where she lived,

the media had descended.

I think she was

a little overwhelmed,

and I think she was

a little spooked

by the attention.

The media attention

had another consequence.

The Pettway family, who

she'd grown up with as Nejdra,

now heard the whole story.

I found out about it on the news.

My emotions were so mixed up.

I was sad.

I was happy that she got

the answers that she wanted.

I was... it was just a bunch of...

a ball of emotions all in me.

Everybody was really happy

for her,

and they told her,

"You found your family,

but we'll still be

your family also. "

Once I did reach out,

they said that nothing

really changed for them.

They still loved me

the same way.

I'm still their cousin.

But there was

still a big question:

What would happen

to Ann Pettway,

whom authorities believed

was the one

who took baby Carlina

from Harlem Hospital?

When police went looking

for her in North Carolina,

where she'd moved,

she was gone.

Her sister says she wanted

to bring her 13-year-old son

to be with her family

in Bridgeport Connecticut.

They make it out

to be like she was

some crazed animal

or something like that,

and... and it wasn't like that.

She knew she had to go and take

care of her responsibilities,

and that's what she went

to go do.

On January 23, 2011,

Ann turned herself in

to authorities in Bridgeport.

She gave a statement saying

she had caused a lot of pain,

but she pled "not guilty"

to the kidnapping charge

brought against her.

She's upset.

Um, she's concerned

about the impact this has

on all the members

of her family.

For every court hearing,

members of the Pettway family

and Carlina White's family

were on hand.

She act like nothin'

never happened,

like she didn't do

anything, and, um,

she have no remorse whatsoever.

My stomach feels sick

when I see her.

But for Carlina,

who was raised by Ann,

the subject

was more complicated.

I would just like to know

what's the reason behind it.

I want to know her side

of the story,

because I don't know her side.

Watching the woman who

raised her face jail time

was difficult,

especially because she was

the one who set it in motion.

I didn't acknowledge that

she was gonna go to jail,

and get tooken away,

you know, from my brother,

and they're separated,

and now he has to come up

without his mom.

I'm-a speak from my heart.

If I was able to give her

another chance, I would.

Her serving time is...

not gonna do much.

The disagreement

over what should happen

to Ann Pettway

caused a serious rift.

I think that they

should lock her up,

and, um, throw

away the key.

I think that she

needs to do life, uh,

for what she did to me.

The anger that they givin' off

is only satisfyin' them.

It's like, you doin' that,

not carin'

about how I'm feelin'.

And other disagreements developed.

At the reunion,

a story came out

that Ann had mistreated Carlina

as she was growing up.

She told me that she

used to beat her with a shoe

and leave a shoe print

on her face.

And, um, when she

told me that, I cried.

For someone else to take

my daughter

and to treat her that way,

you know,

that was very hurtful.

The story caused a crisis

in the Pettway family.

Me and Nejdra sat and cried,

and it hurt us so bad,

because it wasn't that bad.

She was loved...

she was not mistreated.

There was no abuse.

I don't look at it

as me being abused.

It's just, I guess, the words

that they put out there,

They take, you know,

what you say, mix it up

and make it sound

as how they want it to be.

And then there was

the question of money.

In a family where

no one had much,

it became a contentious issue.

The settlement that Joy and Carl

received from Harlem Hospital

had long since been spent.

Things were, uh, rocky,

with, you know,

far as, uh,

the financial situation.

Um, I have kids.

Carl have kids, and, um,

we used the money to live.

That was a choice

that we had to make at the time.

Carlina insisted it

didn't matter.

I could care less

about that money,

'cause I didn't have it

from the beginning.

I was searchin'

just to find who I was.

The situation, so promising

in January 2011,

fell apart quickly.

She went back home,

so we haven't seen her since.

As winter turned to spring,

there was no second reunion.

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