Ann Pettway & Gloria Williams: A Tale of Two Sinister Child Abductors

Not only am I a fan of Lifetime films, I am also a Black fan of Lifetime films. I always enjoy Lifetime films regardless, but I have loved seeing a handful of such movies featuring a cast of Black actors. Recently, we were treated to a pair of thrillers in Single Black Female, whose cast included Amber Riley (Glee), Raven Goodwin, and Janet Hubert (the original Aunt Viv), and the film Line Sisters, which featured LeToya Luckett and Ta'Rhonda Jones. Lifetime has also featured some true stories in their films, with some of them affecting the Black community.

One known case was the abduction of Carlina Renae White, which occurred on August 4, 1987. Carlina was born to parents Joy White and Carl Tyson 19 days prior, but on the day in question, she was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a 104 degree fever. It was on that day that a woman, revealed as Annugetta "Ann" Pettway, introduced herself to Carlina's parents as a nurse, before walking off with baby Carlina. Ann's motive for the abduction: she had several miscarriages, which she claimed were caused by stress over her parenting skills. Carlina was renamed Nejdra Nance ("Netty" for short) by Ann, who raised her in Bridgeport, Connecticut--just 45 miles away from Carlina's Harlem birthplace.

It wasn't until the age of 18 that Carlina began to suspect that Ann wasn't her biological mother, and when she became pregnant with her own daughter, Carlina asked Ann for a birth certificate so she could apply for health insurance, with Ann providing a forged document, which was pinpointed quickly. This led to Carlina confronting Ann, who admitted that she wasn't Carlina's biological mother, but cruelly told Carlina that she was abandoned by a drug addict. It wasn't until Carlina went online and saw photos of herself as an infant that she realized that she had been abducted by her so-called "mother," with a DNA test confirming her true identity as Carlina White.

Ann Pettway turned herself in to the FBI on January 23, 2011, two days after a warrant was out for her arrest for violating probation in regards to a past embezzlement conviction. She was indicted on February 17 of that year, but almost a year later on February 10, 2012, Ann pleaded guilty to a federal kidnapping charge, and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison. She was released from prison on April 14, 2021. As for Carlina, she reunited with her birth parents, but she continues to go by "Netty" in public.

It was on October 6, 2012 that Lifetime aired Abducted: The Carlina White Story, the film based on the case. Keke Palmer portrayed the titular Carlina White, while Aunjanue Ellis played real-life villainess Ann Pettway. Both performances were stellar, and in regards to Ellis, she portrayed Ann as exactly what she was: a selfish and cold-hearted villainess.

A similar abduction occurred just over a decade later in Jacksonville, Florida; on July 10, 1998, 16-year-old Shanara Mobley gave birth to a daughter, Kamiyah, who was abducted eight hours later by Gloria Williams. Similar to Ann Pettway, Gloria committed the abduction dressed as a nurse, and it was revealed that she was in an abusive relationship and had miscarried a week prior to taking Kamiyah, who she later renamed Alexis Manigo. Gloria had raised Kamiyah and her two other children in South Carolina, but by 2017, news of Kamiyah's abduction finally made national headlines.

Kamiyah was swabbed after tips suggested that she and Alexis were one in the same, and following the confirmation, Gloria Williams was arrested and extradited to Florida. Gloria pleaded guilty in February of 2018, and on June 8 of that year, she was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with her release scheduled for July 9, 2034. On January 18, 2020, a year and a half after the trial's end, Lifetime aired Stolen by My Mother: The Kamiyah Mobley Story, which had Robin Roberts as the film's executive producer. Regarding the cast, comedian/actress Niecy Nash (from the recently ended Claws series, among many other things) played Gloria Williams, Rayven Ferrell played Kamiyah Mobley, and the aforementioned Ta'Rhonda Jones (Empire) played Shanara Mobley.

About Shanara, while Carlina White's story ended very well, the same couldn't be said for Kamiyah's reunion with her mother. It has been documented that since the trial's end, Kamiyah not only made visits to Gloria in prison, but she continued to refer to Gloria as her mother. Shanara had voiced her anger over her daughter's visits, and even went as far as to publicly say that she wished that Kamiyah had never returned to her, and also voiced hope that Gloria would actually die in prison (during sentencing, Shanara wanted the death penalty for Gloria, which isn't appropriate for abduction), adding that it would be the only way that Shanara could be a mother to her own daughter. I actually learned this from the film before seeing the truth online, and seeing Ta'Rhonda Jones portray that anger and viciousness was very surprising.

I've always known that kidnapping and the people who commit such a crime were evil; the Carlina White case is one of many, many instances. However, the Kamiyah Mobley case really showed the cruelty of such an act. So many lives ruined. Kamiyah was so used to her abductor raising her that she continued to contact her. Shanara's anger and bitterness consumed her to the point where she uttered vicious statements in regards to not only Gloria, but Kamiyah as well. It's an aftermath filled with nothing but trauma amongst all parties involved and affected.

Kudos to Lifetime for featuring these real life stories on their network, especially since it's been known for so long that stories involving missing children of color don't really get a lot of attention and/or diligence from police, who usually refer to missing children of color as "runaways." And thank you for reading my story, I greatly appreciate so much!