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Grand jury indicts woman in '87 baby abduction

By the CNN Wire Staff
Ann Pettway is charged with one count of kidnapping in the abduction of Carlina Renae White, now 23.
Ann Pettway is charged with one count of kidnapping in the abduction of Carlina Renae White, now 23.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The grand jury said the defendant "willfully and knowingly" seized the baby
  • Defendant Pettway turned herself in last month
  • Carlina Renae White, now 23, was reunited with her birth mother last month

New York (CNN) -- A woman suspected of snatching an infant from a New York hospital in 1987 has been indicted on federal kidnapping charges, according to court papers released Thursday.

Ann Pettway was charged with one count of kidnapping in the abduction of Carlina Renae White, now 23, who was reunited with her biological mother in January. According to court documents filed in the case last month, Pettway admitted to taking the girl from a Harlem hospital after suffering several miscarriages.

The grand jury said Pettway "willfully and knowingly" seized the baby, according to a copy of the indictment from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Pettway turned herself in last month at the FBI office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, FBI spokesman William Reiner said. She faces up to 20 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.

Woman confesses to 1987 baby kidnapping
Pettway turns herself in
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White tracked down her birth family in early January, saying she had had a nagging feeling all her life that she was brought up by a family to which she didn't belong. Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said White's suspicions grew after the woman who raised her could not produce a birth certificate for her.

White's mother, Joy White, told the New York Post last month that she last saw her daughter when she was 19 days old. She took her to a Harlem hospital on August 4, 1987, because the baby had a high fever, a New York police official said. Carlina was admitted to the hospital, and her mother went home to rest. When she returned, the baby was gone.

"That was a big part of my heart that was just ripped apart," Carlina White's biological father, Carl Tyson, told the Post regarding her disappearance.

Pettway is scheduled for a hearing on February 24.