Woman in Carlina White Kidnap Case Faces Charges

Last Updated 6:00 p.m. ET

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A North Carolina woman who raised a child kidnapped 23 years ago from a New York hospital surrendered to authorities on a parole violation charge Sunday, days after a widely publicized reunion between the biological mother and the daughter taken from her as a baby.

Bridgeport Police spokesman Keith Bryant told CBS News that suspected kidnapper Ann Pettway turned herself in to the FBI in Stratford, Conn.

In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Mnahattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara said, "Pettway is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court [Monday] to face federal kidnapping charges."

Pettway was being sought for questioning in the 1987 abduction of the infant, Carlina White, who was recently reunited with her long-lost family.

Kidnapped Newborn Finds Family 23 Years Later

Pettway, who was on probation in North Carolina because of a conviction for attempted embezzlement, had violated her probation, authorities said Friday. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

Carlina White had long suspected Pettway wasn't her biological mother because she could never provide her with a birth certificate.

No suspects were ever identified in White's 1987 disappearance from Harlem Hospital in New York.

White is now 23 years old and has been living under the name Nejdra Nance in Connecticut.

White recently reunited with her biological family. The family believes Pettway was the kidnapper.

Sonova Smith, who lives near Pettway in The Villages neighborhood, said Pettway mentioned that she had a daughter in Connecticut but had moved to Raleigh with her son. Smith and Pettway both had teenage sons who would often play together, and Smith said her neighbor seemed to be a good mother.

"She was friendly. She was kind. She loved her son," Smith said. "We talked about our boys often. She talked about family. So, it's just really been surprising."

Smith said she last spoke to Pettway on Sunday.

Authorities are considering whether federal investigators should take the case because the statute of limitations may have expired in New York, said chief New York Police Department spokesman Paul
Browne. There is no limitation in federal missing children cases.

Carlina White's parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, said a woman who looked like a nurse had comforted them at the hospital. Carlina White was just 19 days old and had been admitted in the middle of the night with a high fever. Her parents left the hospital to rest and found she was missing when they came back.

Nance told the New York Post in an interview posted Thursday that reuniting with her family was like a dream.

"I'm so happy. At the same time, it's a funny feeling because everything's brand-new. It's like being born again," she said.