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Lindbergh Baby

January 25, 2011 by · Comments Off on Lindbergh Baby 

Lindbergh Baby, (CBS / AP) – A woman who raised a child abducted from a hospital in New York over two decades has recognized the removal of the baby after her own attempts to have children did not, saying in a statement she was “deeply sorry,” the FBI said in court documents Monday.

Ann Pettway admitted taking the baby in early August 1987 from Harlem Hospital in an interview Sunday after she went to the police and the FBI in Connecticut, a criminal complaint prepared by the FBI agent said Maria Johnson. Pettway returned days after a widely publicized meeting between the children she has raised – now 23 years old Carlina White – and her biological mother.

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Pettway said she struggled with her own children in the 1980s, has been coping with the stress of trying to be a mother and had suffered several miscarriages, when she went to the hospital and saw the baby, “said Johnson.

“Pettway took the victim from the victim’s family and this is totally unacceptable. Pettway is truly sorry,” Pettway, said Johnson told him in a written statement Sunday.

After taking the baby, Pettway led outside the hospital and when no one stopped him, held a train to his home in Bridgeport, Conn., where she told her friends and family members that baby was her child, the officer said.

A cousin of Pettway said she seemed pregnant in 1987 and has gone and when they returned with a baby, the family thought was hers.

“We all thought she had the baby we saw her visibly pregnant,” said Brian Pettway.

The family was shocked to learn the revelations, he said, describing Pettway as one of his favorite cousins, who was reliable, loving and trustworthy.

“It’s so unusual,” said Brian. “We are all left with our mouths open.

“It’s like a double loss. We accepted it as a family. Unbenownest to us, it was not our family, “he said of the daughter of his cousin high.

Brian Pettway, a 38-year resident of New Haven, said his cousin raised the girl “as she could,” but said she lived in a neighborhood with high crime in Bridgeport. He said the girl seemed happy and pleasant.

“She just raised this baby as if it was his daughter, as she sat in that delivery room and gave birth to her,” said Pettway. “She never showed any sign of deception.”

Before representing Pettway at a hearing Monday, attorney Robert Baum said: “She feels bad, she is very angry she was concerned by his family, but she understands the seriousness of the charges…. ”

Baum said he did not intend to seek bail for Pettway, who could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison or as much as life if found guilty.

Brian Pettway, a 38 year old cousin who saw Pettway in Connecticut, said his cousin appeared pregnant in 1987 and vanished, returning with a baby of the family thought was hers. He said Pettway was a cousin reliable, loving and trustworthy.

“It’s so unusual,” said Brian Pettway. “We are all left with our mouths open. It’s like a double loss. We have accepted his (Carlina White) as a family. To our knowledge, it was not our family. ”

The man of Connecticut told his cousin raised the girl “its best” in high crime neighborhoods. He said the girl seemed happy and pleasant.

“She just raised this baby as if it was his daughter, as she sat in that delivery room and gave birth to her,” said Pettway. “She never showed any sign of deception.”

White was 19 days when her parents took her to Harlem Hospital after August 4, 1987 with a high fever. Joy White and Carl Tyson said a woman who looked like a nurse comforted. The couple left the hospital to rest, but their baby was missing when they returned on August 5, 1987. A police investigation failed to locate the baby.

Carlina White has lived under the name Nejdra Nance in Connecticut and in the Atlanta area. She said she had long suspected Pettway was not his biological mother because she could not provide a birth certificate and because it does not look like someone else in the Pettway family.

Johnson said the FBI complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan detective who interviewed the victim told that Pettway was quoted as saying she had no identification because she had been given Pettway to a woman who used drugs.

As the child grew up, she lived in the house with Pettway Pettway at times and with the mother Pettway, who also lived in Connecticut, said Johnson.

Pettway remission of departure has come on a warrant from North Carolina, where she is on probation because of a conviction for attempted embezzlement, FBI Supervisory Special Agent William Reiner said.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, Tyson said he was very happy to have found his daughter, now an adult of 23 years.

“I have a puzzle together. I have all my four children now, “he said. But he admitted he did not know what to do with a 23 year old.

“Should I feed her baby food?” he joked.

Tyson said he would like Pettway ask “why she did that to me for 23 years.”

Carlina White has lived under the name Nejdra Nance in Connecticut and in the Atlanta area. She said she had long suspected Pettway was not his biological mother because she could not provide a birth certificate and because it does not look like someone else in the Pettway family.

She periodically checked the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and while looking through photographs of New York earlier this month found one that looked almost identical to his own baby picture. She contacted Joy White by the center.

White and Nance met in New York before DNA tests were complete, knowing that they were mother and daughter. After the test results, he confirmed Wednesday, Nance returned to Atlanta to be with Blanche.

Reportedly, Pettway was pregnant at the time of the alleged abduction, but a miscarriage. The authorities are trying to determine if it “replaced” the baby with Carlina White.

Speculation has already begun on the type of defense of his legal team can use.

CBS News Legal Analyst Jack Ford said “The Early Show” Monday the federal government’s accusations are serious.

He explained, “In the federal scheme of things, kidnapping is one of the charges above, you can get. You know, it is interesting; there was no federal offense of kidnapping after Lindbergh kidnapping that took place back in the early 30s. At that time, in fact the authorities found themselves unable to handle this case, the way they would have liked That was the genesis of the kidnapping statutes is a major crime in the federal system of things -… a series of 10 years in prison for life ”

What is a defense to resemble Pettway?

Ford said it is “difficult.”

“If I’m his lawyer, the first thing I’ll take a look at what was his mental state at the moment,” said Ford. “We have seen situations during the year, very sad stories where someone either lost a child, there is a suggestion that she was pregnant and lost a child, or for any other reason they were simply led to a state mental condition they were not responsible for what if they do, or as responsible. So, I’m his lawyer, I want to take a good look at what is going on in his mind at the time. ”

Pettway received two years probation last June after she took items from a store where she worked, which is considered embezzlement under the law of North Carolina, spokesman for the state correction Pamela said Walker. Under the terms of her probation, she was not allowed to leave the state.

Correction Department officials he tried repeatedly to contact her after discovering that investigators wanted to question him in the kidnapping in 1987 Carlina.

North Carolina officials said Friday they believed Pettway was a fugitive by the authorities.

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