She Found Herself In The Missing Children’s Database: How A Woman Solved Her Own Abduction Case

by Gee NY

Carlina White was just 19 days old when she was abducted from Harlem Hospital in New York City in 1987. Raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut under the name “Nedra Nance,” she had no idea that the woman she called “mom” had kidnapped her as an infant—until she solved her own missing person case more than two decades later.

Her story is one of heartbreak, resilience, and the incredible power of intuition.

White’s journey toward the truth began in 2005, when she became pregnant and asked her mother, Ann Pettway, for her birth certificate. Pettway, who raised Carlina as her own, began acting suspiciously.

Carlina went to the Connecticut Vital Records Office, only to be told that no records existed under her name. The clerk accused her of trying to create a false identity and even reported her to child protective services.

Shortly after, Pettway confessed: she wasn’t Carlina’s biological mother. She claimed Carlina had been abandoned as a baby—but offered no real details. With more questions than answers, Carlina began digging into archives, newspaper reports, and databases, looking for answers.

For years, her search led nowhere—until 2010, when she expanded her search beyond Connecticut. She discovered a baby photo in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s database that looked just like her own daughter. It was then that Carlina realized she had been kidnapped. She called the missing children’s hotline and reported herself.

Authorities confirmed that she was, in fact, Carlina White—the infant stolen from Harlem Hospital in August 1987. Her biological parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, had taken her to the hospital for a high fever. Posing as a nurse, Pettway befriended them, then abducted the baby during a moment when the parents stepped away.

Pettway had reportedly stalked the hospital for weeks looking for a child to take home, after suffering multiple miscarriages. She raised Carlina as her own in Connecticut for 23 years.

In 2012, Ann Pettway was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the kidnapping. Carlina’s birth parents believed the punishment didn’t go far enough. Despite it all, Carlina later testified in court on Pettway’s behalf, saying:

“Even though she’s a kidnapper, she’s still the woman who raised me.”

Today, Carlina White continues to rebuild her identity and strengthen ties with the parents she was taken from. Her case remains one of the only known examples of a U.S. child abducted as an infant who solved her own kidnapping.

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