JACKSONVILLE — The 52-year-old South Carolina woman who kidnapped a newborn from Jacksonville nearly 20 years ago will spend 18 years in prison, a judge ruled this morning. She will be credited the 511 days she’s already served.
The justice was a long time coming for the family of Kamiyah Mobley. Kamiyah was just 8 hours old when Gloria Williams walked out of a Jacksonville hospital with her tucked inside her purse.
Williams had spent 14 hours lurking around what was then University Medical Center, now UF Health, the day Kamiyah was born to a teen mother.
Williams took the newborn to Rufin, S.C., and raised her under the name Alexis Kelli Manigo. They later moved to neighboring Walterboro.
It appears that for the next 16 years Williams kept the secret to herself, until she broke down and told the girl she raised as her own daughter. Another 1 1/2 years would go by before that secret made its way to police in Jacksonville.
Williams was arrested at her Walterboro home in January 2017 and then was transported to Jacksonville where she awaited a trial on kidnapping charges.
In February she changed her plea of not guilty to guilty. She could have faced life behind bars — under today’s sentencing guidelines — if the case went to trial and she was convicted. Instead, she and the state agreed that if she pleaded guilty, the maximum sentence she would face is 22 years in prison. Sentencing guidelines at the time of the crime suggested a sentence of four to seven years. Three months after the kidnapping, those guidelines changed to what it is today — up to life.
This is a developing breaking news story. Check back for updates.