The case of Carlina White is a remarkable story of abduction, self-discovery, and reunion. Carlina Renae White (born July 15, 1987), also known as Nejdra "Netty" Nance, is an American woman who solved her own kidnapping case and was reunited with her biological parents 23 years after being abducted as an infant from the Harlem Hospital Center in New York City.
The case represents one of the longest known gaps in an abduction in which the victim was reunited with the family in the United States. This is the story of how Carlina White, against all odds, found her way back to her biological family.
The Abduction
On August 4, 1987, Joy White, a 16-year-old, and her husband, Carl Tyson, took their 19-day-old daughter, Carlina, to Harlem Hospital because she had a high fever of 104 °F (40 °C). She had swallowed fluid during her delivery and had an infection. Two hours later, they were devastated to learn that their baby was gone, lifted out of the pediatrics ward.
Speaking to the New York Post, Carl Tyson described the ordeal: "Way I feel when I lost my daughter, oh my God, that was like a big part of my heart just like, just was ripped apart."
The family says a mystery woman who had been hanging around the hospital for weeks disguised as a nurse was responsible for the kidnapping. A $10,000 reward was offered for the safe return of the baby girl, but years passed without her return. The parents never gave up hope. They took the money won in a lawsuit from the city and established a trust fund for their daughter in the event of her return.
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| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 15, 1987 | Carlina White was born. |
| August 4, 1987 | Carlina was taken to Harlem Hospital with a high fever. |
| August 4, 1987 | Carlina was abducted from the hospital. |
| January 2011 | Carlina White reunited with her biological parents. |
According to reports, a woman reportedly dressed as a nurse had comforted the parents at the hospital, but was not a hospital employee. The woman had been seen around the hospital for three weeks prior to the abduction. The baby disappeared during the early morning, around 2 am when the shifts were changing. The hospital had video surveillance, but at the time it was not working.
Life as Nejdra Nance
Carlina Renae White was raised as Nejdra "Netty" Nance by Annugetta "Ann" Pettway in Bridgeport, Connecticut, just 45 miles from where her parents had lived. For years she lived with Annugetta Pettway, a woman she believed was her mother.
This despite being raised by a woman who she says was on drugs and abusive at times. Pettway habitually committed petty crimes during White's upbringing, being placed on probation at least three separate times in Connecticut. White attended Thomas Hooker School and graduated from Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport in 2005. Pettway and White later moved to Atlanta with Pettway's sister.
Major Break in 23-Year-Old Kidnap Case?
The Discovery
As a teenager, Carlina came to believe she was not related to the family that was raising her. "She said she just had a feeling, she felt different from the people raising her," said Nance's maternal grandmother, Elizabeth White, 71.
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When Carlina White was unable to get a driver's license and saw no biological resemblance to the people she was living with, she grew suspicious.
In 2005, when White was pregnant with her daughter, she requested Pettway obtain her birth certificate so she could get health insurance. Later that evening, in a state of shock, White confronted Pettway, who broke down and confessed that she was not White's biological mother. The revelation was not entirely surprising to White as she had begun to notice that she did not share physical traits with Pettway.
Carlina White decided to take matters into her own hands. She began looking at web sites for missing children, including the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.
"I just started typing in Yahoo and Google different articles -- anything that pulled up in 1987 with any child that went missing -- and I came across the article, and the baby picture just struck me because ... it looked like my daughter," Carlina White, who has a 5-year-old daughter, told the Post.
The Reunion
Jan. 20, 2011 Carlina White, separated from her family when she was kidnapped as a baby 23 years ago, followed her instincts to reunite with her biological parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson.
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On January 4, Joy White's phone rang. The woman on the other end said she was Carlina, and sent a picture taken in 1987 in which she bore a striking resemblance to a baby picture Joy White had held on to. The family has since been joyously reunited.
"It was wonderful, she didn't even seem like a stranger, she just fit right in," Elizabeth White said. "We all went up there, we had dinner together, her aunts were there. She brought her beautiful daughter."
"This is what I wanted ever since I found out that lady wasn't my biological mother," Carlina White told the Post.
Legal Aftermath
After the confirmation that Nejdra Nance was really Carlina White, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a search for Ann Pettway. Pettway turned herself in to the FBI office at Bridgeport on the morning of January 23, 2011. She had driven from North Carolina to Connecticut to arrange care for her biological son.
On February 10, 2012, Pettway pleaded guilty to a federal kidnapping charge. As part of a plea bargain, the child victim specification of her kidnapping charge was dropped and prosecutors agreed to recommend to the judge a prison sentence of 10 to 12½ years.
On July 30, 2012, Judge P. Kevin Castel sentenced Pettway, who was then 50 years old, to 12 years in prison. Her lawyers had asked for leniency, saying Pettway had been severely depressed after suffering from multiple miscarriages and stillbirths. However, the judge said she was selfish and "inflicted a parent's worst nightmare on a couple."
Carlina White's father said he thought the sentence was too lenient and that Pettway should've received the amount of time as she'd kept his daughter, 23 years. During the hearing, Pettway apologized, saying "I would like to apologize to the family. It may be rejected, but I am deeply sorry for what I've done. If they don't accept it, it's understandable.