Sorrow has replaced happiness a second time for a mother recently reunited with her daughter who was snatched from a New York hospital 23 years ago and raised by another woman.
Joy White met Carlina White, the daughter she feared was lost forever, in a joyous reunion last month. But the relationship has become complicated. Carlina White, now 23, has become distant and is asking questions about money related to her disappearance, according to NBC’s “Today” show.
But after spending four days in New York, where her biological mother lives, the younger White went back to Atlanta, “Today” said. White says she believes her daughter is suffering from an identity crisis, which has left her “heartbroken.”
“I want my daughter back. I want her here, and I want her to spend time with me and the
family,” White said. “It’s like we’re two strangers. We don’t know each other.”
An emotional White added: “She’s with that family, and that’s all she knows. I’m her mother, and it hurts not to have a relationship.”
The cold case unraveled last month as DNA tests confirmed that the woman raised in Connecticut as Nejdra Nance was really Carlina White.
“Everything was great,” the mother said on the program today. “I was on such of a high when I first reunited with my daughter. … I was floating in air I was so happy. And that moment was so great.”
The woman who raised her, Ann Pettway, of Raleigh, N.C., has been held without bail on charges of kidnapping. She is accused of posing as a nurse and taking the 3-week-old Carlina from Harlem Hospital in 1987 after her efforts to have a child failed.
Joy White said her daughter asked about a 1992 settlement from a lawsuit against the hospital, reported to be $750,000. White and Carlina’s father each took about $163,000 and put the rest in a trust for their missing daughter if she was found before age 21, “Today” said. All of the money, though, is now gone.
“We don’t have the money,” White said. “We both had to live. … At the time things was really rocky with me, as far as a living situation. And I have two other kids, a son and a daughter … and I had to take care of myself.”
Her daughter also asked about a $10,000 reward that was offered for her return and won’t give interviews without getting paid, according to “Today.”
“I’m disappointed because this was a miracle that happened,” White said. “And it really hurts me that it’s about money.”
Carlina White’s father, meanwhile, told CBS’ “The Early Show” that he is in constant touch with her.
Carl Tyson said they text each other every day and talk every three days by phone. He told his daughter, “Daddy’s gotta hear you on the third day. I gotta hear that voice!”
Tyson told CBS he hopes Pettway spends the same number of years behind bars as he did without his daughter.
“She took 23 from me, so she needs 23.”
http://www.hulu.com/watch/213808/nbc-today-show-kidnapped-woman-fighting-identity-crisis-mom-says
