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Carlina White's "Mother" Drops Out of Sight
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jan 21, 2011
Modified Jan 21, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jan 21, 2011
Modified Jan 21, 2011
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Perhaps you recall how when the Post got ahold of Ann Pettway—the woman who raised kidnapped baby Carlina White as her own child—she told them she was coming North post haste to "straighten all this out?" Would you be surprised to know that she's since dropped gone missing?
To start, Pettway turns out to have a long legal history—with lots of probations for everything from pot possession to larceny to embezzlement—and is actually on parole in North Carolina. Even if she did want to come settle things, she is not supposed to leave the state without permission (which she hasn't asked for).
The FBI and the NYPD are currently working together to track down Pettway, but if and when charges are brought against her they will most likely be federal as the statue of limitations on kidnapping here has expired. Plus, there's the whole transporting minors across state lines thing.
In the meantime, the family that Carlina grew up thinking was her own seems to be both surprised and unsurprised over the development. While some of Pettway's family recalled whispers about how dissimilar "mother" and daughter looked, others pointed out that "anyone who sees Nejdra's [Carlina's] young daughter Samani says she looks just like Ann."
Meanwhile Carlina and her daughter continued to enjoy their highly publicized family reunion, while trying to avoid the topic of Pettway. "It just brings back everything," she told a Post reporter sitting in on her ongoing reunion before rushing briefly out of the room, "I want to be in court—I want to hear what she has to say."
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ann pettway
carlina white
kidnapping
Nejdra Nance
Garth Johnston
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