Ann Pettway: The Woman Who Kidnapped Carlina White

Ann Pettway is the Connecticut woman who kidnapped 19-day-old Carlina White from Harlem Hospital in New York City on August 4, 1987, raised the child under a false name for 23 years, and pleaded guilty to federal kidnapping in 2012. She was sentenced that July to 12 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.¹²

The 1987 Kidnapping at Harlem Hospital

On August 4, 1987, teenage mother Joy White and Carl Tyson brought their newborn daughter Carlina to the emergency room at Harlem Hospital in Manhattan for a fever. Early the next morning, staff discovered the baby was gone.¹

Pettway, then living in Bridgeport, Connecticut, had traveled to the hospital by train and disguised herself as a nurse. She encountered Joy White in the hospital and told her, “Don’t cry. Your daughter is going to be OK.” She then lifted the infant from a hospital crib and rode the train back to Connecticut with the baby.³

Court documents filed by FBI Special Agent Maria Johnson said Pettway had suffered multiple miscarriages and “did not believe she would ever be able to be a parent.”⁴ In a later letter to the sentencing judge, she blamed the abduction on “mental trauma from her failed pregnancies” and an inability to discuss “family secrets” at home.²

Raising Carlina as Nejdra Nance

Pettway renamed the baby Nejdra Nance and raised her in Bridgeport, with help from her own mother, Mary Pettway. She also attempted to create a fake birth certificate for the girl.⁵¹

During the 23 years she raised Carlina, Pettway accumulated a criminal record. Prosecutors told the sentencing court she was convicted of five crimes in that period, including arrests in Connecticut for larceny and forgery.⁵ She told the federal Probation Department that she used cocaine from 1983 through 2005 and smoked marijuana daily into her early thirties.² Carlina later alleged that Pettway once struck her in the face with a shoe, leaving a visible imprint.⁶

Carlina, who knew herself only as Nejdra, or “Netty,” grew suspicious in her late teens. She had no birth certificate, no Social Security card, and could not obtain a driver’s license, and she saw no resemblance to Pettway or the rest of the family. When she confronted Pettway, the woman eventually told her, “Your mom left you, and she never came back.”⁷⁸

How the Case Broke Open

In December 2010, Carlina visited the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website and found a photo of a baby girl who had vanished on August 4, 1987, at 19 days old. She called the NCMEC hotline, and staff cross-referenced her information, including a birthmark on her right arm, and determined she was likely Carlina White.⁸

The NYPD collected DNA from Joy White and Carl Tyson on January 6, 2011, and from Carlina shortly after. On January 18, 2011, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed a biological match.¹

Arrest and Federal Charges

FBI agents arrested Pettway in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on January 23, 2011. A relative had contacted authorities through Facebook, and a warrant from North Carolina, where Pettway was on probation for attempted embezzlement and had left the state without permission, also helped bring her in.⁹¹⁰

She was charged with one count of federal kidnapping under 18 U.S.C. § 1201, which applies when a victim is transported across state lines. Pettway had taken the infant from New York to Connecticut, establishing federal jurisdiction. The charge carried a mandatory minimum of 20 years and a maximum of life. At her initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein, her attorney Robert Baum declined to request bail, and she was ordered held.⁹¹⁰

Guilty Plea

On February 10, 2012, Pettway pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel to one count of kidnapping. Under her plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 10 to 12.5 years, letting her avoid the 20-year mandatory minimum and a possible life sentence.¹¹¹²

Before sentencing, prosecutors raised their recommendation to 20 years, citing what they called “new facts about the case.” The defense had argued that Pettway gave Carlina a “stable, loving and happy home” for 23 years. Prosecutors pushed back on that account, pointing to her five criminal convictions during that period, her long history of cocaine use, and Carlina’s allegations of physical abuse.⁶

The 12-Year Sentence

Judge Castel sentenced Pettway on July 30, 2012, to 12 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, she told the family, “I am here today to right my wrong and ask for forgiveness.”¹³

Castel called the crime “an act of selfishness” that “inflicted a parent’s worst nightmare on a young couple who was only concerned about the health of their baby.” He also noted that the kidnapping caused widespread fear and forced hospitals to adopt new security measures.¹⁴ Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Pettway had “shattered three lives — the life of the child who would not know her parents, and the lives of her parents who were left to wonder what had become of their baby.”¹⁵

Carl Tyson, Carlina’s biological father, addressed Pettway directly: “You hurt me really bad.” Joy White told reporters she believed Pettway should serve 23 years, one for every year of separation.¹⁴⁶

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FBI. Ann Pettway Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to the 1987 Kidnapping of an Infant From Harlem Hospital
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ABC7 News. Ann Pettway Sentenced in 1987 Kidnapping
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6abc. Ann Pettway Charged in 1987 Harlem Hospital Kidnapping
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ABC News. Ann Pettway, Woman Who Raised Carlina White, to Face Kidnapping Charge
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Greenwich Time. Ann Pettway Charged in 1987 Harlem Hospital Kidnapping
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BBC. Carlina White Kidnapper Ann Pettway Jailed for 12 Years
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ABC News. Kidnapped Carlina White Solves Cold Case, Reunites With Parents
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New York Magazine. Carlina White
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U.S. Department of Justice. Ann Pettway Arrest Press Release
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ABC7 NY. Ann Pettway Surrenders to FBI
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U.S. Department of Justice. Ann Pettway Pleads Guilty to 1987 Kidnapping
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ABC News. Ann Pettway Pleads Guilty to Stealing Baby
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New York Times. Ann Pettway, Kidnapper of Carlina White, Gets 12 Years in Prison
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San Francisco Gate. Ann Pettway Sentenced in 1987 NY Kidnapping
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U.S. Department of Justice. Ann Pettway Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for 1987 Kidnapping