True Crime All The Time - Kamiyah Mobley

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Hours after she was born in a Jacksonville hospital, newborn Kamiyah Mobley was abducted by a woman posing as a nurse. For 18 years, her biological family searched for answers while Kamiyah grew up in South Carolina under a different name, unaware of the truth about her identity.Join Mike and Gibby as they examine one of the most shocking infant abduction cases in modern American history — the kidnapping of Kamiyah Mobley, the woman who raised her as her own, and the emotional aftermath that unfolded when the truth finally came to light nearly two decades later.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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It's time to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash teacat. Go to Shopify.com slash teacat. That's Shopify.com slash T-C-A-T-T. Hello, everyone and welcome to episode 497 of, the true crime all the time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And with me as always is my partner in true crime. Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? I'm doing good about you. Doing great, man. Awesome. Having a good week, but I got a lot of stuff coming up. We talked about it on Patreon.

Obviously, we're going to CrimeCon later this month. Then I'm back for a week. And then I turn around and a jet off for my daughter's wedding. One busy guy. That's a lot of leaving the house for me. It really is. A lot of anxiety for you. Yeah. No doubt about it. All right, buddy. You ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Kamaya Mowgli. Kamaya Mowgli was abducted from the hospital just hours after she was born. And then 18 years later, she was found alive and well, having been raised by the woman who kidnapped her.

This is so bizarre. It is. But fascinating at the same time. On the morning of July 10, 1998, 16-year-old Shinaramobli gave birth to her first child, a daughter named, named Kamaya. According to News 4 Jax, Kamaya's father, 19-year-old Craig Aiken, was in jail on a charge of loot assault for having sex with a minor because Chenera was 15 when she got pregnant. Okay. However, the Post and Courier reported that Craig was in jail on a minor marijuana charge. So there's a little bit of discrepancies in the reporting. But a few hours after

Kamaia was born. A woman walked into Shinar's hospital room and introduced herself as a nurse. She spent a couple of hours in the room. And then around 3 p.m., she told Shenara, she needed to take the baby out of the room for a few minutes to check her temperature, which to me would seem strange. It would. But if you're a 15-year-old new mother, or maybe maybe you don't question that because you don't know you don't know yet right we're sitting here saying well it sounds strange and our kids are grown so we've been through all the the things it's also coming from a person of uh i don't want to say power but it's somebody that you trust

authority authority should should know what they're doing and most of the time when somebody like that says something you believe them because they're the professional I mean, in that field. The nurse comes in and says, I need to take your temperature. I believe her and I flip over and I wait for her to do whatever she's got to do. Yeah. Because for some reason, you prefer to get your temperature taken that way. I still don't understand it.

More accurate. They have the scanner thing now, much less invasive. But as this woman was walking out, Kamaya's paternal grandmother, Velma Aiken, walked in. The woman told her they needed to do a quick test and would be back. in 15 minutes, Velma was disappointed because she wanted to see the baby. The woman briefly showed Velma the baby's face and then left the room. I'm sure Velma was disappointed by that, but also I think she probably thought something was somewhat strange.

Yeah, something definitely bothered her. She asked Shenara why the nurse had a purse on her shoulder. Valma even said, you don't think that lady's trying to take your baby. Wow. talking about foresight. Yeah. Well, it is weird, right? If you're working as a nurse, you're not taking your purse from room to room. No, with you.

She never called one of the nurseries and was directed to another. She was told her baby was not there. Oh, man. I mean, you, we talk about it a lot, right? What's the point in time where somebody really starts to get worried? and this one goes from zero to 100, like right away. Yeah, real quick. I mean, and I'm thinking, you know, I don't know what it's like,

but to carry a child for nine months go through the delivery process, and then you find out your baby's lost, missing. Yeah, it would be horrible. Yeah. Shinar threw herself onto the floor. She started crawling to the hallway, screaming for help, but it was too late. The woman never returned.

with Kamaya and this is i mean it's an unbelievable situation yeah it really is it's just it's hard to to think that that can happen and if it did happen how you how someone will get through it just to me it sounds like a nightmare it is a nightmare and um you know i know when i had my kids they had better protocol. Oh yeah. Absolutely. You know, so. But, you know, also, this was, this was like 1998. It wasn't. So it was about the same time. Yeah. Maybe it's just based on different hospitals and things, but I know like today the protocol is really tough. It's really tight. Yeah. With, uh, but, uh, yeah, I mean, this is not, we're not talking about like the 1950s here where you could, Well, probably just walk in and grab the one you want.

Grab a baby, I guess, out of the nursery. But so investigators later learned that the woman told hospital staff she was a Mobley family member and told Chanera she was a nurse. The kidnapper was described as between 25 and 47 years old, wearing a nurse's flower print jacket, teal scrubs and surgical gloves. And I don't know why this always gets me. Now, I get, I'm terrible with ages. Right. I'm not good with ages at all. But that is such a span, 25 to 47.

Pretty big gap. It really is. Yeah. I think I could tell the difference between a 25 year old and a 47 year old, but maybe not. Maybe not. The other problem was the hospital surveillance footage was just too grainy to identify the woman. And the camera in the nursery was broken because that's where they really. would have gotten a good picture of her probably.

Seems like we always have these broken or malfunctional cameras. Or, you know, in a lot of cases back in the day, there's a lot of, and there probably still is, but, you know, smaller stores that just had like the fake camera. Yeah. It really wasn't attached to anything. Wasn't recording anything. Just trying to scare people off. Yeah.

The search for Kamaia became a national. story over the years the Jacksonville sheriff's office and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received over 2,500 tips and that's a lot of tips. That is a lot of tips. I mean, obviously it's a span of time, but and it goes without saying, Shinar was devastated and her pain was amplified when Kamaya's father was considered a suspect in her daughter's abduction. And she was as well. They, like the two of them were accused of giving the baby away or selling her. Oh, man. So on top of not having your child missing your baby that you gave birth to,

but didn't really get a chance to do any bonding with. Now you're being accused of something like that. Yeah. When we talk about it quite a bit in unsolved episodes where somebody dies, spouse, a significant other, is looked at right away. And let's say they really are looked at. They're not, you know, ruled out. Well, you have that kind of same situation where they're grieving the loss of their loved one, but at the same time, they're kind of battling this suspicion. Yeah.

So it's got to be like doubly tough. The hospital where Kamaya was born, UF, Health, Jacksonville, added wristbands and ankle bans for newborns limited access to the maternity ward security and they even started kidnapping drills which again kind of something that comes up all the time we put things in place as a reaction to something that happens yeah unfortunately that's just the way it it seems to be it'd be great if we could foresee everything and and put things in place beforehand but it we've never been like that No, it's, it's tough to have, you know, a control in place until you know why you need to have a control. Yeah, it really is.

Chenera later sued the hospital and was awarded a $1.5 million settlement. And you would look at that and say, well, it's a lot of money. And yeah, it is. But it pales in comparison. It's not a replacement for your child. No, to what happened to her. other hospitals across the nation increased security in maternity wards after the kidnapping. Kamaya Mowbly was missing for 18 years.

Shanera later recalled how she never stopped thinking about her daughter and how she honored Kamaya's birthday every year. Yeah, I mean, you had those milestones, right? The birthdays, the holidays. And then, like, unfortunately, she missed all those other milestones, right? the first time your baby crawled. Walk, talk, all those important things that she didn't get to participate in. It's really sad.

It really is. It really is. Kamaya's biological family in Florida had no idea. She was living in South Carolina with a woman named Gloria Williams. This turned out to be the woman who kidnapped her. Gloria would later admit that just before the kidnapping, she left her job at a nursing home in Charleston, South Carolina, still dressed in her scrubs. But instead of going home, she kept driving.

She said she was going through a difficult time. She had just lost her sons to their father in a custody thing. She was in an abusive relationship and her boyfriend was in jail for a short time. The month prior, she had a miscarriage and hadn't told anyone. So Gloria leaves work. she drove four hours to Jacksonville and stopped at a hospital, random. Yeah. And then she just went to the nursery and was watching the babies.

I mean, obviously, there was some stuff going on in her life. Right. It's not normal to get off work and just drive four hours and stop at a random hospital. No, that's not typical at all. She then entered room 328, where Chenera was staying, spent several hours with her before abducting Kamaya by placing her in a bag and sneaking her out of the hospital. And, you know, for me, you want to say or you want to think, at least, that just shouldn't be

possible. Yeah. Shouldn't happen that way. But it did. She drove Kamaya back to South Carolina and then passed her off as her biological daughter. she renamed her Alexis Kelly Menigo. Gloria's mother was surprised when she arrived home with a baby. Gloria said she had gone into labor while at work and then went to the ER.

She had been gone overnight. So it was odd, but not implausible. So it kind of didn't make sense, but there was enough stuff there that maybe it did happen that way. Well, we mentioned, I mentioned it, right? She had a miscarriage. Yeah. So I think people knew she was pregnant. she hadn't told anybody about the miscarriage.

I don't know how far along she was. But there are people who don't really show a lot. Oh, yeah. That happens probably more frequently than people realize. Yeah. When I was much, much younger, I worked with a lady and she said she was nine months pregnant. And she did give birth right after that. You couldn't even tell she was.

pregnant. Yeah. She was very thin and just didn't really show at all. I was shocked. Probably just a tiny baby bump. I didn't even see that. I thought it was strange, but I've since learned or seen other people that they just don't gain that much weight. Somehow, Kamaya later recalled that she had a happy childhood with her family. She had a close bond with Gloria. Yeah, I mean, that probably did happen can't could happen that way but how do you excuse how she became your your mom well yeah i mean that's going to be tough for camilla yeah but i think going back to what you said i i don't think we're talking about the serial killer here no not to downplay what she did because what she did was absolutely horrible but she might have been a really good mother yeah to this person a good mom a good person

generally besides this could have been yeah this could have been the only bad thing she did in her life yeah but it was horrible it was glory's life improved greatly she left her abusive boyfriend regained custody of her sons and even remarried in an interview with good morning america kamia said she was very open to all my friends i brought through that door she was one of those mothers she was like open to sleepovers, open to company, always smiling, always upbeat, uptempo about everything, very hard working. See, she was actually getting her master's before she was incarcerated. So, I mean, again, according to Kamaya, she had a great childhood. But like you asked, the question is going to be, how does she react when she finds out and what does she do with that

information. And what does it, yeah, like you said, well, how's you going to react? Because you had this great childhood, but how much of it was real? I mean, it's real, but not with your birth mom. No, but everything was real. Yeah, yeah. It was said that Kamaya learned the truth when she was 16 years old. She tried to apply for a job, but she couldn't because she didn't have a social security number. Gloria broke down and admitted that she had posed as a nurse and abducted her. She explained that she was in an abusive relationship, had a miscarriage, and raised Kamaya as her daughter. Wow, you imagine being a 16-year-old here in that story? Yeah. I know some people find out later in life that they were adopted, and I'm sure that can, you know,

with its own struggles, right? Yeah. Hard to deal with. But this is a different situation. You weren't adopted. You were stolen. Yeah. And you lived your life for the first 16 years under a lie.

Now, it might have been a good life. Right. But it wasn't completely truthful. Yeah. Obviously. Chime is fee-free banking built for you. They are not like the stuff. traditional old banks.

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go to chime.com slash disclosures. Optional products and services may have fees or charges. According to the post and courier, Gloria offered to turn herself in. And Kamaya said no. Kamiya knew what Gloria did was illegal, but she didn't want to lose. the woman she considered her mother. So she kept the secret. Because she had a good life. You know, I'm guessing if she had a terrible wife, maybe she would have thought differently. But drop a dime on her, yeah, real quick. But I think that kind of answers your question, right? What do you do with that information? I mean, if you're Kamaya, this woman, Gloria, is the only mother you've ever known. Right. She is your mother for all intents and purpose.

purposes, right? Do you want to lose your mother and have her go to prison? And I think for Kamaya, she said, no, that's not what I want. I want stability. And I can't blame her for that. I mean, it's, I think it would be hard to. Now, Kamaya did tell a friend about her real identity. In 2016, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an anonymous tip, regarding Kamaya's whereabouts. That tip was sent to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. They found an 18-year-old girl living in Waterboro, South Carolina, with a different name, but Kamaya's birthday.

So investigators obtained a court order for DNA testing, which confirmed Alexis Menigo was Chenera Mowgli's daughter. And I think we have to talk about Shaner. error here, right? She has spent 18 years. And in her own words, not a day went by without, you know, thinking about her daughter, wondering where she is, what happened to her. I mean, imagine going through all of that and then eventually learning that your daughter's a lot and well. but living under a different name, having been raised her entire life by the woman who kidnapped her. And that's a whole different problem, right?

I mean, you're happy. You know where your daughter is now, but then you find out that she's happy. Do you say to yourself, do I want to cause problems and interrupt that? You know, do I want her to have to go through all this trauma? Yeah. I mean, you're going to have, there's going to be tough choices. Yeah. With everyone involved.

Kamaya has to make a tough choice. Shinar is going to have to make a tough choice. Does she reach out? Does she, you know, what does she do? Kamaya was informed of the results. And on January 13, 2017, 51 year old Gloria Williams was arrested and charged with kidnapping and interference of custody. Yeah.

which she should be. What she did was extremely criminal. It was. She might have been a great mom to Kamaya. And Kamaya's even said so, but that doesn't excuse you from what you did, right? You got to pay for your crime. Yeah, I mean,

you kept the real mom from being a mom. Yeah. And it was that same day that Gloria was arrested that Shinarimobli, learned Kamaya was alive and safe. She described it as one of the happiest days of my life. Yeah. Again, I cannot imagine these emotions. And I don't think anybody can really fully understand them unless you've lived through it.

And how many people have lived through something like this? Yeah, exactly. Wouldn't want to. Your baby is stolen right after it's born. 18 years later, you find out that your daughter is alive and has been living with the woman who kidnapped her. Kamaya traveled to Florida to meet her biologics. mother, father, and five younger siblings. Man, whole family waiting on her.

She also maintained relationships with her older brothers and grandparents in South Carolina and Gloria Williams, who was in jail awaiting trial. In February 2018, she did an interview with First Coast News. And Kamaya said, she doesn't see herself as a victim. She said, everybody's always asking me how you're handling stuff. to be honest, I dealt with it probably better than what people think. That's good. Yeah.

You know? I don't know that everybody would, but it sounds like she, to her, it wasn't like the biggest deal in the world, I guess. Maybe that's because she had a good life versus somebody might have had a really shitty life. Yeah. She even said that she made jokes about having more than one mom. So, I mean, yeah, for her to say she's taking it pretty well, I would say, yeah, she is. Now, she's also, she's also known about this for a couple of years. I remember we said she found out when she was 16 years old.

Yeah. This is now two years later. So it's not like the, the bombshell is just being dropped on her. She's had some time to deal with it. Yeah. Yeah. She also talked about how she was focused on the future saying, what I've been through is hard, but not hard enough for me to be sad all the rest of my days.

My future is only going to get better. So she does have a positive outlook. It is a good way to look at it. It is. You could go back and dwell over the last 18 years and say, oh, poor me and this and that. But what could have been? I do agree with you. I think if she would have had a terrible life, childhood with Gloria,

maybe you have more of that what if, right? How much better would my life have been if I wasn't kidnapped and I was with my biological mom? Sounds like she had a good life. So she may have not had as much of that. You're always going to have some. She said about glorious fate at her impending trial. Of course, I'm not going to say throw her in jail and throw away the key or throw her underneath the jail. I don't want to see so many years, but I understand a crime was done. So I understand some punishment has to be rendered. I mean, if you think about what she did and what those impacts were to your real mom. I mean, those are pretty substantial impacts, right?

It's a serious crime. Taking... It's a federal crime. It's a federal crime. Right? It's kidnapping, crossing state lines, all of that's federal. But, you know, your biological mom is every day worried. What happened to you?

Where are you at? What's going on? What happened to my girl? And to live that every day? So traumatizing. Well, and I think if you're Kamaya, you have to be cognizant of that. You have to think about that. Sure.

But at the same time, the only mother you've really known is in jail and you don't want, her to go away forever you don't want her to suffer either because that's somebody you have love for so kamiya explained that she was able to stay positive because that's just who she is as a person she said i just think things are going to get better i always believe that i just think there's always a rainbow on the other side she also said that gloria was still a mother behind bars And she said she stays on me hard. Like, hey, what are you doing? You got this yet.

What are you doing? What college you're going to? Yeah. So it's a very strange story for us. It is. You know, normally the perpetrator is this horrible person kind of throughout normally, right, down to their core. I don't know that Gloria Williams was that type of person. Again, what she did was horrible and crumption.

But I don't know that she was a horrible person outside of this one incident. She certainly wasn't horrible to Kamaya. It sounds like she was probably good all the way around except for how she got. Which is really strange, right? When you think about a true crime case, even for people who seemingly lead a good life, there are a bunch of people that normally come out after the fact and say, oh, yeah, but let me tell you this story. that story and all of that about someone after, you know, what they did has been revealed. But, you know, for a woman to have a miscarriage, that could take somebody that, you know, has

never done anything wrong, doesn't want to do anything wrong, but that can put them in a different space in their mind. And maybe they end up doing something that they normally would never, ever do. Yeah. And I think it's something that we'll definitely talk about. Kamaya's father, Craig Aiken told First Coast News, I blame the hospital before Gloria because ain't no way she shouldn't have been able to get in there and steal the baby like she did. I do blame the security at the hospital.

I blame them because if it wasn't here, it could have been somebody else. Yeah, I agree with them. I think the hospital, that's by the hospital and paying them, you know, 1.5 million. And changing a bunch of protocols. Obviously it was two lax or whatever.

Craig also said that it felt as it felt, as if Shemaya was never gone. And she fit in seamlessly with her sibling. That's always nice. Yeah, it's amazing. Shanera told First Coast News they were working on their relationship and Kamaya had grown closer to her father. So the whole thing is somewhat of a feel good story in a weird way with the exception of

Gloria, right? She's in prison or she's a way to. trial, most likely going to go to prison, but even Kamaya doesn't hate her. She still thinks of her as her mother. Now, she's got this other mother, her biological mother and father and other siblings, and they're working on a relationship. On February 12, 2018, Gloria Williams pleaded guilty to kidnapping and interference with custody. In Florida, kidnapping carries a possible life sentence. But the plea deal limited the maximum sentence to 22 years. You know, kidnapping is is no joke. And it should be a very severe sentence. Yeah. Now, kidnapping does get

thrown around in some strange circumstances. It does. Right. I've seen it like in a robbery scenario where you lock somebody or take them from one room to another. And technically that becomes kidnapping. This is like what I think of true kidnapping. I don't want to say the other ones or not, but this is what I think of is kidnapping. You're taking someone away from wherever they are and taking them somewhere else against their will. And that's kind of, everybody thinks of the old school kidnapping. Yeah, kind of the old school definition of kidnapping. To help make the decision on sentencing, the judge held a hearing in early May. to gather testimony. Shanarimobli gave an emotional statement during the sentencing hearing.

She recounted what she felt when Kamaya was born, saying per First Coast news. It was like God was giving me another chance to straighten up. And I had a reason to. As a teen, she ran away from home. She was, you know, having fun. But one day she woke up and didn't want to do those things anymore. She found out she was pregnant a couple of weeks later. And she wanted to better her life. But she never got the chance to take Kamaya home from the hospital and raise her. She said Gloria Williams spent hours with her and her baby. Shinar recalled she was real nice. I trusted her. Oh my God, that woman touched me. She prayed on a child because I was young. She prayed on a child and took my child. And again, you can't lose sight of the fact that

Chenera was only 15 years old. Right. She was as a baby herself at that time. And had just gone through a delivery, had just given birth. She said she panicked when she realized Kamaya was not supposed to be taken from the room. She threw herself to the ground and crawled on the floor trying to find them. And that's a visual. It is.

Heart wrenching. Right. I mean, you think about what it's like. like after giving birth. I mean, I can't describe it myself, but saw my wife in that situation twice. And she wasn't, you know, going to jump out of bed and run after somebody.

No. She was not in that condition. But it really just kind of paints a picture of, you know, what she was feeling at that time, that she's like just flopping out of bed crawling because that's all she can do. anything she can possibly do to try to find her baby.

Yeah. The days and months that followed were difficult. She had nightmare. She said she self-medicated thinking about suicide every day. People watching me all day every day. No one was leaving me unattended. I mean, look, a lot of women will get that post-pardon. Am I saying that right?

Partum. Partum. Post-partum, yeah. Post-partum. Like you've been, like after you've been pardoned. Yeah. We're going to pardon you again. Postpartum.

And then if you have something like that with this or just this alone, I mean, I think it'd be, even as a dad, I think it would be hard to wake up every day knowing that somebody took your child. Yeah. But as the mom that carried and delivered, I don't know how you even function. The fact that she was able to function is amazing. I don't know there for a while. Maybe she wasn't as kind of what I'm getting. She said it doesn't heal now. I'm still hurting.

When you're reaching out to my child, I am your mother, Kamaya. I am your mother. You know, folks, it's summertime. And that changes how I get dressed. You know, I want pieces that are breathable, easy, but still make me look put together. And that's why I just keep coming back to Quinn.

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That's Q-U-I-N-C-E-D-com slash T-C-A-T-T for free shipping and 365-day returns, Quince.com slash T-Cat. Shanara also said it heard to see that Kamaya had Gloria's number saved in her phone as mommy. But that's how she knew her. Yeah. But it's not going to help or it's not going to keep Shanara from feeling hurt. No. Right.

She thought about Kamaya every single day she was missing and would cry when she thought about. Sheena said she would recommend the death penalty if she could, but she would. recommended the maximum 22-year sentence saying, because I need her away from my child, I need her far away where she can't contact my baby, where my baby can't even get to her. I mean, if you think about the fact that she took the baby away from her for 18 years, right? You know, so for her to have to go to prison for 22 years, I mean, it doesn't seem that harsh. Boy, should it at least be as long as she's kept the child away from the biological mother, right, at least, which it is. Towards the end of her statement, Shinar said, I missed the first walk, the first word, graduating, prom.

I missed all that. But I was always trying to look at it like life is a positive to a negative. When she gets pregnant, I get to be the grandma. When she graduates college, I get to be there. The future has so much to offer us now. Yeah. So, you know, again, she's being pretty positive as well. Now, she is reflecting back on all the things she missed and some of those we talked about.

I don't think it's going to be easy steps forward. I mean, because you're always going to have those moments that you're going to think about all the things you missed out on. And you're going to want to blame Gloria, which is the person. that is the blame, but then you have to be kind of careful because your daughter has a special bond with that woman. Yeah. And the other thing that I was thinking about is it's not like when the two of them to get together, they have this instant mother daughter bond. Right. Because they never had it. Yep. So it has to take some time to develop. Kamaya chose not to testify. Gloria was the last to speak at the hearing. She said, I really just cannot tell you what was on my mind.

In my head back then, I was a different person. My head was in a different place. I was just broken. I had a broken heart. I had a broken spirit. And you kind of touched on this earlier, but she did blame her miscarriage on her former boyfriend's abuse. The prosecutor asked why she didn't leave. Gloria said she tried to bring peace and assumed because he apologized he wouldn't hurt her again. She thought she could change him. She said she didn't plan to kidnap a baby when she drove to the hospital. And she admitted that the joy Kamaya brought her wasn't hers to take. And that's a very interesting statement.

Yeah. And factual. It's very true. Imagine the joy that. your kids brought to you in the first 18 years of their life. Oh, yeah. All the different things. Now, there's things that are not so joyful, right?

And raising kids, they can be a real pain in the, you know what, sometimes. But all in all, they're amazing and there's so many great moments. She experienced all those. She did. And Chenera got none of those. No. So for her to say, you know, those, weren't mine to take she she's she's correct like i always say i wonder you know how much of this

is kind of what i call courtroom speak which is well i know the judge or whoever wants me to say these things i've got to say it a certain way to make myself you know not look as or look a little bit less uh terrible she said directly to shenair and craig i know i wronged you and i'm so sorry. So many days, so many days. I just wanted to pick that child up and say, come on, let's get in this car and go. I just couldn't. When I left Jacksonville, I didn't look back. I didn't know what you went through. I know you hate me right now. I just love that child. So, and I never meant to hurt you, never meant to cause you any harm, any pain, any of that. And I'm sorry. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

So, you know, there's a lot in there. The one thing that I do struggle with is when you say, I never meant to hurt you, never meant to cause harm. How could you think what you're doing is going to do anything else but that? Yeah, I mean, you've got some blinders on. Yeah. So, I mean, that is a little tough to understand, right, how Gloria could stand up and say that because I don't know how you don't think

that's going to cause somebody harm stealing their baby. Now, she can say everything she wants to now, but that part, um, I struggle with. Yeah. She also addressed Kamaya using her birth name and said, I will always love you. The joy that you brought me. I think God, the world can't take it away from me, but you're not mine. Your mother and father are sitting right here. So again, I do think she loved Kamaya very much. I also think some of the things she's saying, I don't want to say she didn't fully believe them because I don't know what's in her mind. But you can make the argument that, you know, those are things that a lot of defendants say because, or the types of things that defendants say, because they know that's what people want to hear. Yeah, they're in the

eye of the public now. Yeah. And they're in a little bit of a little bit of, of C-Y-A. Sure. Right. How can I make myself look a little bit better? I'm not going to make myself look great because there's no way to do it. On June 8th, 2018, Gloria Williams was sentenced to 18 years representing each year Kamaya was missing. So, you know, they wanted death. They wanted life. There was a plea deal for 22. She got since to 18. Right. I think that's the minimum that she should get. Yeah, I think any, anything short of that and we probably would be up and our. Yeah. You could still make an argument that 18 years is not long enough. I agree. But I don't think, you know, I'm, I'm personally not going to jump up and down and say,

oh my gosh, I can't believe it's that. I mean, we cover cases in Canada where somebody gets seven years for murder and in two years, they're on day patrol. Uh, parole. So that's true. You know, it's, it is what it is. Kamaya's lawyer, Justin Bamberg, told First Coast News shortly after sentencing that Kamaya had finally gotten a social security number and would soon take her driver's license test and start working. Yeah, well, because now she knows what her real name is. Yeah, and it, you know, that's the other thing about Gloria, she had to have known, right,

that at some point in the future, this was going to come up, right? You need a social security number to do certain things. So either start working with somebody to get a fake one or you're going to have to come clean. Yeah. So because she didn't do the first part of that, she had to have known that at some point in time, she was going to have to come clean. Kamaya has chosen to use her birth name on her official paperwork. but she also didn't mind being called Alexis.

Bamberg explained she has accepted her hybrid type presence, so to speak. And I get that. I mean, you know, here's a woman who is kind of living in two different worlds almost. She has the past where for 18 years she was Alexis. Yeah. It's how you know yourself. And now she knows her. her birth mom and dad. She's got some new siblings. She knows that her birth name was Kamaya.

Her legal name technically is Kamaya, but it's not like you can just throw a Lexus out the window. That's who you were for 18 years. Yeah, it can be tough to move on from that. It was difficult for Kamaya to get a social security number because she had to prove her identity. Her birth certificate has the name Kamaya, but all of her other. paperwork has the name Alexis Manika. I'd be like, having you read the newspaper, buddy? It's everywhere, right? It's a big case.

In her first interview since Gloria was sentenced, Kamaya told Good Morning America that she still loves Gloria, visits her in prison, speaks to her on the phone several times a week. She was still living in Walter Borough, South Carolina, and was still getting acquainted with her biological family. She conceded that it was a balancing act to appease both families, but things were easier since the court proceedings were over and she felt closure. She said about glorious sentence. It was actually good because at least I didn't expect like eight and she got 18.

I figured that was going to happen. But I mean, she'll still be alive. They didn't give her like 30 or 45. She'll come out walking and talking. It's fun. In a July 8, 2018 interview with ABC News 4. Shinar Mowbly said she and Kamaya were not speaking. That's rough.

Yeah. She said she was willing to look past her disappointment. When she learned, Kamaya didn't immediately alert police when she found out the truth. But Shinar was her that Kamaya said she hoped Gloria did not receive a long prison sentence. She said, I don't deal with disrespect. I wish they never would have found her.

So that went south very quickly. sure did um so she felt like that was disrespectful because camya didn't want gloria to you know receive a very long prison sentence and i i guess i get that but then i don't because like we talked about right for 18 years that was the only mom she knew yeah now she found out when she was 16 but she didn't know her her biological mom at all. But her mindset was, this is the person that gave me love. This is my mom. Yeah. It's kind of like what's that syndrome? Stockholm syndrome? I guess a little bit maybe, you know, your mind's condition that this is the person. Yeah. I don't think that's like a perfect comparison. No. Yeah, but I'm say, but your mind's conditioned. Yeah, I get where you're going. And for you as the biological mom to say,

you need to just be on the same page with me and you should, should have went to authorities right away, and you should have. Or to be mad about that, that's kind of, I mean, I don't want to speak badly about Chenery either, but it's, it's hard. Yeah. It's hard to understand that because it seems like they don't have a relationship at all. Yeah. Yeah. Tough. Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi, who had occasional contact with Chenera said in 2019 that the stories claiming they weren't speaking were untrue. On March 1st, 2003, Kamaya's family faced another tragedy when her brother, 20-year-old

Cravon Aiken and 19-year-old Devon Taylor were killed in a shooting in Arlington. 17-year-old Darian Mixon, a high school student was trying to. charged in connection with the shooting. On April 1st, 2006, a jury found Darien Mixon guilty of double murder. He was also found guilty of armed burglary and grand theft

Otto. So it sounds like a maybe like carjacking. Yeah. scenario. Gloria Williams has appealed her sentence several times. In a December of 2023 filing, she asked for her guilty plea to be revoked. She argued that her counsel was

ineffective and failed to investigate her mental health, they didn't ask for a hearing to decide if she was competent to proceed with trial, and they didn't prepare a defense, which gave her no option but to take a plea. According to the filing, Glory was diagnosed with depression, social anxiety disorder, PTSD, and pseudocysis, a disorder where a woman feels like and believes she's pregnant but is not. Okay, we've done a lot of stories. That is not something I've ever heard of. Her counsel sought an opinion from an expert, but didn't present that evidence or try to argue she shouldn't go to trial.

Her pseudosysis was described as part of her motivation for the kidnapping and that she may have believed a lie that the baby was hurt. Well, I mean, maybe that would have changed the outcome of the trial. Yeah, I don't think so. No, but that's what she's going to claim. I mean, ineffective assistance of counsel is, you know, something that a lot of people file on, right, as far as appeals go. I do think there are a lot of things that attorneys, they look at and they make the decision. Is this in my client's best interest to introduce or not? And they may have said, no, we don't think it is.

Yeah. And if that's a case, then it's really not ineffective. It's just the decision that they made. But who knows? I mean, I don't think she would get another trial, but you never know. I don't think so. In September 2025, her attorney was allowed to withdraw due to a conflict. Glory was appointed a new attorney, and she's now waiting an evidentiary hearing on her motion for post-conviction relief.

So could happen, could not happen. You never know. But as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, it's a different type of case. You know, you feel for really everyone involved except for Gloria. Yeah. It's hard for me to feel bad for her because she did something she wasn't supposed to. She did something criminal. Right.

But you feel bad for Kamaya for a number of different reasons. And it's complex, right? She was taken away from her birth mother. But even from, you know, her own, uh, admissions to papers and outlets, she had a great childhood with Gloria. And that's, that's the really strange thing here. It's not like she was kidnapped and kept in a dungeon. That doesn't make the kidnapping better.

No. I'm just saying. And then I feel bad for Kamaia because she lost the relationship with her kidnapper. And then I don't know how to feel about that. A lot of emotions. Yeah. And they're in there and some of are weird. Yeah. Right. Kamaya can't stop thinking of Gloria as her mom because it's really the only mother she's ever known. I mean, if that's what you've known every day for 16 years, it's going to be hard to reverse that. It is. It is. And then, you know, obviously you have to feel bad for Chenera because she missed out on so much like like we said i don't know what the state of their relationship is um if it's no

relationship and that's because shenera can't get past the the issues of you know camya not turning gloria and sooner or not wishing her a longer sentence i mean that that would be a shame it would be it really would hopefully one day they get past all that and steps and eventually find themselves spending more time with each other. Yeah, you would hope so. But that's it for another episode of True Crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, we'll talk to you next week. See you.