Woman convicted in 1998 kidnapping of Kamiyah Mobley asks for prison sentence to be thrown out

The woman who kidnapped a baby from a Jacksonville hospital in 1998 is once again asking for her 18-year prison sentence to be thrown out.

Action News Jax told you in June 2018 when Gloria Williams, the woman convicted of kidnapping Kamiyah Mobley on July 10, 1998, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

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Authorities said Williams pretended to be a nurse when she took Mobley just hours after she was born at University Medical Center — which is now UF Health Jacksonville — and raised her as her own in South Carolina under the name Alexis Manigo.

Williams filed the motion on Monday, arguing that her counsel was ineffective.

Photos: Who’s who in the Kamiyah Mobley kidnapping case

Kamiyah Mobley/Alexis Manigo. Kamiyah was kidnapped as a newborn in Jacksonville in July 1998 and lived her life as "Alexis" in South Carolina.

Gloria Williams. Williams is a South Carolina woman who took Kamiyah from a Jacksonville hospital room in 1998. She pled guilty to the kidnapping. She has been jailed for the last 17 months.

Shanara Mobley. Shanara was only 16 years old when she gave birth to Kamiyah. She screamed "I am your mother, Kamiyah!" in court during Gloria Williams' most recent court appearance.

Craig Aiken. Aiken is Kamiyah's biological father. He was in jail when Kamiyah was born. He said that guards told him, "Good news, your child, Kamiyah, was born. The bad news, she was kidnapped."

Velma Aiken. Craig's mother. News crews in Jacksonville captured her jubilation the day JSO announced Kamiyah had been found.

Iyanla Vanzant. In 2018, Kamiyah appeared on her show "Fix My Life." Her on-screen confrontations with Kamiyah were featured on the show.

She is asking for “an evidentiary hearing” and requests “that conflict free Counsel be appointed to represent her at said evidentiary hearing.”

Williams said, “counsel was ineffective for failing to properly prepare a defense leaving defendant no option but to take plea.”

She asked that she “be allowed to withdraw her plea and any further relief that the Court deem just and proper.”

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Williams has previously filed a motion to have her sentence reduced or modified, and the motion was denied in March 2022. During Williams’ previous attempt to have her sentence reduced, Kamiyah Mobley, who is now 25, wrote a letter in support of Williams, saying in the letter, “I need my mother home.”

On Jan. 13, 2017, police tracked down Mobley, who was 18 at the time and going under the name Alexis Manigo, in Walterboro, South Carolina.

Police in Walterboro matched up the birthday of the missing girl with a different name and fraudulent documents. DNA tests confirmed that the girl was the missing newborn.

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The fake birth certificate listed that Mobley was born at Trident Medical Center in Charleston.

The next day, Mobley was reunited with her parents, Shanara Mobley and Craig Aiken, in South Carolina.

Action News Jax will update you as Williams’ latest motion is reviewed in court.

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