A WOMAN who was snatched from Harlem Hospital in 1987 when she was 19-days-old was reunited with her biological mother after she discovered baby pictures of herself on a missing children's website and contacted the New York Police Department.
Carlina White, now 23 and raised in Connecticut and Georgia, went missing on August 4, 1987, after she was admitted to Harlem Hospital with a 40C fever, the New York Post said.
The next morning, the baby's mother, Joy White, then 16, discovered the infant was missing, apparently taken by a mystery woman who had been hanging around the hospital for weeks, dressed as a nurse.
The city offered a $10,000 reward and questioned a Baltimore woman who had been spotted at the hospital, but no arrests were made.
In 1992, White and Carlina's father, Carl Tyson, obtained a $750,000 settlement in their lawsuit against Harlem Hospital.
Carlina White - who was raised Njedra Nance - suspected she was not biologically related to the family that raised her. As a teenager, she had never been able to find her birth certificate
After doing an internet search, Carlina White wound up on the website of the National Centre of Missing and Exploited Children and spotted a photo of a girl named "Carlina Renae White".
On January 4, the centre called the woman Carlina White believed was her biological mother and forwarded her the baby picture.
The two women contacted the NYPD and obtained DNA swabs from Joy White and Tyson, in order to see if there was a match. yesterday, the NYPD matched the DNA.
When they reunited, Joy White said: "We had a ball. I cooked and invited all the family. We hugged and cried. She wanted to know about everyone."
"It's a wonderful feeling. Now I can sleep," she added. "I've been worried for all these years. I never took her picture off my dresser."
The kidnappers could face federal prosecution, since there is no statute of limitations for the kidnapping of a child under the age of 18 as long as that child remains alive. They have not been identified.
