Case overview
On August 4, 1987, a nineteen-day-old infant was taken from Harlem Hospital Center by a woman dressed as a nurse who told the baby’s mother she needed to check the child’s temperature. The kidnapping of Carlina White remained unsolved until 2011, when the victim herself, then 23 years old, uncovered her own identity through internet research and contact with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The abduction window
Carlina Renae White was born on July 15, 1987, in Harlem Hospital Center. She was admitted on August 4 with a high fever. Her parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, were with her that evening when a woman in hospital attire entered the room.
The woman, later identified as Ann Pettway, told Joy White she needed to take the infant to check her temperature. Joy White allowed the woman to take her daughter. When she did not return, Joy White alerted hospital staff. Security footage and witness accounts later confirmed that a woman matching Pettway’s description had been seen in the maternity ward multiple times in the days before the abduction.
Hospital records showed no authorization for the temperature check. Staff could not account for the woman who had taken the baby. By the time security was notified and the building was searched, both the woman and the infant were gone.
The investigation and early leads
The New York Police Department launched an investigation. Detectives reviewed security footage, interviewed hospital staff, and canvassed the area. The footage captured a woman in her early thirties entering and leaving the hospital, but the images were not clear enough for definitive identification.
Witnesses reported seeing a woman in nurse’s clothing near the maternity ward on multiple occasions before the abduction. One nurse recalled the woman asking questions about hospital procedures and infant care. Another staff member remembered seeing the same woman leave the hospital carrying what appeared to be a baby wrapped in blankets.
Investigators concluded the abductor had been planning the kidnapping of Carlina White and had spent time observing the hospital’s routines. Despite an extensive search and public appeals for information, no arrests were made. The case went cold.
Growing up as Nejdra Nance
Ann Pettway raised Carlina White under the name Nejdra Nance in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Pettway told those around her that she had given birth to the child, though she could not produce a birth certificate or hospital records. Over the years, Nejdra began to notice inconsistencies in Pettway’s story.
As a teenager, Nejdra questioned why she did not have a birth certificate and why Pettway could not provide documentation for school enrollment. Pettway offered shifting explanations, including claims that the documents had been lost or destroyed. Nejdra also noticed that she did not resemble anyone in Pettway’s extended family.
In 2010, when Nejdra needed a birth certificate to apply for educational assistance, Pettway was unable to provide one. The request intensified Nejdra’s suspicions. She began researching missing children online, focusing on cases from the late 1980s in the New York area.
The breakthrough
Nejdra Nance discovered a photo on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website showing an age-progressed image of Carlina White. The resemblance was striking. She contacted the organization in December 2010 and provided information about her background and upbringing.
The center forwarded her case to the FBI and the New York Police Department. Investigators arranged for DNA testing to compare Nejdra’s genetic profile with that of Joy White and Carl Tyson. In January 2011, the results confirmed that Nejdra Nance was Carlina White.
The reunion between Carlina and her biological parents took place shortly after the confirmation. Joy White and Carl Tyson, who had never stopped searching for their daughter, met Carlina in person for the first time in 23 years.
Ann Pettway’s arrest and prosecution
Following the DNA confirmation, law enforcement focused on locating Ann Pettway. She had left Connecticut and was living in North Carolina. On January 23, 2011, Pettway surrendered to authorities at the FBI field office in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Pettway was charged with kidnapping. During interviews with investigators, she admitted to taking Carlina from the hospital. She stated that she had suffered multiple miscarriages and had been desperate to have a child. She claimed that she saw the infant in the hospital and made an impulsive decision to take her.
In February 2012, Pettway pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping in federal court. During the sentencing hearing, she expressed remorse and acknowledged the harm she had caused to Carlina and her biological family. In July 2012, she was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Pettway had planned the abduction, citing witness accounts of her repeated visits to the hospital and her acquisition of nurse’s clothing. The court found that while Pettway had raised Carlina and provided for her material needs, the abduction had deprived Carlina of her identity and her relationship with her biological family.
The impact on Carlina White
Carlina White spoke publicly about the emotional complexity of her experience. She described the relief of finally understanding her origins and meeting her biological parents, but also acknowledged the difficulty of reconciling her life as Nejdra Nance with her identity as Carlina White.
She stated that while she was grateful to have been reunited with her birth family, she also had complicated feelings about Ann Pettway, who had raised her for more than two decades. Carlina has said that she does not condone what Pettway did, but that she struggled with the emotional weight of cutting ties completely with the only mother she had known.
Carlina’s case highlighted systemic weaknesses in hospital security protocols at the time of her abduction. Harlem Hospital Center, along with hospitals nationwide, implemented stricter security measures in maternity and pediatric wards in the years following high-profile infant abductions.
Where to look next
- Documentary: “Carlina White: Solved” (Investigation Discovery)
- Documentary: “Kidnapped: The Carlina White Story” (Lifetime)
- Podcast: “Carlina White” (“Crime Junkie”, Audiochuck)
