One father's joy was another
father's heartbreak, after Charles Manigo learned that the girl he raised and
believed to be his own daughter for 18 years was really another man's child.
"I named her --. Alexis Kelli," Manigo said. "She was the love of my
life."
Gloria Williams, Manigo's former girlfriend had snatched the baby named Kamiyah Mobley at birth from a maternity ward and had convinced Manigo that she gave birth to their baby while he was away.
Mobley's biological father, Craig
Aiken, was overjoyed that she'd finally been found, and said that all those
years he and her biological mother would celebrate their daughter's birthday
every year and imagine "how it would be if she were here" and
"what we would do if she came came back," he said
Gloria Williams
"I love her," Aiken said.
"I'm glad to see her. I love her."
Mobley grew up in Walterboro, South
Carolina, thinking that Williams was her biological mother, Jacksonville
Sheriff Mike Williams said Friday. He said that she now appears to be a normal
18-year-old woman in good health.
Gloria Williams, 51, is in jail,
charged with kidnapping for allegedly taking the newborn from a Jacksonville,
Florida, hospital on July 10, 1998.Bail was denied and another bond
hearing will be held once she is extradited to Jacksonville, Florida, according
to the sheriff's office.
Manigo and Williams raised her from
the time she was a newborn, sharing custody after they split up in 2003, and
celebrating milestones together, like her prom, he said.
"One of the hardest things she
said on Friday was, 'Dad I love you,' even though she knows what's going
on," Manigo said.
"I talk to her every day,"
he said. "The attention is overwhelming to her. She's still processing
everything. It's a shock to me, it's a bigger shock to her."
Manigo said that even though he may
not be Kamiyah's biological father, he will always be there for her.
"She's still my child," he
said. "I understand what's going on, but she's still my child."
0 comments:
Post a Comment