South Carolina teen abducted at birth still loves only mom she's known

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Thursday, January 19, 2017
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An 18-year-old woman abducted as a newborn from a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, said she still loves the only mother she has known.

Alexis Manigo told ABC's "Good Morning America" in an interview broadcast Wednesday that the woman charged in her abduction, 51-year-old Gloria Williams, "will always be mom."

Manigo met with her birth parents, Craig Aiken and Shanara Mobley, last weekend in Walterboro, South Carolina, where she was found earlier this month.

"I feel like I do owe them that, to give them a chance, you know, get to know them," Manigo said.

She realizes her life would have been different had she not been kidnapped, Manigo said.

"When you find out you've got another family, it gives you more love," she said.

Williams was booked into the Duval County jail in Florida Tuesday afternoon, records show. She appeared in court briefly Wednesday morning and was ordered to be held without bail.

"It did hurt that they had her in cuffs," Manigo said of an earlier court appearance in Walterboro. "She's a gentle woman."

Charles Manigo, who raised Alexis, said he was stunned to discover he wasn't the birth father. Charles Manigo also spoke exclusively with ABC News, describing his unimaginable heartache.

"I named her, a name I had for years," he said. "Alexis Kelli. She was the love of my life."

Gloria Williams' arrest came after DNA tests helped authorities identify Manigo, who had been living with Williams in South Carolina, as Kamiyah Mobley. A woman dressed as a nurse took Mobley as an infant in 1998 from University Medical Center in Jacksonville.

Some months ago, the young woman "had an inclination" that she may have been kidnapped, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said last week. Authorities didn't say why she suspected this and she did not have an explanation in the interview with ABC.

She says she's forgiven Williams.

"From that one mistake, I was given the best life," she said.

Manigo said she is worried about what will happen to Williams in court.

"I understand that what she did was wrong, but just don't lock her up and throw away the key like everything she did was just awful," Manigo said. "She loved me for 18 years. She cared for me for 18 years."