True Crime: A Glimpse Into The Solved Kidnapping Case Of Carlina White

Carlina White’s story is an emotional rollercoaster for most parents and children. Although her narrative concluded somewhat of a happy ending, one can only imagine dealing with her trauma.

Netflix’s reboot of the classic Unsolved Mysteries series explores New York-based kidnappings in an episode. This Walker family tragedy recently sparked curiosity about another child’s abduction story.

Carlina White’s story brought hope to the Walker family after 30 years of their tragedy. See the details of her case and why it has left audiences, the law enforcement, and other kidnap victim families in awe.

Who Is Carlina White?

Carlina White is a young American woman who was born in 1987 at Harlem Hospital Center. White was only 19 days old when she was taken away from her parents by a woman posing as a hospital nurse.

Carlina then grew up as Nejdra Nance in her kidnapper and her family’s care for twenty-three years. White, who goes by Netty, first discovered that her birth certificate was fake years before realizing the truth.

Carlina White’s Kidnapper

Carlina White was kidnapped by a woman named Ann Pettway at around 3:00 AM on that fateful night. Ann reportedly loitered around the hospital in question for months before she committed the crime.

“I’m not going to say she was the best mom ever, but she did what she had to do to make me who I am,” she said. “She was strict, but she was cool. All my friends used to say she was a cool mom.”

Says Carlina White

Carlina described Ann Pettway as an adequate parent who afforded her everything a child needed. White admitted that she and Ann’s contrasting physical appearance made her suspicious for several years.

How Carlina Solved Her Own Missing Case

After finding out that her birth certificate was fake, Carlina became increasingly suspicious of Ann. Upon confrontation, Ann claimed that Carlina’s parents abandoned her, and she took her in as a baby in Connecticut.

Carlina soon started her investigation on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s website. In 2010, Netty identified a picture of a baby who looked like her daughter and called the center’s hotline.

Where Is She Now?

Although Netty was relieved to know the truth about her identity, finally, things were shaky for her. She was no longer Carlina, who was abducted as an infant, and she was not Nejdra Nance either.

Netty kept out of the public eye and distanced herself from the White’s for a while after the case concluded. She now contacts them over the phone and avoids media attention.