More charges could be added for woman accused of kidnapping Kamiyah Mobley

In a matter of hours, the woman accused of kidnapping of a newborn 18 years ago will go before a Jacksonville judge for the first time.

Action News Jax was there as the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office brought Gloria Williams into the Duval County Jail just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.

With Williams in jail locally, prosecutors will now be reviewing all the evidence. Action News Jax spoke with a local attorney about the challenges facing prosecutors and the defense in this case.

Williams is accused of kidnapping newborn Kamiyah Mobley in 1998 and then raising the child as her own under the name Alexis Manigo.

Mother Valencia Johnson lives in Jacksonville and said she hopes Manigo will get some answers.

“She has an opportunity to find out what exactly occurred,” Johnson said.

Tuesday night, Action News Jax spoke with defense attorney Chris Carson.  Along with proving guilt, Carson said prosecutors have another challenge -- the impact on Manigo, the young woman at the center of this case.

“In the state of Florida, a victim’s considerations do play a part in how a prosecutor deals with a case,” Carson said.

On social media, Manigo has posted in support of Gloria Williams, the woman she knew as her mother.

“If one of the parties is very much of the mindset, 'hey, don’t be too harsh with her, she’s the one I know as my mom,' versus the biological family who may push for an extremely harsh punishment,” Carson said.

Questions arose when woman abducted as infant in Jacksonville started to apply for jobs, police say

And as for the defense, Carson said they might not fight the charges against her.

“Basically show she’s been a good mother, she’s lived a good life, yes she did it, but she was in some frame of mind, maybe mental health will come into play. So I suspect it will take the mitigation route rather than it would an out and out 'I didn’t do this, I’m not guilty of anything,'” Carson said.

Carson also said even though Williams was arrested on charges of kidnapping and interference with custody, more charges, including some sort of fraud, could be added.

“They’ll look at a number of things as far as how specifically they think they can charge things, how they think they can prove the case. This could certainly go beyond a simple kidnapping charge, I would almost expect it to,” Carson said.

Carson said if some sort of plea is reached in this case, then it could potentially be solved quickly. If it goes to court, with all the factors and challenges it involves, he said it could drag out for years.

“In a sense, we are in uncharted territory. We may be making effectively some new law. There may be some issues dealt with in this case that we never dealt with before,” Carson said.

Questions arose when woman abducted as infant in Jacksonville started to apply for jobs, police say

Cox Media Group