Grandma Never Lost Hope of Finding Missing Girl
NEW YORK - Whatever happened to Elizabeth White's granddaughter Carlina was a mystery more than 20 years in the making.
When she was just 19 days old, baby Carlina was kidnapped from a Harlem hospital. Her disappearance back in 1987 gripped New York City and broke her mother's heart, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.
"Just give me my baby back, please," Joy White told reporters in 1987. "I just want her back"
Sketches suggested what Carlina might have looked like, but her biological family had no idea.
Kidnapped Newborn Finds Family - 23 Years Later
"We were always thinking that one day she would come back," said Elizabeth White. "I never gave up hope. I never thought she was dead or anything."
In fact, Carlina was alive - and in Atlanta. She became suspicious when she tried to apply for a driver's license and didn't have a birth certificate. Then she started searching a missing children's web site where she found a face that looked like hers.
Earlier this month, she finally reached her biological family.
Elizabeth White said it was great to hear her speak over the phone.
On Tuesday, a DNA test confirmed what the family said they knew right away.
"I could tell it was Carlina even before they even did the DNA," White said.
Over the weekend they held a private family homecoming. There haven't been many photos released, but the original missing persons baby photo, now stamped "located" on top of it - says it all.
