All Articles Tagged "carlina white"
Greenlit: Sherri Shepherd, Keke Palmer Starring In The Carlina White Story On Lifetime
Source: Eurweb and hggirlonfire.com
Who says Lifetime is just filled with stories of white women being battered by their husbands? Well actually for a while there that was pretty much all the network was about, but increasingly they’ve been adding more diversity to their lineup and this latest project (among many others like the all-black Steel Magnolias remake and the Tiffany Rubin story starring Taraji P. Henson last year) proves they’re recognizing the need to add more color to their network.
According to press release on Shadow and Act:
Lifetime has green lit the Original Movie Abducted: The Carlina White Story, starring Aunjanue Ellis (The Help), Keke Palmer (True Jackson, VP), and Emmy® Award winner Sherri Shepherd (30 Rock, The View) in the remarkable true story of Carlina White (Palmer), who after being abducted as an infant from a New York hospital, solved her own kidnapping and reunited with her biological parents 23 years later….
In August of 1987, new parents Joy White (Shepherd) and Carl Tyson (Roger Cross, 24) took their 19-day old daughter Carlina to Harlem Hospital in New York with a high fever. Ann Pettway (Ellis), who had suffered a series of miscarriages and was desperate for a child of her own, posed as a hospital nurse and befriended Carlina’s parents, even offering to watch over their daughter. But shortly after Carlina was admitted, Pettway removed the child’s IV line, placed her in an oversized handbag, and walked out of the hospital with Carlina hidden from view. While Joy and Carl desperately searched for their daughter over the years, Pettway was raising Carlina as Nejdra “Netty” Nance in Bridgeport, Connecticut – a mere 45 miles from New York City. As Carlina grew older she began to suspect Pettway was not her birth mother and launched her own investigation. After contacting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Carlina was reunited with her biological parents in January 2011.
As someone who lives for a Lifetime Movie, I can tell you I’m all over this. But more than just being a Lifetime junkie, I’m also glad the network is shedding light on stories like this as we often talk about how much reports of missing black children are overlooked. If the news won’t cover these stories, at least Lifetime can bring them to life on the small screen.
What do you think about this movie idea? Had you heard of Carlina White’s story?
Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.
More on Madame Noire!
- That’s That Ish I Don’t Like: Why I Can’t Stand When Parents Talk to Kids Like Adults
- “Ho*s Be Winning!” 8 People Who Became Overnight Celebrities For Being Scandalous
- Call Me Prejudiced, But I Only Let Black Women Do My Hair
- Noire Naturals, Episode 2: Maintaining Your Twist-Out Style
- “The Decision,” Fake Marriages & Crispy Chicken: 9 Moments Celebs Can’t Seem to Live Down
- Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making of School Daze
- Ask a Very Smart Brotha: Why Did He Just Disappear?
Woman Indicted for ’87 Kidnapping of Baby in Harlem
(MSNBC) — A woman who raised a baby girl she allegedly took from a Harlem hospital more than 20 years ago has been indicted for kidnapping. A federal grand jury in New York brought the charges against Ann Pettway for “unlawfully, willfully and knowingly” taking Carlina White, now 23, from her hospital crib at Harlem Hospital in 1987. The baby was 19 days old. The grand jury said Pettway “abducted” and “willfully transported” the baby out of state. Under the name of Nejdra Nance, White grew up in Connecticut and later Georgia under Pettway’s care.
Update: Carlina White and Mom Struggle to Bond
Remember Carlina White? She was the child, now woman, who was abducted from the hospital and raised by a woman that wasn’t her mother. Carlina, who was renamed Nejdra Nance, reunited with her mother and father a few weeks ago. It seemed like a happy ending, but the story didn’t end there.
Since meeting her parents, Carlina has returned to Atlanta. There are also claims that she’s gone back to using the name Nejdra Nance again. Joy White recently told the Today Show that she felt Carlina’s family was pressuring her.
“It really hurts,” said Joy White, who described herself as “heartbroken, but I do understand that is her family. She was brought up by them. She’s with that family. That’s all she knows. [But] I’m her mother. It hurts not to have my daughter. I want her back.”
Money might be complicating the story. Carlina’s biological parents received a $750,000 settlement after the kidnapping. Her parents put the money aside for Carlina in case she was returned by the time she was 21. When they didn’t find her, Joy used the money to support her and her two other children.
While she hasn’t been back to see her parents, she has asked about the settlement money as well as the $10,000 reward offered for her return.
Meanwhile, Ann Pettway, the woman who raised Carlina, is in a detention center until her trial.
What do you think, is Carlina suffering from an identity crisis or is she a little money hungry?
You can see the video of Joy White on the Today Show below.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Woman Admits to Kidnapping Baby in 1987
(New York Times) — The details of that summer day in 1987 remind New Yorkers of what a different place the city was then. Murders were trending toward a historic high, with street crime ingrained as a fact of life. Amid that chaos, a woman dressed in the white dress of a nurse took a stranger’s baby, hot with a fever; descended from the 17th floor of Harlem Hospital to the streets below; and walked away.
Suspect In 1987 Baby-Stealing Case Taken Into Custody
(News One) — A woman who raised a baby girl kidnapped from a Harlem hospital has been taken into custody, more than 20 years after her alleged crime, NBC New York reports. It is unclear if Ann Pettway turned herself in or if she was arrested. Stratford, Conn. police confirmed she was in police custody. Pettway is formally wanted for violating her parole on an attempted embezzlement but officials also want to question her about the infant girl’s 1987 abduction, in the spotlight after the now grown woman’s amazing reunion with her real Bronx family.
Woman Reunited with family after 23 years
Carlina White always had a feeling that she didn’t belong with her so- called relatives. It was this feeling that prompted her to look through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s catalog. She found a baby picture that she thought looked like her and called the number listed. It turned out to be her biological mother Joy.
Turns out Carlina was abducted from Harlem Hospital in New York when she was just 19 days old. Her mother, took her back to the hospital because of a high temperature. A woman, dressed in scrubs, simply picked her up and walked out. From there she changed Carlina’s name and raised her as if she were her daughter.
After 23 years Carlina’s parents Joy White and Carl Tyson say they are just happy to have her back.
What would be the first thing you would do with your long lost child after over 20 years?
Find out what could await the kidnapper here.
