Emotional moment teenager snatched at birth meets her real parents for the first time after 18 years
Kamiyah Mobley posed in a selfie with her biological parents with the reunited family spending 45 minutes together
A GIRL who was snatched from her mother's arms as a baby has been reunited with her biological parents after 18 years.
Kamiyah Mobley was reunited with her birth parents after having been raised by a woman who posed as a nurse before stealing her from hospital just eight hours after she was born.
The 18-year-old spent almost an hour with her birth parents Craig Aiken and Shanara Mobley at the Walterboro Police Department over the weekend, with her 41-year-old biological father saying it was the best day of his life.
He told : "It was the best day of my life. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. We are so happy. I hope the world is rejoicing with us."
The trio posed for a smiling selfie while at the South Carolina station, with birth mum Shanara Mobley looking close to tears at finally being with her girl after almost two decades.
Mr Aiken added: "We laughed, we chatted, we didn't allow any negative thoughts.
"We didn't talk about the kidnapping.
"It's going to be hard for her to turn this into a positive. She's got very mixed emotions about the woman who raised her.
"But we are going to be there for her, this is just the start of a wonderful future."
Describing the meeting, he added: "The first meeting was beautiful. It's a feeling that you can't explain."
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Shanara Mobley's baby was taken from a Florida hospital ward in 1998 when she was just eight-hours-old, sparking a huge search.
On Friday Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said DNA analysis identified confirmed an 18-year-old living in South Carolina under the name Alexis Manigo was the kidnapped youngster.
In court Kamiyah shared an emotional goodbye with the woman who raised her saying "I love you mum!"
In a Facebook post she added: "My mother raised me with everything I needed and most of all everything I wanted.
"The ignorant ones won't understand it. My mother is no felon."
Williams, who has two biological children, is accused of posing as a nurse and stealing the baby girl, wrapped in a pink and blue blanket.
She suffered a miscarriage a week before the crime, reports.
CASE GIVES McCANNS NEW HOPE
THE case of Kamiyah Mobley has given the parents of Maddie McCann “real hope” their daughter could be found alive, sources told The Sun on Sunday last night. Kate and Gerry McCann, who are facing the 10th anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007, were said to have been “buoyed up” after at the Kamiyah news. A close source to the McCanns told The Sun on Sunday: “This case has given them real hope that one day Madeleine will be found alive and well. “It proves yet again, like other previous cases, children vanish for many years but are still found.” At Christmas, ex-GP Kate and heart doctor Gerry, both 48, of Rothley, Leics, appealed to Maddie’s abductor and people close to their tormentor to “do the right thing” and come forward.
Kamiyah's grandmother, Velma Aiken, 66, told Associated Press: "She looks just like her daddy.
"She act like she been talking to us all the time. She told us she'd be here soon to see us."
Neighbours were reportedly shocked to discover Kamiyah's true identity, never having suspected she was not Williams' daughter.
Joseph Jenkins told Associated Press: "She wasn't an abused child or a child who got in trouble. But she grew up with a lie for 18 years."
One year after Kamiyah vanished, police had more than 2,000 leads and offered a $250,000 (£204,000) reward.
The case was even featured on America's Most Wanted, but until now all leads ran dry.
The break came from a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Cops found an 18-year-old with Kamiyah's birth date but a different name - established using fraudulent documents.
A DNA test confirmed that the teenager was Kamiyah.
The Sheriff said she is in "good health".
Williams could face up to life in prison if convicted.
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