JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Over the past two years, Craig Aiken says he’s watched his daughter grow from a teenager into an adult.
Kamaiyah Mobley, now 22 years old, first learned about her abduction in 2017. Investigators say Gloria Williams took Mobley from a hospital in 1998, raising her as her own daughter.
Mobley has since been reunited with her biological family, but her father says he has questions about his daughter’s childhood -- questions that only Williams would be able to answer.
“I just want to know about my daughter. And if that’s taking me to talk to the enemy, that’s what I would do to build a relationship with my daughter,” Aiken said.
The father says that despite not knowing each other for years, it always feels like Mobley has been part of the family.
“It’s been fun for me and the learning process, trying to get to know my daughter. A funny process getting know her sisters and brothers. It’s been exciting,” Aiken said.
In 2018, a judge sentenced Williams to 18 years in prison. She admitted to posing as a nurse to kidnap the newborn. Mobley was raised in South Carolina under the name Alexis Manigo.
RELATED: Gloria Williams given 18 years for kidnapping Kamiyah Mobley
Aiken says he’s never had a conversation with his daughter’s kidnapper.
“I’ve never talked to her before. Most of the information I know about Gloria is from Kamiyah, and it’s very little because we don’t really talk about her,” he said.
Now that some time has passed, Aiken feels he’s ready to visit his daughter’s kidnapper in prison to ask her questions about Mobley’s upbringing.
“Was she like my kids? Did she always act this way? Did she always talk this way, or be this funny and laugh? Did she always have this much fun?” Aiken said.
When asked if he forgives Williams, Aiken responded, “That’s a hard question.”
“I feel nothing towards her. I mean, I feel nothing. I don’t,” he continued. “She’s not apart of my life. She’s not any more apart of my life. She’s in jail. There’s nothing she can stop me from doing with my daughter. So, she’s not a threat to me... She’s nothing to me.”
Aiken is grateful for the relationship he now has with his daughter, and he feels meeting Williams will help give him closure.
The father said it’s unclear when he’ll visit Williams because of COVID-19 restrictions in prisons. Once those are lifted, Aiken plans to visit Williams with Mobley at the prison in Brooksville.
Aiken says Mobley has plans to go to college and that she’s been traveling frequently back and forth from South Carolina to Jacksonville. He says she’s gotten close with her five sisters and two brothers.