Friends and family of the woman accused of abducting an infant from a Jacksonville hospital in 1998 said it’s hard to believe she would do something like that.
Gloria Williams is accused of taking Kamiyah Mobley from a Jacksonville hospital on July 10, 1998, when Kamiyah was just hours old.
“There's always two sides to every story and then there's the truth,” Melissa Hiers, longtime friend of Gloria Williams, said. “Honestly, I don't believe it until it is actually proven in court.”
Tips led law enforcement officers to a young woman with the same date of birth but a different name and fraudulent documents in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Officials matched the woman's DNA to that of the missing newborn. The results came back Thursday night and Williams was arrested.
Hiers came to the Colleton County Detention Center to see Williams on Saturday.
She said she met Williams when Kamiyah was 2 years old.
“I just hit it off with Gloria. She's that type of person,” Hiers said. “You could just easily talk to (her) you know? Always blessing you.”
Hiers said she watched Kamiyah, known to her as Lexi, grow up during her 16 years of friendship with Williams.
She said Kamiyah and Williams were involved in church, and Williams was very active in the community.
“Lexi always had everything, always had everything she ever wanted,” Hiers said. “If you asked anybody else in the community that will talk to you, they will tell you Gloria is the sweetest person in the world.”
Hiers said she believes the accusations are a mistake, and said she is waiting for Williams’ time in court.
"This is a very small town and you have people that have nothing else better to do than to throw the pot and I would say, 'Mind your own business,'" she said.
Kamiyah met with her biological parents on Saturday in South Carolina.
After the reunion, her father Craig Aiken said he always had hope that his daughter would be found.
"It's hard to put it in words right now," Aiken said. "It's hard to deal with. Like I said, we are just trying to process it. It's been 18 years. It's going to be hard to make that up."
Aiken said his daughter told him she was happy to meet him. He said it will be up to her if she wants to come to Jacksonville.
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