Stolen hours after her birth in a Florida hospital 18 years ago, a young woman who came to suspect she did not belong with the people who raised her has been found in South Carolina, where police charged the woman she long believed was her mother with kidnapping.

DNA analysis identified the young woman, who now knows her birth name Kamiyah Mobley, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said.

He said Ms Mobley was in good health, but understandably overwhelmed.

"She's taking it as well as you can imagine. She has a lot to process," the Sheriff said.

"I can't even begin to comprehend it."

Police arrested Gloria Williams, 51, of Walterboro, South Carolina, at the home Ms Mobley was living in and charged her with kidnapping and interference with custody.

Ms Mobley was only eight hours old when she was taken by a woman posing as a nurse from her young mother at University Medical Centre in 1998.

A massive search ensued, with helicopters circling the hospital and the city on high alert, and thousands of tips came in over the years, but authorities apparently had no clue where she was.

Suspect Gloria Williams arrested in connection to the kidnapping of newborn baby Kamiyah Mobley. ( Reuters: Jax Sherrif's Office )

All that time, police said, she was being raised under a different name in Walterboro.

Then, some months ago, the young woman "had an inclination" that she may have been kidnapped, the Sheriff said.

The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children reached out to the cold case detectives at the sheriff's office, and Ms Mobley provided a swab of her cheek for DNA analysis that proved the match, the Sheriff said.

Reconnecting with family

The young woman's birth family, whom she met via video call, is rejoicing.

The paternal grandmother of the young woman said she looked just like her father.

Velma Aiken said that when they spoke over video chat, the young woman acted like she had been talking with them throughout the years, and said she would soon meet them in person.

The paternal grandmother of Kamiya rejoiced. ( AP: Will Dickey, The Florida Times-Union )

Ms Aiken said she knew that her long-lost granddaughter would need time to come to terms with her new identity, but she said her prayers had been answered.

She said she always asked God: "Don't let me die before I see my grand baby".



The Mobleys never forgot

Her mother, Shanara Mobley, told the Florida Times-Union newspaper on the 10th Anniversary of the kidnapping that on every one of Kamiyah's birthdays, she wrapped a piece of birthday cake in foil.

"It's stressful to wake up every day, knowing that your child is out there and you have no way to reach her or talk to her," Ms Mobley told the paper in 2008.

The young woman has now been provided with counselling.

She is only beginning a process of coming to terms with the fact that her true identity was stolen from her.

"She's 18, an adult and clearly a victim in this case," the sheriff said.

"A case like we have not seen in this country for a long time."

AP