This New York Daily News article has a photo of the kidnapper and a booking photo from a former arrest. Her name is Ann Pettway. She looks nothing like Carlina, and Ann’s family (who, they say, were ignorant of the real facts) would joke about this.
The authorities are keeping it quiet as to what’s going on legally, other than to say no charges have been filed yet. (They keep calling her the “alleged” abductor. Heh.) They’re not saying where Ann’s at, if they even know. Perhaps she’s in jail already for something else. I believe this would be a federal crime, since Ann took Carlina across state lines.
I can see why there’s no rush to file charges. We all basically know what happened, and Carlina is out of danger and reunited with her family. I highly doubt Ann has the resources to be able to skip the country and live out the rest of her life in Morocco or something. There’s plenty of time to sort things out in the criminal courts. But I certainly hope charges ARE filed. Just because it took 23 years to find Carlina doesn’t mean Ann Pettway, and whoever may have helped her with this, should get away with it. This was a terrible crime.