'Mom' of Kidnap Victim Reportedly Spotted at Conn. Pawn Shop

In this May 24, 2010 photo provided by the Wake County (N.C.) Bureau of Identification, Ann Pettway is shown. (AP)

The woman who raised a child kidnapped from a New York hospital two decades ago and is on the run from police is believed to have been spotted at a Connecticut pawn shop.

Police raided Joe Davis Pawnbroker in Bridgeport, Conn. after an employee reported that Ann Pettway, 49, had tried to hawk a laptop and some jewelry, The New York Post reported Saturday.

"Someone from the pawn shop called," a police source told the newspaper. "The pawn shop called police 20 minutes after she left."

Pettway offered to sell a Dell laptop, hoop earrings and an engagement ring, but it was immediately known if the shop paid for the items, the Post said. It was also unclear how the employee identified the woman as Pettway.

Authorities want to question Pettway for the 1987 abduction of an infant from a New York Hospital who she then raised as her own daughter. Pettway is on probation because of a conviction for attempted embezzlement and broke her parole by leaving the state of North Carolina.

The sighting set off a hunt for the fugitive both at her mother’s house and that of the biological father of Pettway’s 13-year-old son. The father has also not been seen since last week, the Post reported.

Authorities declared Pettway a probation absconder Friday, resulting in a warrant for her arrest.

Her alleged victim, Carlina White had long suspected Pettway wasn't her biological mother because she could never provide her with a birth certificate. No suspects were ever identified in White's disappearance from Harlem Hospital in New York in 1987. White is now 23 years old and has been living under the name Nejdra Nance in Connecticut.

White recently reunited with her biological family. The family believes Pettway was the kidnapper.

Authorities are considering whether federal investigators should take the case because the statute of limitations may have expired in New York, said chief New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. There is no limitation in federal missing children cases.

Carlina White's parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, said a woman who looked like a nurse had comforted them at the hospital. Carlina White was just 19 days old and had been admitted in the middle of the night with a high fever. Her parents left the hospital to rest and found she was missing when they came back.

Nance told The New York Post in an interview posted Thursday that reuniting with her family was like a dream.

"I'm so happy. At the same time, it's a funny feeling because everything's brand-new. It's like being born again," she said.

Click here to read more on this story from The New York Post.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.