JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Watch First Coast News at 11 p.m. Sunday and GMJ Monday for On Your Side's Keitha Nelson's complete interview.
Sunday night on First Coast News after the Oscars and Monday on Good Morning Jacksonville you can catch a very candid interview with the father of Kamiyah Mobley. FCN anchor, Keitha Nelson sat down with Craig Aiken and we went over a gamut of topics. He was thrust into the spotlight after his daughter's kidnapping in 1998 and then again in 2017 when the pair were reunited 18 years later.
Life since then has been a whirlwind filled with national tv appearances, accusations and he says misconceptions about his daughter, Kamiyah and her kidnapper, Gloria Williams. Williams is now serving an 18 year prison sentence.
"Most people think she's just talking to Gloria every day and going to see her,” Aiken said. “She's in prison. I've been to prison believe me it's not sweet. I don't have to worry about Gloria anymore. If I let a lady in prison outdo me as a father on the street I would be less than a man. She is no competition to me. So the 15 minute conversations or whatever is going on I don't even worry about.”
“Why do you think you're able to take that approach and Shanara is not,” Keitha asked Craig who said, “I can't speak on her feelings. I do know that when Shanara looks at Kamiyah she sees Gloria. But what I look at Kamiyah I see Shanara."
Seven months into the pregnancy, Aiken said he was incarcerated. When Mobley was born, he was incarcerated. "Over the intercom they called my name," he said. "I was half sleep so I was wondering why the were calling me."
He noticed a bunch of officers and I wondered what was going on. One of the officers asked him, "are you Craig Aiken?" He responded yes and the officer said, "I have some good news and some bad news."
