Woman says her child is in Walmart surveillance photos – not missing Jacksonville 3-year-old

A woman claims a child shown in surveillance photos at the Morehead City Walmart is her own daughter, not missing 3-year-old Mariah Woods, according to WCTI.

Jetta Long, the woman who claims to be in the photo, told WCTI the young girl in the photo is her daughter and not Woods, who has been missing since Sunday evening.

Long said she is from Newport and that she didn’t know the family of the missing girl, according to the report.

The woman and child in the photo had no connection in the investigation to find Woods, the FBI and Onslow County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Federal and local officials released surveillance photos early Wednesday morning showing a woman with dark hair walking with and carrying a girl with light brown hair at the Walmart about 9:30 a.m. Monday. Officials were trying to identify the pair to determine whether or not the girl in the photo was the missing 3-year-old.

Woods is described as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes, about 2-foot-9 weighing about 30 pounds.

Woods was allegedly abducted from a home on the 2400 block of Dawson Cabin Road in Jacksonville, according to an Amber Alert issued Monday. She was last seen when her mother put her to bed around 11 p.m. Sunday, and was missing Monday morning, according to the Charlotte Division of the FBI.

A surveillance image of a woman and child of interest in the case of missing 3-year-old Mariah Woods, taken at the Walmart in Morehead City, N.C. about 9:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 27, 2017.

FBI

During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said it was “using every resource available to find this little girl” including law enforcement partners and other first responders searching on the ground and with a helicopter.

Officials interviewed Woods’ mother and her boyfriend, and asked local residents to check for signs of the missing child.

“No piece of information is too small,” the sheriff’s office said, adding that anyone who has had any contact with the family since her disappearance is asked to call the sheriff’s office or the FBI.

The FBI joined the search Tuesday and brought in its Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team, a group of “highly trained and experienced experts on missing child cases.”

The FBI also released a missing poster for use on all FBI social media sites.

Anyone who thinks they know the woman or child in the surveillance photos, or who has information about the abduction is asked to call the Onslow County Sheriff at 910-455-3113, the FBI’s Charlotte field office at 704-672-6100 or call 911.

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