A woman who sparked a nationwide manhunt when she was abducted from a maternity ward in 1994, hours after she was born, has died from a brain tumour.
Abbie Humphries was taken from Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham by a woman posing as a nurse.
Baby Abbie was found in a property in the city’s Wollaton suburb and reunited with her parents 16 days after she disappeared.
Abbie’s husband, Karl Sundgren, said in a social media post that she had passed away aged 30 on Sunday four years after she was diagnosed with grade-4 brain cancer.
He wrote: “Our beautiful Abbie peacefully passed away yesterday, surrounded by loved ones.
“She fought so hard with so much strength and grace for over four years and can finally rest.
“Abbie was so strong, and her infectious smile will forever remain in our hearts.”
Doctors discovered a 5cm brain tumour in November 2020 when Abbie started getting headaches after her mother died of breast cancer.
Abbie told the Mail on Sunday newspaper following her diagnosis in 2021: “There is no point feeling angry or blaming anything. We have just had a terrible amount of bad luck. I usually choose to look at the positive side of everything. It makes everyone feel better.”
The family moved to New Zealand when Abbie was a child to start a new life and her husband said there will be a celebration of her life in Whenuapai, north-western Auckland, on Saturday.
Abbie reportedly did not know about her abduction until she moved house aged 10 when she found press cuttings.
Her parents, Roger and Karen, appeared on television during the 1994 police investigation pleading for their baby to be given back.
Her mother said during the appeal: “To whoever’s taken our baby, can they please, please give her back. She should be with us. We’ve got a little boy who wants to know where his baby (sister) has gone.”
Police reportedly received a tip-off that former dental nurse Julie Kelley, aged 22 at the time, had been pregnant and told people she was expecting a boy but came home with a baby girl.
Kelley pleaded guilty to abducting Abbie and was put on probation for three years and treated for a personality disorder.
