There’s been a confession in the case of the 1987 baby snatching in New York City that returned to the front pages last week when word got out that the now-young woman had tracked down her birth mother.

“Authorities say a North Carolina woman who raised a child snatched from a New York hospital more than two decades ago has confessed to taking the baby in 1987 after she had trouble having her own children,” the Associated Press writes. “An FBI agent said in court papers charging Ann Pettway with kidnapping that Pettway suffered several miscarriages before taking the baby from Harlem Hospital by train to her home in Bridgeport, Conn.”

The New York Post, which has been following this story closely, has the court papers here. In them, FBI special agent Maria Johnson says that Pettway admits taking the baby (the now 23-years-old Carlina White) and telling friends and family members “that the victim was her child.” She then raised the girl. Now, the documents say, “Pettway is sorry and knows that she has caused a lot of pain.”

Pettway turned herself in to authorities in Connecticut over the weekend. She’s on probation in North Carolina because of a conviction for attempted embezzlement. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.