IT was like something out of a Hollywood movie: a child believed dead is found alive by a mother who never gave up hope.
Luzaida Cuevas was told her newborn died in a fire. Six years later, at a party, she spots a girl with familiar dimples and takes a lock of hair. DNA tests confirm it is her daughter, Delimar.
Instagram/delimar_veraDelimar Vera, now aged 26, was kidnapped as a baby and thought to have died in a house fire[/caption]
WPVI TVJust 10 days old when she was kidnapped, Delimar went years without knowing her real mother[/caption]
Philadelphia PoliceCarolyn not only kidnapped Delimar, but started the house fire in the first place[/caption]
The kidnapper, Carolyn Correa, a cousin by marriage of Delimar’s father, Pedro Vera, had abducted the baby and set the fire to cover her tracks.
Correa then raised the girl as her own, naming her Aaliyah Hernandez.
Another shocking twist came when Correa claimed Pedro had given her the child – an accusation he has always denied and was never charged for.
Now, a new documentary, Back from the Dead: Who Kidnapped Me? follows Delimar as she tries to investigate what really happened that fateful night.
Speaking for the first time, Delimar, 26, tells The Sun: “People think that you get kidnapped and in the aftermath, everything is rainbows, butterflies and life moves on.
“But sadly, that’s not the truth. There’s a lot of work that goes into repairing those relationships and moving on.”
And she says of her traumatic upbringing: “That’s my life, something that I’ve had to live with every single day, and I feel like I finally got to an age where I’m mentally stable, I have my life established, and I’ve always wanted to share my story.”
Despite no body being found, authorities told Delimar’s parents she likely died in the December 1997 fire, blamed on a heater’s extension cord.
However, Luzaida always believed her daughter was alive because, as fire ripped through her home, she rushed to the upstairs bedroom where the baby had been sleeping and found her cot empty. The window was wide open.
As firefighters dragged her from the blazing home, she was heard screaming that her baby had been stolen.
Pedro has told how he tried to convince authorities of their suspicions, but as an immigrant with little money and limited English, his concerns were not taken seriously.
Speaking in 2004, he said: “They never returned my calls or looked into it. There was no corpse. I asked to see the remains but they told me it was too burned to see anything.”
The couple went on to have another child together, Samuel, now 25, but later split.
Striking similarity
Delimar grew up in New Jersey with Correa and her older children. It’s hard to believe her kidnapper got away with it, as Delimar says her birth family were “just 25 minutes right over the bridge.”
She says of Correa: “I never thought I looked like her. Her daughter was more fair skinned like myself. So, I always thought me and her daughter look alike. I just don’t look like my mom.”
For six long years, Luziada remained convinced her daughter was still out there. Then, in January 2004, she attended a birthday party and spotted a dark-haired girl who looked just like her.
Thinking on her feet, she pretended the girl had chewing gum in her hair and offered to fix it, pulling out strands in a bid to get a DNA sample.
Splash NewsLuzaida faced an uphill battle to get her concerns looked at by authorities[/caption]
PolarisDespite authorities saying her daughter was dead, she never lost hope that she was still out there – and was vindicated[/caption]
Delimar says: “I actually do remember her pulling my hair.
“I remember seeing her and thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this woman is really pretty.’ I kept looking at her, like, ‘Oh, she’s so beautiful.’
“And, you know, my mom says, it was like ‘blood called’, like you could feel when you’re near your family. I just naturally gravitated towards her.”
And she says of their striking similarities: “I have my mom’s eyes. I have her face shape. I have a few features from my dad as well. They both say I’m like, the perfect mix of the both of them.”
Determined to prove her case, Luzaida turned to local politician Angel Cruz for help after they met. Despite being sceptical about the bizarre tale, “something inside” made him believe that it could be true.
He called the police and an investigation prompted DNA tests that showed that Luzaida and Pedro were, after all, Delimar’s parents.
A lot of people wanted to exploit us, but nobody thought for a second, maybe this family needs help
Delimar Vera
Correa was arrested and taken into custody, while little Delimar was placed in foster care by the New Jersey division of youth and family services.
Correa was jailed for nine to 30 years after pleading no contest to kidnapping, interference of child custody and conspiracy in 2005.
Her defence earlier argued she had suffered from a psychotic condition in which women believe they are pregnant and came to believe the baby was hers.
Car mechanic Pedro recalls in the documentary that the night of the fire, she had turned up out of the blue at his home, despite having not seen her for years, and she told him that she too had just given birth.
It has previously been reported that the baby Correa had in December 1997 could have been either still-born or miscarried.
Pedro, who was out of work at the time, says she tricked him into leaving the house with the promise of a job offer.
He also recalls how she suggested they stop to visit a family member before she told him she had forgotten her purse, leaving him there while she returned to the property alone.
He says when he arrived home, the fire brigade were already there.
Growing pains
After bonding with her at the foster home, Luzaida and Pedro were given supervised visits before she was allowed to go live with her mother, with her dad sharing custody.
Speaking at the time, little Delimar said: “I’m at my real home.” Asked how she felt, she replied with a giggle: “Happy.”
But she now admits that it wasn’t an easy transition, not least because of the language barrier. Her parents spoke little English and she didn’t speak Spanish.
AP:Associated PressA photo from 1997 depicts the aftermath of the horrific fire that led authorities to believe Delimar – who was just 10 days old – had burned to death[/caption]
AP:Associated PressIt was only a brief encounter but Luzaida was convinced she’d met her daughter – and managed to get the DNA to prove it[/caption]
AP:Associated PressCarolyn Correa was jailed for nine to 30 years in 2005[/caption]
She says: “I don’t want to say everybody, but a lot of people wanted to exploit us, but nobody thought for a second, maybe this family needs help.
“You know, how about we give them some resources for therapy? How about we check in with them and make sure that you know they’re adjusting smoothly.
“There was none of that. It was just, let’s take pictures, and, you know, do that.”
There was even a film, Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story, made in 2008.
World’s longest ‘kidnapping’ cases
THERE were 7,420 kidnapping offences recorded by cops in England and Wales in the year 2022/23 – an increase from the previous year.
Here are some of the world’s longest kidnapping cases:
December 4, 1972: Steven Stayner, seven, was kidnapped on his way home from school in California and raised by his abductor Kenneth Parnell for seven years, until Parnell abducted a second child – Timmy White – in 1980. Both boys escaped on March 1, 1980.
1974: Suzanne Marie Sevakis, five, from North Carolina, was raised by her abductor. The truth of her origins were discovered in 1990 when she died in an apparent hit-and-run.
February 13, 1976: Victoria, Montenegro, the daughter of People’s Revolutionary Army dissidents, was kidnapped aged 13 days and raised by an army colonel while her parents were killed. Her true identity was established in 2000 following a DNA test.
August 29, 1984: Elisabeth Fritzl, 18, was held captive for 24 years in the basement of her family home in Austria by her father Josef who sexually abused her. The abuse led to the birth of seven children and one miscarriage. Elisabeth and her three captive children were released by Josef in 2008 when one child became seriously ill.
Other cases of children imprisoned by relatives include:
Alba Nidia Álvarez, Mariquita, Colombia, 25 years, discovered in March 2009
Elizabeth Wesson, her sisters, her children, her nieces and her nephews, Fresno, California, US, 26 years, discovered in 2004
Genie (known as the Feral Child) California, United States, 13 years, discovered on November 4, 1970
Jürgen Bartsch, Langenberg, Germany, six years
“M” and her children, Moe, Victoria, Australia, 28 years, discovered in February 2007
Laura Mongelli, Turin, Italy, 25 years
Lucero case, Argentina, 20 years, discovered in May 2009
Lydia Gouardo, Val-de-Marne, France, 28 years
Rosalynn McGinnis, Missouri, United States, 19 years, escaped in 2016
Sheffield incest case, UK, 25 years, discovered in November 2008
Schollenberger Case, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States, 10 years, discovered in May 2020
South Wales paternal sex abuse case, South Wales, UK, 20 years, discovered in 2019
Turpin case, Perris, California, United States, 29 years, discovered on January 14, 2018
As Delimar entered her teens, she reveals she became “depressed” as what happened to her finally hit her.
She recalls: “I was feeling suicidal.
“When I turned 12 years old, I think that was the first time that the magnitude of my kidnapping had hit me. I went, ‘Oh my gosh, I got kidnapped, you know, wow’. It was the weirdest thing in the world.
Instagram/delimar_veraWhile Delimar was initially happy to be reunited, her unusual upbringing led to mental health troubles as a teenager[/caption]
ReutersCorrea raised Delimar under the name Aaliyah Hernandez[/caption]
“My mom wasn’t really super warm and fuzzy, just because of the way that she was raised, which is understandable, because how do you give something to somebody else that you’ve never had, and you’ve never been taught to give that?
“So I don’t blame her for being that way at all. But me, as a teenager, I kind of needed more of the ‘mushiness’, and not already having that initial bond together, it just made it all the more difficult.”
Father accused
To this day, Correa’s motive for kidnapping little Delimar and passing her off as her own is unclear.
She already had children of her own and Delimar claims she was subject to abuse in the home, with her often being left in the care of a kindly family member, who became like a surrogate mother to her during those early years.
Delimar says: “I think that’s the biggest question of all – why kidnap a child if you’re not going to treat them well?”
Correa was released from prison after serving eight years and Delimar says she is not allowed to contact her or her parents.
I felt like my dad and I had a wall between us, and we couldn’t get past that unless I knew the truth
Delimar Vera
But Delimar says: “My mom said, ‘If you ever have the opportunity to sit down and speak to Carolyn, the one thing I would want you to ask her, why? Just why. Why did you have to take my child?’”
Correa did not respond to a request for an interview by the documentary makers.
Delimar says: “Even if she were to tell her side of the story, she’s a pathological liar, so it’s really hard to believe anything that she says.
“I would love to know how everything happened but, coming from her, I just can’t trust it, so that’s something that I’ve put to the side.”
Something that has always troubled Delimar though is Correa claiming in court she has an accomplice.
Delimar says: “That person deserves consequences just as much as she did. But unfortunately, she is keeping her mouth shut and she’s protecting that person with her life.
AP:Associated PressDelimar’s mum, left, receives a hug from her sister after being reunited with her daughter in 2004[/caption]
Instagram/delimar_veraDelimar was troubled by her kidnapper’s accusations towards her dad[/caption]
Philadelphia Daily NewsDelimar pictured as a baby, before being abducted[/caption]
“It is something that I’ve thought about throughout the year since I’ve always known, there’s no way that she took me out of that window by herself.”
At the time, Correa publicly accused Pedro of helping her commit the crime. However, he was dismissed as a possible suspect and no evidence was found to support further investigation.
But Delimar admits: “It was tough growing up, because I felt like my dad and I had a wall between us and we couldn’t get past that unless I knew the truth.
“So I’ve always loved my father but definitely had a wall built up with him and I didn’t 100 per cent trust him, because I didn’t know if that was something that he participated in.”
Mum’s intuition
During filming, Delimar meets up with her dad, who agrees to take a lie detector test.
She says: “Beforehand, I got excited, maybe there might be an answer at the end of this.
My life would have been a lie. I probably would have never known it
“Maybe we might find out more about who the accomplice was. But I think that the biggest closure was ruling my father out, because that was something that haunted me.
“Every night I would think about it, like ‘Oh, my goodness, what if my dad was somebody that had something to do with it?’”
She feels the documentary has given her some sort of “closure”. But after what happened after the hit Netflix show Baby Reindeer, she is readying herself for the onslaught ‘armchair detectives’ trying to hunt out who the alleged accomplice is, once the film airs.
Delimar says: “I would be so interested to see you know what they come up with.
“There’s going to be a lot of people reaching out. So I have to prepare myself for that.
“Everybody’s going to have their opinions and I learned to expect that. I would really appreciate it if people just handle this with caution, and realise that I’m a human being, and that’s another person’s life that you’re talking about.
WAG TVDelimar pictured with her family, including Antoinette Vera, Carolyn’s sister in-law[/caption]
“So I just wish people would be sensitive.”
Delimar, who married her husband Isaiah Robinson, 31, a year ago, says she now has a close relationship with both parents, particularly her mum.
She says: “My mom and I, already this week, have talked on the phone for two hours, two days in a row.
“We have a great relationship. We’re stronger than ever right now.”
And had it not been for Luzaida’s intuition that her baby was still alive, Delimar says: “I would have still been there.
“I think it’s scary. You know, my life would have been a lie. I probably would have never known it.”
Back from the Dead: Who Kidnapped Me? is on U&W from November 4 and available on boxset on U from Nov 4