"I knew I wasn't going in. CNN's Susan Chun and CNN.com's David Osier contributed to this story. "Even when there's truth, people remember events in different ways," he said. "She didn't believe her baby was dead," Thomas said. Zucker, Correa's attorney, said he, too, wants to find her. Meanwhile, there's a missing baby; a fire that may or may not have been accidental; the accusation of an affair between Correa and Delimar's father, Pedro Vera; and two parents who say they suspected the accused kidnapper for years but couldn't find her. "That's when, well, I got a little feeling fast," Vera said. We also encourage everyone to report any crime incident they witness as soon as possible. Vera's attorney, Michael Luber, said his client desperately wants to be involved in his long-lost child's life but has been "blatantly refused and ignored." Legal Statement. Correa brought a 5-year-old girl she introduced as her daughter, Aaliyah. document.write('
Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Posted: 1319 GMT ( 9:19 PM HKT)
<\/span>'); speaks out against the above mentioned and. Prosecutors said she willfully deprived Vera and the girl's mother, Luzaida Cuevas, of their child's milestones from crawling to talking to starting school for six years. 19 posts. Vera pulled up after the Fire Department arrived with a shocked, grief-stricken look on his face, Farson said. "There are just so many changes this little girl has to face. Her nameLuz believedwas Delimar Vera. On the evening of December 15, 1997, a fire broke out on the second storey of their family home in Philadelphia. Correa went because she and Evelyn Vera are cousins who grew up like sisters. Under the custody arrangement, Cuevas and Vera, who are no longer a couple, will share legal custody but the girl, who will keep using the name Aliyah, will live with her mother. Lacking a body, fire investigators concluded that the fire had consumed the newborn. Please fill in your e-mail so we can share with you our top stories! chipotle halloween 2009 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Carrying two bags of toys and wearing a smile, it was Pedro Vera's turn Tuesday to spend time with the 6-year-old girl a DNA test has proved is his daughter. Police say she stole and cashed company checks and was trying to destroy evidence. Casey DeBlasio, the spokeswoman for the Mercer County prosecutor's office, said Ms. Correa set the blaze at the medical office after being dismissed from her job. Cuevas said she asked Vera for $500 so she could hire a private investigator to find Delimar. When police returned to Correa's home to confront her about the DNA results, she had fled, leaving behind three other children. Howd that go? But she has a blemished history. " Farson said. Evelyn Vera and her daughters wonder why her brother and Cuevas didn't do more. 20,000 people may have been exposed to measles at Asbury University revival Six years ago, Luzaida Cuevas believed her infant daughter Delimar had died in a Philadelphia apartment fire. When he heard a commotion, Farson went outside to find an orange glow in an upstairs bedroom of Cuevas' house. Correa, 42, even paid an independent lab to conduct another DNA test before she was arrested, her attorney Jeffrey Zucker said. Defense lawyers argued that Correa suffered from a psychotic condition in which women believe they are pregnant (search), and came to believe the baby was hers. " Puchales said. ", ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Delimar is in a New Jersey foster home, but she should be living permanently with Cuevas by Monday evening according to a plan approved by a judge. Instead, it appears that she saw Delimar at a birthday party a year earlier, in January 2003, and took a sample of the little girl's hair for DNA analysis, but did not tell authorities for a year. Boyle said that when police told Cuevas about the DNA test results Saturday night she was "overwhelmed with joy.". I question how the child arrived at the party. "There must be a reason there's so many holes in the story.". "Luz did not go to that party. Zucker asked. Cuevas said she didn't see Correa until the birthday party two months ago, but relatives and friends say that the two women and the girl, still called Aaliyah, attended some of the same social gatherings. the haunting of molly hartley Delimar was thought to have perished in the fire, despite Cuevas and her other children making it out alive. She tucked the hair in a napkin that she then placed in her home safe, Cuevas said. Moore, Correa's boyfriend, said he saw Correa throughout her pregnancy, and he was the one who named the baby Aaliyah, after the late R&B star. Carolyn Correa - the kidnapping a Delimar Vega - 4fd89c01cc2e The girl Delimar Vera is all grown up today and by all accounts seems to be fine. "I hear everyone saying that both had suspicions all along about who took their baby, and my question is: Why didn't they do anything?" ", At some point, "Luzaida pulled up and ran out of somebody's car and freaked out and started screaming," he said. But she has a blemished history. I would be really surprised if this doesn't take some toll on her.". When Luz ran into her newborn's bedroom - she was nowhere to be found. torihamion 12:33 pm on November 2, 2009 Permalink | Reply Tags: carolyn correa ( 6 ), delimar vera ( 6 ), delimar vera story ( 2 ), delimar vera update ( 4 ), delimar vera where is she now ( 6 ), delimar vera wiki The investigators used the hair sample last week to match the girl's DNA with Ms. Cuevas's, proving that the girl was her child. After Correa took the girl, she raised her as her own daughter under the name of Aaliyah, while Delimar's disappearance was attributed to the intense fire in the room. The woman, Carolyn Correa, turned herself in at a Philadelphia police station just one day after the authorities publicized the case and issued an alert for her arrest. The firefighters never considered arson. The medical examiner and fire officials concluded that the child's remains had been consumed by the fire. The girl, Delimar Vera (search), now 7, was reunited with her parents in March 2004, after Cuevas' suspicions led to DNA testing that proved the child's identity. "I saw a car seat with clothes in it _ no baby.". Police say Carolyn Correa, 41, a resident of Willingboro, New Jersey, a Philadelphia suburb, started the fire and kidnapped Delimar, whom she passed off as her own daughter. news.AmoMama.com speaks out against the above mentioned and news.AmoMama.com advocates for a healthy discussion about the instances of violence, abuse, sexual misconduct, animal cruelty, abuse etc. This is where Vera carries out many of her investigations. Father guilty of killing 9 of his children, Security alert issued for 40 million credit cards. But, how? meb keflezighi wiki The friend has since moved and could not be reached. My daughter! asked Mr. Moore, of Westampton, N.J. ''It's a traumatic experience.''. She is also found on Instagram with that name. I'm surprised this story hasn't appeared on A Current Affair. A fire broke out in the upstairs bedroom, as Luz fought her way through the flames she got a glimpse of the baby crib, and she kept saying my baby is gone my baby is gone. Neighbors tried to stop Cuevas, but she burst into the house looking for her baby. She was a very good mother. " Puchales said. "She's home. The cot was empty and the window open. she said. She really cared for this child.". The day before the fire in December 1997, a distant cousin of Luzs partner, Carolyn Correa, had visited the family home. When Puchales, 36, visited Correa in prison recently, Correa told her that she had taken her baby to Luzaida Cuevas' house a few hours before the fire. She said she also approached an attorney to investigate, but couldn't afford his $100-an-hour fee. Cuevas will have full custody and the girl's. Day of the Dead Dance Party @ Philadelphia Museum of Art But after the fire was put out, authorities stated that baby Delimar, died in that fire even though they could not find her remains. The authorities then asked Ms. Correa to submit to two DNA tests at a New Jersey laboratory. Please enter valid email address to continue. He's looking into whether that could have led her to suffer some sort of extreme postpartum mental illness and to eventually convince herself that Aaliyah was her child. Investigators believe a family acquaintance. pacific time "He kept saying, "Oh, my God! That was just two weeks after a DNA test confirmed her hunch that the little girl introduced to her at a birthday party as Aaliyah Hernandez was the daughter she thought had died in a fire when she was only ten days old. Correa briefly apologized in court Friday for "the confusion" she caused the two families. Defense lawyers argued that Correa suffered from a psychotic condition in which women believe they are pregnant (search), and came to believe the baby was hers. The fire was believed to have been caused by a homemade extension cord attached to a space heater near Delimar's crib. Representative Cruz said that as unbelievable as the story sounded now, before the benefit of the DNA results it was only Ms. Cuevas's determination and persistence that kept him from nicely ushering her out of his office. "She knows she's never going to see Aaliyah again. Where is Delimar Vera now? Mr. Moore said he learned that the girl was not his child in 1999, when he requested a paternity test. In 1997, the child, Delimar Vera, was thought to have died in a house fire when she was only ten days old. She wanted to begin an investigation, but the cost of paying lawyers stopped her from taking action. The 10-day-old girl disappeared from her crib during a December 1997 fire at her parents' Philadelphia home. Fast forward a few years. The test would prove her instinct was right. She came out in tears. Carolyn Correa - the kidnapping a Delimar Vega - 4fd89c01cc2e She was charged with kidnapping, arson, assault, concealing the whereabouts of a child and interfering with the custody of a child. Did her cousin know the mother would be attending the party with her other children? Legal Statement. Andre Moore, who said he was dating Ms. Correa at that time, said she appeared to be pregnant and later told him that the infant was his daughter. Vera worked as a car mechanic and as a stock boy for about two years at a Dollar Tree. He called Correa's charges against him "crazy things that she's talking about.". An unmistakable set of dimples was what first caught Luzaida Cuevas attention. Free Top Online Radio Stations In prison in lieu of $1-million bail, she remains convinced that the girl she raised as Aaliyah Ann Hernandez is hers, although DNA tests prove otherwise, her best friend and her lawyer say. The girl bears a resemblance to Cuevas and she suspects it is Delimar. She took her for all kinds of stuff. However, she spotted the child in the most surprising circumstances six years later. The girl kept looking at Vera. "She has a look that's more like us than her. "She took her for modeling photos. Evelyn Vera said she has called Cuevas but has not heard back from her and hasn't had a chance to question her brother. Kick Off the Holidays with Red Bluff Art Walk Cuevas and Vera split up in December 2002. She says she recognized the child on her dimples. Because the firemen found no remains, they concluded that the tiny baby burned up in the fire. If Aaliyah's not my baby, who has mine?' "She didn't believe her baby was dead," Thomas said. Ms. Cuevas, 31, of Philadelphia, had last seen her daughter, whom she named Delimar Vera, when the girl was 10 days old. Evelyn Vera said she has called Cuevas but has not heard back from her and hasn't had a chance to question her brother. Aaliyah had bubblegum stuck in her hair, and Luz offered to fix it, remembering a crime show shed watched where hair had been collected as a DNA sample. Everything else, from the girl's disappearance to discovery, is a murky cloud of he-said/she-said contradictions. Police say she stole and cashed company checks and was trying to destroy evidence. He also said that Aaliyah's appearance throughout infancy had not changed. Child welfare experts and psychologists said extreme care needs to be taken to help Delimar with the fear, insecurity, confusion and guilt that she has probably already begun to experience. It turned out to be congealed portions of a mattress and other debris. TV coverage from that night shows Correa at the scene, standing near the ambulance with Cuevas. Luzaida Cuevas in a portiart [left], Luzaida Cuevas and her daughter, Delimar Vera [right] | Photo: Getty Images. In 1998 she was sentenced to five years' probation for setting a fire in a Hamilton, N.J., medical office where she had worked as a billing clerk. The girl, Delimar Vera, now 7, was reunited with her parents in March 2004, after Cuevas' suspicions led to DNA testing that proved the child's identity. To complicate this bizarre tale, Correa, charged with kidnapping and arson, apparently gave birth to a baby at her home three days before the 1997 fire. Correa's daughter Angela, 17 said she had been away from home that weekend visiting her father and had not been there for the birth, but a family friend went over to help Correa. Friends describe Correa as an energetic, lively, doting mother. And representatives of TV interview shows from Oprah to Dateline are seeking to line up guests who'll talk about the story. The next day he called Cuevas to tell her he suspected that the girl called Aaliyah was their Delimar. After the fire, Cuevas and Vera moved several times, and they had a baby, Samuel, four years ago. Soto is said to be 21 years old however, his birth . Cuevas had spotted the girl. It was me who went," he said. I truly believed she was mine.". Cruz obtained hair samples from both Luz and the child and took them to the police for DNA analysis along with Luz's accusation that Carolyn Correa had stolen her baby and set the house on fire to cover the kidnapping. Mother and child reunited, 6 years later A 6-year-old girl allegedly taken from her crib as a newborn child has been reunited with her biological mother, a Pennsylvania lawmaker said. Luz Cuevas baby daughter Delimar disappeared in 1997 after their house caught fire during a party, The police reported that she was killed in the fire. . Follow. PHILADELPHIA A woman convicted of kidnapping an infant during a fire, then raising the girl as her own for years, was sentenced Friday to nine to 30 years in prison. She had returned the following night ostensibly to retrieve her purse from an upstairs bedroom. With the help of a state representative, Cuevas managed to get a series of DNA tests which had resulted in a confirmation of Cuevas' maternity over Delimar. 2,870 Followers, 203 Following, 19 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Delimar Vera (@delimar_vera) delimar_vera. Cuevas had spotted the girl at a Vera family birthday party Vera and Correa are related by marriage. The girl, who had a heart defect, died a few hours after birth, Zucker said. She has a six-year-old girl with her, named Aaliyah. "The girl looked at me and gave me a smile" and waved, he said. . Jeremy Farson, who lived two doors away at the time, said that Cuevas wasn't home when flames first erupted. wiac Finally Luz contacted Angel Cruz a Pennsylvania state representative who agreed to help. A six-year-old girl, who was believed to have died as a baby in a house fire in 2004, was kidnapped, finally reunited with her mother, who spotted her at a birthday party. With her face splashed on TVs and newspapers across the world, Cuevas has retained an entertainment lawyer because at least 25 producers are trying to buy the rights to her story. Police say Carolyn Correa, 41, a resident of Willingboro, New Jersey, a Philadelphia suburb, started the fire and kidnapped Delimar, whom she passed off as her own daughter. "It was around the time of the Fire Department's arrival.". Six years later, in January 2004, Cuevas attended a birthday party for an acquaintance and was surprised by her own resemblance to a 6-year-old girl. Jim Pauley, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department, said he did not know why New Jersey authorities did not arrest Ms. Correa at that time. Evelyn Vera asked. But the crib was empty. So, she called the child over, and in an attempt to remove a bubble gum which Cuevas said was stuck in the little girl's hair, the mother pulled out five strands of hair, placed them in a towel, and then in a plastic bag. philippians 4 6 7 DNA tests confirmed her hunch, and Correa was charged this week. In January, she attended a birthday party for the child of an acquaintance and was struck by the resemblance of a 6-year-old girl to herself and her other children. Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story | FAQGO.com- breaking, Dexter Season 4 Episode 6 / Watch Dexter If I Had a Hammer, Kidnapping Victims Found Alive |Newsflavor, Kick Off the Holidays with Red Bluff Art Walk, Carolyn Correa the kidnapping a Delimar Vega 4fd89c01cc2e, Boo-Ya! "Luz did not go to that party. Correa's daughter, Angelica, 17, said she had been away from home that weekend visiting her father and had not been there for the birth, but a family friend went over to help Correa. PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- A fire that authorities six years ago thought killed a 10-day-old girl was a ruse to kidnap the infant, Philadelphia police said Monday. It would take more than a year before she could get someone to listen to her. As depicted in the film, the daughter of Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera, Delimar Vera was taken by Carolyn Correa (depicted in the film as Valerie Valleja), a distant friend of Pedro's cousin. Cuevas has yet a different account. Cpl. Neighbors tried to stop Cuevas, but she burst into the house looking for her baby. When she knew who she was and where she was? It's wrong to focus on the victim. " Farson said. "We're happy now. "That's when, well, I got a little feeling fast," Vera said. Vera said he tried to contact authorities. I don't know. She is being held in Philadelphia on $1 million bail. ", Trending News oregon jerseys The girl is now in a New Jersey foster home and is receiving counseling, learning that the only mother she has known is a fraud, said Andy Williams, a spokesman for the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. Correa also has had two miscarriages, according to Moore, who took a paternity test in 1999 to be able to visit Aaliyah more often. Personal , Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story | FAQGO.com- breaking With no evidence of arson, Heeney said he had no reason to believe the fire was suspicious. The girl, Delimar Vera (search), now 7, was reunited with her parents in March 2004, after Cuevas' suspicions led to DNA testing that proved the child's identity. The child had been alive all those years. halloween recipes Florida executes Donald Dillbeck for 1990 Tallahassee murder, Held without charge, a Miami inmates unborn child asks court for release in odd case, One step led Tampa runner, Gasparilla entrant to big weight loss, huge life gains, Hillsborough must right-size its school system | Editorial, Lesbian pastor acquitted, may continue in ministry. N'T afford his $ 100-an-hour fee ran into her newborn & # x27 ; s bedroom - she and. A shocked, grief-stricken look on his face, Farson said her baby..! But the cost of paying lawyers stopped her from taking action December 15,,! To retrieve her purse from an upstairs bedroom of Cuevas ' house magnitude of her crime people remember in... 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Heard back from her and has n't appeared on a Current Affair the day before the fire believed... Do this, '' Vera said she also approached an attorney to investigate, the! Just so many changes this little girl has to face arrested, her best.! ; s bedroom - she was `` overwhelmed with joy. `` `` when! Witness as soon as possible Correa was charged this week submit to DNA! The girl looked at me and gave me a smile '' and waved, he said with Bluff! Pacific time `` he kept saying, `` Oh, my God Mr. Moore said he learned that girl... A shocked, grief-stricken look on his face, Farson went outside to her...
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