PHILADELPHIA -- The mother of a Philadelphia girl who was thought to have died in a house fire in 1997 is eagerly awaiting a reunion with her daughter.
Delimar Vera was just 10 days old when the fire destroyed her family's home in the Feltonville section of North Philadelphia on Dec. 15, 1997. Although a body was never found, authorities believed the infant had been consumed by the heat and flames of the fast-moving blaze.
But not everything added up, according to state Rep. Angel Cruz. Cruz said a woman had come to the house twice on the day of the fire, and left once with the baby's father, Pedro Vera.
Now, police say, it turns out that the infant was actually kidnapped by a woman who set the blaze to cover her tracks.
In January, the girl's mother, Luz Aida Cuevas, contacted police after spotting the now-6-year-old girl at a birthday party thrown by Vera's side of the family and recognizing the child as her own.
"I looked at her. She walked in front of me. She looked at me. I looked at her. I said to my sister, 'That is my daughter. She got my daughter.' My sister said, 'You have to take it easy. You need proof. We have to find proof,'" Cuevas said.
Luz Cuevas told The Associated Press Tuesday that she recognized the girl and was certain that it was her daughter, Delimar Vera. She says she pretended that the little girl had chewing gum stuck in her hair to remove five strands from the child's head.
She folded them in a napkin and placed them in a plastic bag, which she locked in a safe at home, then turned over to authorities. Cuevas says she knew from watching television that they would need hair for DNA tests.
"She bumps into the lady who had come to her house the day of the fire, and she sees the lady with a child, and all of a sudden, her motherly instincts say, 'that's my child.' She left there saying, 'that's my child, that's my baby," Rep. Cruz said.
The investigation was reopened and the DNA test results announced Monday confirmed that the girl Cuevas saw is her missing daughter.
Delimar has been placed in the custody of New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. It is not clear when she will be reunited with her biological mother, but Cuevas knows how she will greet her daughter.
She said that she will "go and give her a kiss and a hug and say, 'I love you, I love you."'
Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of 41-year-old Carolyn Correa of Willingboro, N.J., on charges of arson, kidnapping and conspiracy. She remains at large.
She was last seen living in Willingboro, N.J., driving a burgundy 2003 Chevrolet with a New Jersey license plate of NTL71H.
Birth Mother Talks To WCAU-TV
Philadelphia TV station WCAU-TV talked exclusively to Cuevas about her relief at finally finding her daughter.
"I screamed (when I was told the test results). I felt so happy. I don't know what to say. Cry? You know, because I was in shock when they say, 'It's your daughter,'" Cuevas said happily.
Cuevas said she knew she had just met her daughter because she recognized the moles on the girl's cheek. She also said the girl looked like her sons, who never gave up hope they would be reunited with their sister.
"Every Christmas, my sons say, 'Mommy, we have to find (her).' I said, 'Don't worry, we'll find her.' I knew she was alive," Cuevas said.
Cuevas is thrilled, but she also has bitter questions for the woman accused of kidnapping her child.
"Why'd she do that to me? Kidnapping my daughter? You know? She do a fire to my house to take my daughter," Cuevas said.
Correa's husband told WCAU that he is devastated to find out the girl he thought was his daughter belonged to someone else.
Girl's Birth Father Says He's Stunned
Pedro Vera said was stunned and excited that his daughter was alive and revisited the address where he last saw her. He told WCAU-TV that he couldn't wait to see his daughter.
Vera went to the same birthday party where Cuevas first laid eyes on Delimar. Correa is his cousin and introduced the girl to him as her own daughter, named Aaliyah.
"I got the feeling that was my daughter because she looked like me," Vera said.
Vera also had the feeling that the girl looked just like his son.
"A lot of years, I think she's dead. And now, when I looked at her and I said, 'Oh my God, that's my daughter. She's not dead,'" Vera told WCAU.
Wow! :)
Chris
filmerp
03-02-04, 02:28 PM
So is there any relation to Carolyn Correa? Who is this lady and why did she leave with the baby's father the day of the fire?
mrpayroll
03-02-04, 02:30 PM
Originally posted by filmerp
So is there any relation to Carolyn Correa? Who is this lady and why did she leave with the baby's father the day of the fire?
You will have to wait for the movie of the week! ;)
Mark my words, tv execs are reading this story right now, saying how can we fill the whole 2 hours?
Chris
MonkeyG
03-02-04, 03:02 PM
How surreal will it be when the girl grows up and gets to visit her grave.
bigsoos
03-02-04, 03:06 PM
or the fact that everyone keeps saying that she looks like their boy. :lol:
I'm glad that they found her
Groucho
03-02-04, 03:09 PM
Originally posted by mrpayroll
Correa's husband told WCAU that he is devastated to find out the girl he thought was his daughter belonged to someone else. This part makes no sense. Your wife shows up one day with a 10-day-old baby and says "This is yours!" and you accept it at face value?
mrpayroll
03-02-04, 04:08 PM
Originally posted by Groucho
This part makes no sense. Your wife shows up one day with a 10-day-old baby and says "This is yours!" and you accept it at face value?
Maybe he came into the picture after the abduction, but since she was still very young, felt that she was his daughter?
If not he is a dodo head!
Chris
LurkerDan
03-02-04, 04:17 PM
Something in this whole story seems wrong. Mark my words, we'll see some more "developments" before this is through.
Woman used lock of hair to prove kidnapped daughter's identity
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Luz Cuevas took one look at the dimpled, dark-haired little girl with the big brown eyes at a birthday party and instantly knew two things: She was watching her daughter, presumed killed in a 1997 fire, and she needed a way to prove it.
She pretended the 6-year-old girl had gum in her hair, removed five strands from the child's head, folded them in a napkin and placed them in a plastic bag. After locking the evidence in a safe at home, she contacted a local lawmaker for help.
"Because of TV, I knew they needed hair for the DNA," Cuevas said Tuesday.
The DNA tests confirmed the mother's intuition. The girl was her only daughter, Delimar Vera - the girl everyone else believed had died only 10 days after she was born.
Carolyn Correa, 41, of Willingboro, N.J., about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia, was being sought by federal and local authorities on charges including arson and kidnapping. She remained at large Tuesday.
Cuevas, 31, said Correa was a family acquaintance who announced that she was pregnant during a visit to the new mother shortly after Delimar's birth. Correa then abruptly ceased contact after the Dec. 15, 1997, blaze. That raised Cuevas' suspicion, as did several elements of the chaotic night when her home in the Feltonville neighborhood of North Philadelphia burned.
"I went inside the room and looked in the crib and she wasn't there," Cuevas said, adding that the window was inexplicably open though it was a cold winter evening. Police and fire officials that night told the hysterical mother that "maybe it was my nerves," she said.
Fire officials believed the one-alarm blaze was sparked by a home-rigged extension cord connected to a space heater. The fire was extinguished in 10 minutes but Delimar's room was gutted, and investigators concluded that the infant's body must have been consumed by the intense heat and flames.
Cuevas, who speaks in halting English, said she instantly recognized the child called Aliyah as her daughter at the Jan. 24 birthday party, where she used the ruse of gum in the child's hair to gather a DNA sample. It was unclear what brought the child and her biological mother to the same party.
"When I see her, I saw that she was my daughter," she said. "I want to hug her. I want to run with her."
She sought help from state Rep. Angel Cruz, who represents the poor, largely Hispanic neighborhood where Cuevas lives. Cruz said he was initially skeptical at first but "something inside" told him that there could be something to the bizarre claim.
He called police, who contacted Correa for a DNA test that ultimately proved Cuevas right.
"It's a mother's way. It's motherly intuition," he said.
Cuevas and Delimar's father, Pedro Vera, 39, had a baby boy after Delimar's disappearance but broke up under the strain of losing their daughter. Cuevas also has two other boys who are older than Delimar.
"Right now I want to see my daughter," Pedro Vera said. "I am so happy. I just want to see my daughter."
Delimar was in foster care Tuesday and remained in the custody of New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, spokesman Andy Williams said. It will be up to a Family Court judge to determine where the little girl should live, but no timetable had been immediately set for the courts to hear the case, Williams said.
Citing confidentiality rules, Williams would not say whether child welfare officials knew of any previous problems or when Delimar was removed from Correa's home.
Neighbors who used garden hoses and fire extinguishers in futile attempts to help Cuevas reach her newborn on the night of the fire reacted to the recent news with joy and anger.
"When I heard it I went and got a drink (to celebrate). I was happy she was alive," said Jose Rosario, who still lives next door to the house that burned. He recalled grabbing a fire extinguisher and desperately trying to enter the window where Delimar was supposed to have been, only to be repelled by the intense flames.
"Somebody could have got hurt trying to save someone who wasn't in there," Rosario said. "The way she hurt those people, she should be put away in a crazy house."
A woman who was told in 1997 that her baby's body was consumed in a house fire reacted with "total shock" after learning the child was actually a kidnap victim, authorities said Monday.
"She just stood in shock," Philadelphia Police Officer Manuel Gonzales said of the mother, who is now awaiting a reunion with the 6-year-old girl.
A Willingboro woman, Carolyn Correa, 41, of Peacock Lane, is being sought as a suspect in the kidnapping. She also is charged with a 1997 arson fire set in a Philadelphia home in an apparent attempt to conceal the abduction.
The baby's mother "didn't know whether to cry, to yell or to scream," Gonzales said.
Police did not release the mother's name, but news reports from the time of the blaze identified her as Luz Ada Cuevas and said she was burned on her face as she frantically tried to reach her newborn's room before flames forced her back.
She could not be reached for comment Monday.
Correa's neighbors in the Pennypacker section also were stunned.
"It just doesn't make sense," said James Murray, who lives next door to Correa's yellow Cape Cod. "She's a single mother who already has three kids of her own.
"If it's true, it's a crazy thing to do," said Murray, who noted Correa's mother also lives with the family. "I just don't see her doing it. I don't see her mother letting her do it."
Dionisio Pagan, who lives opposite the Correa home, said he saw nothing unusual.
"She seemed happy," Pagan said of Correa. "She looked like she loved the child.
"The kid seemed happy, too," he said. "I'd see her riding her bike."
"I was scared because I was watching TV and it said somebody was kidnapped in Willingboro," said Jasmine Pratt, 11, who lives at the end of the street. "Then I was like, `Oh my god, I know them!' "
"That's scary," said Jasmine's mother, Masheka Harvey. "I let my children play out here. You think it's safe, but you never know."
Authorities ordered DNA tests for the abducted girl, Delimar Vera, after her biological mother saw the child at a party in January and suspected she was her child.
State Rep. Angel Cruz of Philadelphia, who helped the woman contact and work with police after she spotted the little girl, credited "motherly instinct" for connecting mother and child.
Delimar was placed in the custody of New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. It was not immediately clear when she would be reunited with her biological mother.
Chris
wildcatlh
03-02-04, 05:30 PM
This has been top of the evening news here for a couple of days. This is just an incredible story.
mrpayroll
03-02-04, 06:11 PM
Originally posted by WildcatLH
This has been top of the evening news here for a couple of days. This is just an incredible story.
What must being going thru the mind of this young girl? The person that she has known all her life as her mother has disappeared and now she is being kept in foster care. I wonder how much she knows and I wonder how she will adjust to life with her real mother.
That being said, once they determine that the real mother is fit, she should absolutely go back to the birth mom.
I will keep everybody updated during the weeks and months to come. :)
Chris
nazz
03-02-04, 06:50 PM
I saw the mother telling her story on the news today and the attorney said today they were going to tell the child the truth.
I do hope that the kid has been taught spanish because I could hardly understand one word of the mother's english.
Goldberg74
03-02-04, 06:56 PM
"Stay tuned for scenes from the next all new episode of Law & Order... ripped from the headlines!"
DarkestPhoenix
03-02-04, 07:13 PM
She'll be able to learn spanish fairly easily until the age of ten or twelve.
N.J. Woman Accused Of Arson, Kidnapping Surrenders
Police Say Woman Set Fire To Cover Tracks While Taking Friend's Child
POSTED: 8:41 a.m. EST March 2, 2004
UPDATED: 6:53 p.m. EST March 2, 2004
PHILADELPHIA -- A New Jersey woman surrendered to police Tuesday in Philadelphia to face charges that she kidnapped an acquaintance's baby and made it appear the infant died in a 1997 house fire.
CAROLYN CORREA hadn't been running from the law, her attorney said last night.
Saturday was her birthday, and she'd been away with her husband celebrating it, lawyer Jeffrey Zucker said.
Correa learned she was at the center of an incredible movie-like saga only when a relative called to tell her that police were looking for her, Zucker said.
Yesterday, Correa, 42, surrendered to Philadelphia's special victims unit to face charges that she torched a Feltonville home Dec. 15, 1997, to conceal the kidnapping of a 10-day-old girl from her crib.
The child's real mother, Luz Aida Cuevas, thought Delimar had burned to death in the fire.
The blaze was not the first arson case Correa has been involved in. She set a fire at a medical office in Hamilton Township, N.J., in November 1996, according to Casey DeBlasio of the Mercer County, N.J., prosecutor's office, and was sentenced to five years' probation and community service.
Police say Correa, a former supermarket clerk, took baby Delimar Vera to her home in Willingboro, N.J., and raised her as her own child, renaming her Aliyah Hernandez. Neighbors said Correa has three older children, a son in his 20s, a teenage daughter and a pre-teen son.
Relatives of Correa and Cuevas would not discuss the case yesterday.
Cuevas, 31, said that she recognized Delimar from her dimple when Correa brought the child, now 6, to a Jan. 24 birthday party Cuevas also attended.
Last week, DNA tests determined that Delimar was indeed Cuevas' child, and the girl was removed from Correa and turned over to New Jersey Youth and Family Services, where she reportedly has been placed in foster care.
A spokesman for the agency said it would be up to a Family Court judge to determine where the little girl should live, but no timetable has been set for a hearing.
Zucker said the child was very upset to be taken away from the only mother she has ever known.
"She's a 6-year-old, lovely little girl. It's a tragedy," Zucker said.
Zucker said the petite Correa, who was dressed in a light-blue sweat suit at her 4:15 p.m. surrender, was "resigned to face the charges and do what she has to do."
Local and national media flocked to the surrender.
Capt. John Darby of the Philadelphia police special victims unit said Correa faces 15 charges, including kidnapping, arson and conspiracy.
Besides the arson conviction, Correa pleaded guilty in 1993 to theft by deception for overpayment of welfare benefits in Burlington County. She was placed on two years' probation and ordered to make restitution of $7,067 at the rate of $50 a month.
The incredible story involving Delimar was the talk yesterday of quiet Peacock Street in Willingboro, where Correa and various family members have lived for years.
Neighbor Lisa Wright, 47, said the only contact she had with the Correas was when a pit bull chained in the back yard of the Correas' yellow Cape Cod got over her fence.
Said neighbor Patricia Acheampong: "It wasn't like she [Correa] had no children. They say her mother was living there. I'm appalled her mother went for this."
Chris
LurkerDan
03-03-04, 10:47 AM
I still think we're going to find out more details about this. Something just seems too fishy; there were too many people who should have known something was up.
littlefuzzy
03-03-04, 11:53 AM
Hmm, I wonder if they are going to do DNA tests on her "real" children... Maybe this isn't the first time she's done this.
mrpayroll
03-03-04, 02:17 PM
Originally posted by littlefuzzy
Hmm, I wonder if they are going to do DNA tests on her "real" children... Maybe this isn't the first time she's done this.
IN LATE 1997, Luzaida Cuevas lived in a Feltonville rowhouse eagerly awaiting the birth of a little girl. At the same time, 15 miles away in Willingboro, N.J., Carolyn Correa also was pregnant with a girl.
Cuevas gave birth to Delimar Vera at Temple University Hospital at 5:45 p.m. on Dec. 5.
Correa told relatives and authorities that she had given birth to a girl inside her modest four-bedroom yellow frame home on Dec. 12.
Correa named the girl Aliyah Hernandez and later groomed her to become an actress and beauty-pageant princess. Police now say that Correa set a fire in a bedroom of Cuevas' home and snatched 10-day-old Delimar, changed her name to Aliyah and raised her as her own.
Somehow, the lie lived on for six years until Cuevas recognized Delimar at a birthday party in January. And now, in this bizarre tale of betrayal and deceit that has drawn international attention, relatives wonder what happened to Correa's baby.
"If Aliyah is not my sister, where's my sister?" Angelica Correa, Correa's 17-year-old daughter, asked yesterday.
Correa also may have been pregnant in 1998 when she was sentenced for torching a medical office where she worked in Hamilton, Mercer County, a police source said.
She was stealing business checks from Williams Medical Associates where she worked as a billing clerk, and she set a fire to hide evidence on the morning of Nov. 20, 1996, said Hamilton Police Lt. James Kostoplis.
"She used an accelerant and started with papers and it got going real good," he said. Some employees were in the office at the time, but patients had not arrived yet.
On Aug. 7, 1998, she was sentenced to five years' probation. "It appeared she was pregnant...that's possibly why the sentence was so light," a police source said. "Police now are looking into what happened to that baby."
Correa now faces 16 charges in Delimar's case, including kidnapping, arson and conspiracy. Bail was set yesterday at $1 million.
Correa's attorneys, Jeffrey Zucker and Saul Steinberg, argued for lower bail, saying that she had agreed to DNA tests and had turned herself in to police.
But Assistant District Attorney Leslie Gomez told officials that before DNA mouth-swab tests were taken last Tuesday, Correa sprayed something in Delimar's mouth and told her not to swallow. Gomez would not identify the substance.
Furthermore, according to Gomez, when Delimar was whisked away, Correa said: "Goodbye, this is the last time you're going to see Mommy. You're not going to see Mommy anymore."
Insanity defense mulled
Correa clings to the belief that Delimar is her biological daughter, Zucker said. He added that he wants a psychiatrist to evaluate Correa and that he's considering an insanity defense.
Delimar has been in foster care under the supervision of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services since last Wednesday. A hearing will be held this afternoon at New Jersey Superior Court in Burlington County to move towards reunifying Delimar and her mom.
"This will not happen in one day. We have to make sure we do this in the best interest of the child," said DYFS spokesman Andy Williams. Cuevas and Delimar will be reunited gradually, beginning with supervised visits.
Cuevas plans to sue the city of Philadelphia while lawmakers scrutinize the fire investigation. They say they are baffled as to why authorities did not search for Delimar when they could not find a trace of her remains in the fire-ravaged house.
City Councilman Juan Ramos and state Rep. Angel Cruz will call for public hearings to examine city agencies' handling of the fire.
"Somehow this case fell through the cracks," Ramos said. "We need to know all the procedures that were followed so that his doesn't happen again."
Correa's family and friends are confused and devastated by the news.
"When I first heard about it, I just cried," said Anthony Correa, who was married to Carolyn for about 10 years. "I knew from now on, my kids' life will not be the same. My prayers go out to Carol. She was a good mother."
At Paramount Drug store in Riverside, N.J., where Carolyn worked for the last four years, workers were shocked by her arrest.
"The Carol that we knew was a good person," said co-worker Eunics who would not give her last name. "She was just a normal regular mom."
Kin thought she gave birth
Sometime in 1997, Correa, who had two sons and a daughter, became pregnant. She called relatives the night of Dec. 12, saying she had given birth to a girl at her house, Anthony Correa said.
"I had no reason to question it," he said.
Three days later, a fire roared through the upstairs of Cuevas' home on Hurley Street, and Cuevas was told her newborn daughter had perished in the blaze.
But she always believed Delimar was alive.
Cuevas met Correa for the first time the day of the fire. Cuevas said that Correa came to her house on Hurley Street and asked Pedro Vera, Delimar's father, to fix the brakes on her car.
Correa returned to the house alone. The two women sat in the living room and Correa told her she had a baby around the same time. "She said the baby's with the father," Cuevas recalled.
Suddenly, Cuevas heard an explosion upstairs and ran through flames to try to find her baby, but couldn't see Delimar in the smoke-hazed crib. She noticed an open window.
What authorities thought were remains of an infant turned out to be a congealed portion of a mattress and other debris.
Back then, Cuevas wanted to find Correa to ask her about that night, but didn't know how to find her.
She asked Vera for help because his family was acquainted with Correa. Relatives say Correa's mother is married to Vera's uncle.
She said Vera didn't sign Delimar's birth certificate. "He believed the child wasn't his," she said.
"I tried to communicate with him. I tried to make peace with him, but he didn't want to," Cuevas said last night in Spanish with help of a translator.
Jose Ayala, Cuevas' brother-in-law, said Cuevas asked Vera for $500 to hire a private investigator to find Delimar. Vera, Ayala said, told her he didn't have the money.
Vera has denied any involvement whatsoever in the fire and police say he is not a suspect.
But Ayala said he went with Vera to the charred remains of the house two days after the fire. Vera told him investigators said that the explosion hurled Delimar from the crib towards a window.
Then, when they went to the second bedroom where a window was ajar, Vera said, "If the baby is not found, someone could have taken her out the window," according to Ayala.
"Someone could have taken her before the fire."
Cuevas, who speaks halting English, said she couldn't do more to push the investigation forward.
"I didn't have any proof," she said. "I had no paperwork."
She 'had everything'
Meanwhile in Willingboro, Andre Moore, Carolyn Correa's boyfriend at the time of the fire, named the baby Aliyah.
Moore reportedly said he learned the girl was not his child in 1999, when he requested a paternity test. "My question is, 'Where is the child she and I had together?' " he has asked.
Delimar lived with Correa's mother and her children, Angelica and Anthony Correa Jr., 14. Anthony Correa came to the Willingboro house every weekend to pick up his children.
Delimar called Carolyn's live-in boyfriend, Brian Busardo, "Daddy," Carolyn's daughter, Angelica, said.
Correa doted on her little girl, relatives and friends said.
"She had everything," Anthony Correa said.
As the scenario unfolds, he still finds it hard to believe.
"I wish I could take this all away," he said. "I wish I could make things better. I would never think that something like this would ever happen."
Relatives said Delimar slept in a bed in the bedroom of Correa and Busardo, because they were building an addition to the house for her.
Correa treated Delimar the same as she treated her children, Correa's co-worker, Eunics said.
Correa sent Delimar and her son Anthony to All Saints Parochial School in Burlington, because she thought they would receive a better education than at the local public school, Eunics said. Delimar was a kindergartner.
Delimar is outgoing, talkative and feminine, and she loves to dress up and play with dolls, Anthony Correa said.
The brown-haired girl with sparkling almond-shaped eyes participated in beauty contests and did modeling and television appearances, Correa's family said. She appeared in an episode of the children's television show "Blues Clues" last year, Angelica said.
"She had complete confidence," Anthony Correa said.
That confidence will probably be jolted as she learns the truth of her past.
Back in Philadelphia, Cuevas awaits to hold her daughter and become her mom once again.
One welcome message has already been drawn in white paint on the back of Cuevas' sister's van:
"Welcome home my niece Delimar."
Chris
Groucho
03-04-04, 12:04 PM
Originally posted by mrpayroll
Correa named the girl Aliyah Hernandez and later groomed her to become an actress and beauty-pageant princess.Hmm...if I were the biological parent I'd be tempted to say "Keep her." Don't really want one of those little monsters in my house.
Judge Approves Plan to Gradually Reunite Kidnapped New Jersey Girl With Her Real Mother
The Associated Press
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. March 4 — A judge approved a plan Thursday to grant custody to the biological mother of a 6-year-old girl who was allegedly snatched from her crib as a newborn.
"I'm going to have her pronto very, very soon," said Luz Cuevas, the mother of Delimar Vera.
Her lawyer, Andrew Micklin, said the custody transfer will be a gradual process before the girl lives permanently with her mother.
The little girl's case was thrown into the national spotlight Monday, when authorities in Philadelphia announced they were charging the only mother she has ever known Carolyn Correa with kidnapping, arson and 13 other crimes.
Police said Correa took the 10-day-old baby from her crib in December 1997 and then set fire to the home to cover her tracks. The infant was thought to have been consumed in the flames.
Cuevas attorney Anthony Cianfrani said the biological mother told authorities she believed Delimar had been kidnapped, but that nothing was done.
In the meantime, Correa, 42, named the baby Aliyah Hernandez and raised her in Willingboro, N.J., just a few miles from Philadelphia.
Six years passed before Correa, the little girl and Cuevas all wound up at the same birthday party, where Cuevas said she had a hunch Aliyah Hernandez was really her own daughter.
To obtain possible DNA evidence Cuevas thought would prove the girl was hers, Cuevas pretended there was gum in the child's hair so she could pull off several strands. The strands were later turned over to police.
But Chad Summerfield, a forensic scientist with the Philadelphia police, said tests were unable to produce any DNA because the strands lacked roots or follicles. As a result, authorities took swabs of saliva from the girl, Correa and the couple who were believed to be the little girl's biological parents.
Within days, authorities were able to prove Cuevas and Pedro Vera were the biological parents. Correa was charged this week, and is being held on $1 million bail. Delimar Vera has been in the care of New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services.
According to the custody plan approved Thursday by Superior Court Judge James Morley, Cuevas and the girl's biological father, Pedro Vera, will share legal custody but the girl will live with Cuevas.
Micklin said a child psychologist will be present at the initial meetings. Officials have said they need to proceed cautiously because the girl has grown up knowing the woman charged with her kidnapping as her mother.
Another complication in the new mother-daughter relationship is that Delimar does not speak Spanish and her mother speaks very little English.
Cuevas said she intended to improve her English and hopes her daughter will learn Spanish. She also said at first she will call the girl Aliyah, the name she's been known as virtually all of her life.
The judge also laid out a timeline for transferring custody, but Family Court proceedings are private and Micklin would not divulge details of the judge's ruling.
Cuevas, 31, said she has been told her daughter is excited to meet her.
"I don't think she understands," everything that has happened, Cuevas said.
Vera arrived at court Thursday afternoon carrying a giant stuffed dog, apparently a gift for his daughter, who was not present at court.
In Philadelphia, the case has prompted calls for an investigation into how authorities could incorrectly conclude Delimar Vera died in a fire. Cianfrani has said he intends to sue Philadelphia over the botched fire investigation.
"Why was it that we did not find out that this child was alive? How did we conclude so fast that this child was consumed by fire?" City Councilman Juan Ramos asked Thursday.
Chris
naughty jonny
03-05-04, 12:53 AM
I wonder if when she found her dead daughter, the rest of the family said "I didn't even know she was lost. I thought Mom had just kept her in the sock drawer for the last six years."
Seriously though, this can't be pleasant for the little girl. She's probably going to be devastated to have her mother taken away and put into jail - and then be forced to live in some stranger's house.
It's great news that they've been reunited, but it's going to take years of work to get over that sort of shock.
Presumed-Dead Girl Reunited With Parents After 6 Years
The 6 year old girl who was presumed dead after a fire was set to cover up her kidnapping, (sn reported) has been reunited with her parents. Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera were reunited with their daughter at a government office in New Jersey.
A judge approved that that the parents be given custody of the girl, named Delimar Vera at birth, but will continue using the name Aliyah. The parents are no longer together but will have joint custody, with the girl living with her mother.
Angel Cruz, who accompanied the mother said: "She (mother) said, 'She called me mommy and she accepts me.' She got a hug and kiss, her daughter sat in her lap. The moment she expected six years ago, she got it last night."
I hope it will be as easy as that last paragraph states! Hopefully the young girl will understand everything that has gone on and will accept her real mother and father.
Chris
DarkestPhoenix
03-05-04, 04:26 PM
I don't know...reading these articles has me spinning. I speak spanish, but I can't understand anything once these people start speaking english. It's like watching f'n univision, it makes no sense.
Kidnapped Philadelphia Girl Has 'Celebrity' Past
Family Hires Attorney To Consider Movie Offers
POSTED: 7:02 am CST March 8, 2004
UPDATED: 8:13 am CST March 8, 2004
http://images.ibsys.com/2004/0303/2895198.jpg
PHILADELPHIA -- In just a few days, Delimar Vera may be moving in with her birth mother.
According to authorities, the girl was kidnapped six years ago in the confusion of a fire and raised by the alleged kidnapper, Carolyn Correa. She was just 10 days old. Her birth mother, Luz Aida Cuevas, recently attended a birthday party where she saw the girl and knew immediately that she was her daughter. DNA later confirmed Cuevas' suspicion. Correa is in jail on $1 million bail.
Now, it looks like Delimar's story may be turned into a TV movie. What did I tell you!
Over the six years Delimar spent away from her mother, the girl was known as Aaliyah and had a talent manager. She has posed in print ads and has appeared on a Nickelodeon show, in an episode of Blues Clues and in an ad for Time magazine.
The Cuevas family has received about a dozen movie offers so far, and they have hired entertainment lawyer Alexander Murphy Jr. of West Chester, Pa.
Mother And Child Reunion
Cuevas waited six years to be reunited with her daughter and as of Friday afternoon she had spent time with her on two separate occasions.
When Cuevas walked into the room during their first meeting, she didn't see her daughter and was worried the girl didn't want to see her. Then Delimar popped up from under the table and yelled, "Surprise!" :lol:
"The meeting went well," New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services spokesman Andy Williams told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill for Friday's editions. "We'll keep moving toward reunification."
State Rep. Angel Cruz, who represents the largely Hispanic neighborhood where Cuevas lives, accompanied her to the reunion and said she was "thrilled" to finally see her daughter face-to-face. Cuevas told him that Delimar called her Mommy and told her that she accepts her.
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. Cuevas will have full custody and the girl's birth father, Pedra Vera, will be allowed supervised visitation.
After speaking with counselors, Cuevas said she would initially call the girl by the name she has used over the last six years, Aaliyah. But she will gradually change over to the girl's birth name -- Delimar.
Cuevas told reporters that she intends on moving so she can raise her daughter in privacy. She is concerned over the language barrier because she speaks little English and Delimar does not speak Spanish. She said that she would teach her daughter her language and will also take her to Puerto Rico.
Fire Department Investigating 1997 Blaze
Police said they believe that in 1997, Correa set fire to Cuevas' home and in the confusion took the girl. The fire department could not find any trace of the girl in the charred wreckage and it was determined that the girl had died in the fire and that she had burned up completely.
The finger-pointing has already begun in the case. The fire department has already launched its investigation into the handling of the fire, and the Philadelphia City Council will hold public hearings to find out exactly what happened that night six years ago.
Cuevas says she thinks a language barrier may have contributed to the confusion leading to authorities declaring her daughter dead. She said she thinks firefighters did not understand her when she said her child was still alive and not in her crib.
"I say, 'The baby is not in the room,'" Cuevas said.
NBC 10 News in Philadelphia learned that part of the fire department's investigation is focused on former Fire Marshal Vince Heaney, who failed to rule that the fire was an arson.
NBC 10 also learned that Heaney was told that investigators are also looking into tax cases over the years, because he has handled some controversial cases where he may not have ruled those particular fires as arsons. Wow!
Luzaida Cuevas and her daughter Delimar Vera wave from inside their Frankford home after being reunited yesterday.
MOM & DELIMAR HAPPY AGAIN
GIRL KIDNAPPED SIX YEARS AGO IS REUNITED WITH HER REAL MOTHER
By SIMONE WEICHSELBAUM & NICOLE WEISENSEE EGAN
weisenn@phillynews.com
DELIMAR VERA is no stranger to the camera, but last night during her first few hours at home with her mother, the little girl at the center of international attention, said she was sick of being in the spotlight.
"Don't come no more," Delimar told reporters in a shy voice while clutching her aunt tightly. "Please don't." :lol:
Delimar, 6, was permanently reunited with her mother, Luzaida Cuevas, yesterday at 5 p.m. after a judge in Burlington County ruled that full parental custody could finally be awarded to Delimar's natural mother, said Andrew Micklin, Cuevas' family lawyer.
Cuevas, dressed in a navy pinstripe suit, quietly and quickly escorted her long-lost daughter into her home on McKinley Street near Castor Avenue, in the city's Frankford section.
Mother and daughter arrived shortly after 6 p.m. and tried to evade the press gathered outside. But a couple of photographers noticed Cuevas trying to sneak into the house, in the back through the basement.
Delimar, wearing a dark-blue jacket with a fur-lined hood, was silent, keeping her face down and away from cameras.
But when a reporter asked Cuevas how she felt, she replied, "Happy," and quickly ushered her daughter into the house.
Later last night, Delimar appeared at the front door wearing a pink Barbie shirt - her favorite character - and politely asked strangers to leave her alone.
For most of her life, Delimar, 6, has been known as Aaliyah Hernandez and thought her mother was Carolyn Correa. Cuevas, 31, gave birth to Delimar on Dec. 5, 1997. Police say Correa stole the newborn from her crib 10 days later, set a fire to hide the abduction and then raised the girl as her own in Willingboro, N.J.
Cuevas' modest rowhouse was packed with about 35 family members celebrating Delimar's homecoming, said Cuevas' brother, Evaristo DeJesus.
An aunt came with a bag full of Barbie dolls, another relative brought a large pink-and-white cake. DeJesus said the partying has just begun.
"She is happy," DeJesus said. "She looks like nothing ever happened. She even called me uncle."
Although Delimar is lawfully under her mother's care, New Jersey's youth and family services will continue to monitor her new life, Micklin said. In 60-days Burlington County will review Delimar's adjustments to her Philadelphia home, he added.
"Luz has every right to have her child with her," Micklin said, answering claims that New Jersey suburbs seemed better off for the girl than living in Frankford home. "This child will have a very nice life."
click on the link for the rest of the rehashed story
Chris
mrpayroll
03-10-04, 01:39 PM
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04069/283772.stm
A happy reunion, but big adjustments ahead for 6-year-old
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
By JoAnn Loviglio, The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA -- Delimar Vera was the picture of happiness: smiling broadly, waving to cameras and nuzzling her mother, whom the 6-year-old didn't meet until last week.
But the giddy excitement, the hugs, the parties and the toys heaped upon her by her jubilant extended family on Monday night will subside. And the energetic little girl snatched from her crib as a newborn likely faces a long and difficult adjustment as she comes to terms with her new life, psychologists and child psychiatrists said.
"I would be very, very surprised if things go as happily and smoothly as they went last night," University of Pennsylvania assistant psychology professor Sara Jaffee said Tuesday. "There are just so many changes this little girl has to face. ... I would be really surprised if this doesn't take some toll on her."
"I'm at my real home," the child told the throng of reporters and photographers camped on her family's front lawn. Asked how she was feeling, she replied with a playful giggle, "Happy."
Police allege that a New Jersey woman snatched the 10-day-old girl from her crib in 1997, torched the house to cover her crime and raised the infant as her own.
"In cases where kids have been through major disruptions in their life, there can sometimes be a tendency to seal over (the trauma) and not deal with all the emotional issues and repercussions right away," said Dr. David Fassler, a child psychiatrist and a psychology professor at the University of Vermont.
"Particularly if they're receiving a lot of attention, and all the people around them seem happy and excited, it's easy for kids to pick up that mood and tone -- at least temporarily."
Carolyn Correa, 42, of suburban Willingboro, N.J., a cousin by marriage of the girl's father, Pedro Vera, was charged with arson, kidnapping and 13 other counts. She has been held on $1 million bail since her arrest March 2.
Investigations are pending into why Delimar was declared dead when no remains were found, and why the blaze was blamed on a faulty extension cord.
Though New Jersey child welfare officials had predicted a gradual process in moving Delimar from foster care to her mother's home, they maintained Tuesday that the actual timetable was essentially according to plan.
"We wanted to do it as quickly as we could, but only as quickly as was good for the girl," Department of Youth and Family Services spokesman Andy Williams said. The agency would not elaborate on how much, if at all, the reunion date changed from the initial estimate.
DYFS will provide counseling for the next two months before permanent custody is approved, Williams said. Cuevas, 31, has custody and Vera, 39, has visitation rights.
Family tussles are among the largest obstacles of a child's healing from traumatic situations, psychologists said. And Delimar's family is in the midst of several.
Cuevas believes that Vera's family, which is related by marriage to the alleged kidnapper, was somehow involved in the kidnapping. The family denies the allegations, but Cuevas cut off contact between Delimar and the people the youngster knew as her grandmother and brothers.
"For some children, it's helpful to have ongoing contact with people (from a different setting or family), for other kids that can be confusing," Fassler said.
"What we do know is that in these situations, ongoing conflict between adults in the child's family is detrimental to their adjustment" and is one of the highest risk factors for emotional problems, he added.
Delimar's mother also claims that Vera wanted nothing to do with his daughter as a newborn. He desperately wants to be involved in his long-lost child's life but has been "blatantly refused and ignored," said Michael Luber, Vera's attorney.
Vera was not invited to join Monday night's celebration attended by several dozen of Cuevas' family members and was "despondent" by the omission, Luber said.
As Delimar and her mother pleaded for privacy, family friend and state Rep. Angel Cruz said they were doing well and expressed complete optimism.
"This is a happily ever after story," he said. "She's home."
Evelyn Vera has some lingering questions for the mother united this week with the daughter who didn't die in a house fire but was kidnapped as a 10-day-old baby.
Vera said she hosted a January 2003 birthday party at her Northeast Philadelphia home that mother Luz Cuevas attended.
It was there that Cuevas spotted a girl named Aliyah Hernandez whom she noticed looked like her and realized it may be her daughter that city police said died in a fire in 1997.
Last week, police determined the 6-year-old girl was the biological daughter of Cuevas and Vera's brother, Pedro Vera, and arrested a stepcousin for arson and kidnapping.
Since last week, Cuevas has told the media the party was in January this year and that she snipped the hair of Aliyah, whose birth name is Delimar Vera, for possible DNA testing.
However, Vera said on Wednesday that Cuevas did not come to the annual party this year.
"I invited her to both parties for my granddaughter, but she came only to the party I had last year in January 2003. She did not come this year. So if she did have these strong suspicions, why did a whole year go by and she did nothing?," Vera asked in an interview with the Courier-Post on Wednesday. "Why didn't she come to me or ask another mother what to do?"
Evelyn said she also invited her friend Carolyn Correa of Willingboro, who was charged last week with kidnapping Delimar from the Feltonville home of Cuevas and Pedro and arson for allegedly setting the place on fire.
She said Correa brought Aliyah to the parties both years and that they knew each other because Caroyln's stepfather, Raymond Vera, is Evelyn's uncle.
"She (Luz) never told me about her suspicions about Aliyah. I learned about that only just recently from my own daughter, who told me Luz left that party crying because of what she had seen," she said.
While some members of the extended Vera family in New Jersey said they noticed the striking resemblance of Aliyah to her biological parents long ago and told the parents about it, Evelyn said she never had those suspicions.
"I guess it just never crossed my mind. Last week I found out it was Pedro who told Luz to pursue the matter last year after the first party and again this year after he saw Aliyah at this year's birthday party," said Evelyn, 41, who works in the mortgage industry.
She called Cuevas, who also has three sons, a good mother with "real nice kids" but who has no job.
It was early last month - about a week after the Jan. 24 party - that Evelyn said Philadelphia police detectives visited her home and questioned her about Carolyn's whereabouts.
According to Evelyn, she and Carolyn have kept in touch for years and once lived together in Mount Holly.
"So I called Carol and told her the police were here, but I didn't say much to them because they wouldn't tell me why they wanted to know," she said, "and I didn't want to get involved."
She said Pedro never told her about his own suspicions about Aliyah's identity until after police came a second time to her home on March 1 and told her Aliyah was really Delimar Vera. She attributed that to the fact she and Pedro, half-brother and sister, are close only in some ways.
"My head was spinning. I was shocked when the police told me about Carolyn because no one in the family had ever said anything to me about their suspicions and I knew Carol. I knew Carol had some problems in the past - like stealing checks - but I didn't think anything like this," she said.
Evelyn said she does not understand why Cuevas is now shunning her and her brother and why she would say she believes the Vera family may be involved in the kidnapping.
"Why is she mad at us? These are lies I don't think she should be saying," said Evelyn. "I haven't done anything to her. I say the truth," she said.
Cuevas' lawyer, Anthony Cianfrani, did not return phone calls to the Courier-Post.
The renewed police investigation into the fire death began in February after Pennsylvania legislator Angel Cruz contacted them on behalf of Cuevas.
The original investigation concluded the fire was started by a faulty electrical cord and the baby's body disintegrated.
Joe Evangelista, Cruz's chief of staff, said Cruz was contacted about a month ago by a 7th Ward committeeman who told them about Cuevas' dilemma.
Chris
LurkerDan
03-11-04, 12:08 PM
I don't want to say I told ya so, but I told ya so. ;) I knew that there was too much fishiness in this story for it to be as "simple" as it appeared to be.
mrpayroll
03-11-04, 01:27 PM
Just think of how much money the parents are going to get for the rights to this story!
Chris
LurkerDan
03-12-04, 11:02 AM
Originally posted by mrpayroll
Just think of how much money the parents are going to get for the rights to this story!
Chris I'm not willing to speculate on all that. Because I still thinks there's way too much untold here for me to assume that the parents are completely innocent.
New Twist in Delimar Vera Case
Biological Father a Co-Conspirator?
March 25, 2004 — The lawyer for the woman charged with kidnapping Delimar Vera says his client probably had an affair with Delimar's father.
There are recent photos taken of Delimar Vera, her mother Luz Cuevas, and biological father Pedro Vera. And judging by the pictures it would seem Delimar's mom and dad are mending fences. The same cannot be said for Pedro Vera and Delimar's alleged abductor Carolyn Correa.
New accusations have surfaced indicating Correa and Pedro Vera had a physical relationship about the time of Delimar's abduction fueling theories that Correa did not act alone. When we asked Pedro Vera's attorney, Michael Luber, if it's true. He said...
Michael Luber/Pedro Vera's Attorney:
"Absolutely not..."
Jeffrey Zucker, Correa's attorney, says 'what did you expect him to say?'
Jeffrey Zucker/Correa's Attorney:
"Well that doesn't surprise me."
The 42 year old Correa, meantime, remains jailed on charges she kidnapped Delimar from her Feltonville home in 1997, then set the home on fire to hide the crime.
Now, you may be wondering why is this is an issue? The answer is very simple. Among the charges Carolyn Correa faces is conspiracy. And up to this point in the investigation, nobody has been named a co-conspirator. And Jeffrey Zucker, Correa's attorney, without mentioning Pedro Vera, says you can't conspire by yourself.
Chris
johnglass
07-01-04, 01:12 AM
Um, mrpayroll? If you can't keep up with your news stories we're going to have to hire someone else.
I NEED UPDATES!!!
:D
Anyone know what's going on with this case? Was the father involved?
mrpayroll
07-01-04, 01:30 AM
There hasn't been much in the last couple of months, but since you demand it, here it is! ;)
Judge weighs reduced charges in Delimar Vera kidnapping
By Jacqueline Soteropoulos
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A judge has agreed to consider dismissing arson and four other fire-related charges against the woman accused of the 1997 kidnapping of infant Delimar Vera.
Defense attorneys Saul Steinberg and Jeffrey Zucker argued today that those charges against their client, 42-year-old Carolyn Correa, should be thrown out because fire experts cannot conclusively say the Feltonville blaze was arson.
Assistant District Attorney Leslie Gomez argued that circumstantial evidence surrounding the kidnapping proved the fire was set: The baby vanished during the blaze, and within an hour, Correa was in New Jersey with the baby she claimed she had given birth to at home.
Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn Engel Temin said she would issue a ruling in two weeks.
Correa, of Willingboro, was arrested March 2 and is jailed on $1 million bail. Delimar, now 6, has been returned to her biological mother. They live in Oxford Circle.
Chris
p.s. nothing about the father yet.
johnglass
07-01-04, 01:32 AM
Originally posted by mrpayroll
There hasn't been much in the last couple of months, but since you demand it, here it is! ;)
We'll let you slide this time, but next time you'll be demoted to proofreading bfrank's posts.
DVD Polizei
07-01-04, 01:40 AM
DVD Talk member finds dead post 3 months later!
mrpayroll
07-01-04, 02:06 AM
Originally posted by DVD Polizei
DVD Talk member finds dead post 3 months later!
At this point, that's more interesting than my last news story! :lol:
Chris
mrpayroll
07-08-04, 06:34 PM
http://www.nbc10.com/news/3506630/detail.html
Judge Dismisses Arson Charges Against Carolyn Correa
Woman Still Faces Kidnapping Charge
POSTED: 11:29 am EDT July 8, 2004
A judge in Philadelphia has dismissed the arson charges filed against Carolyn Correa, the woman accused of kidnapping a newborn Philadelphia girl and raising her for six years as her own.
Prosecutors say Correa set fire in 1997 to the house in the city's Feltonville section where the baby, Delimar Vera, lived.
The purpose, officials say, was to cover up the kidnapping and create the impression that the infant had died in the blaze.
Delimar's mother spotted her daughter, alive, six year later at a birthday party and Correa was arrested.
A judge ruled Wednesday that since fire investigators were unable to say definitively that the fire had been set, she could not allow the arson charges against Correa to stand.
Correa remains jailed on kidnapping and related charges.
Chris
PopcornTreeCt
07-08-04, 08:06 PM
Sad. Even though its her birth mother. I'd be pissed if all of a sudden I had to go live with someone I never knew and worse didnt speak english!
Heat
07-14-04, 01:03 AM
Originally posted by PopcornTreeCt
Sad. Even though its her birth mother. I'd be pissed if all of a sudden I had to go live with someone I never knew and worse didnt speak english! I've got one better than that - I just got back from visiting my sister. While there I saw one of her friends, a single woman (doctor) in her early 40s who just adopted a girl from an orphanage in Russia, 10 years old. Doesn't speak a word of English (OK, maybe a couple, but not many as she just came over a few days ago and never studied English while in Russia), my sister's friend doesn't speak any Russian.
I hope it all works out, my sister's friend really is a nice lady and I assure you that life in a Russian orphanage is no cup of tea.
Why did she adopt a 10 year old? From what I figured out, she is just a busy lady (a doctor, also does a lot with horses) and wanted to jump straight to a school-aged child, plus she wanted to give an older child a break (since hardly anybody adopts children of that age).
Attorneys for a Willingboro woman accused of kidnapping a relative's infant daughter and raising the girl as her own said they will not accept a plea offer from the district attorney's office.
Carolyn Correa, of the 100 block of Peacock Lane, is charged with the 1997 kidnapping of 10-day-old Delimar Vera when the child was living with her parents in Philadelphia.
"The DA made a preliminary offer but it is not something we are interested in," said attorney Jeffrey Zucker after a closed status conference Wednesday with Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe.
Zucker would not elaborate on the details of the offer but said he and attorney Saul Steinberg are interviewing people who were at the home of Luzaida Cuevas and Pedro Vera the night a fire tore through the upper floor of their rowhome and their child disappeared.
Arson charges filed against Correa were dropped July after former Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn Engel Temin ruled the prosecution had no evidence to refute the original investigation, which found faulty wiring as the cause.
Delimar, who authorities thought had died, was reunited with her biological parents in February after a DNA test proved Correa was not her mother. Correa had raised the girl as Aliyah Hernandez while sending her to private school and hiring a talent agent to promote her as an actress.
Zucker, however, said his own investigations seem to suggest that Cuevas and Vera knew the whereabouts of their daughter long before they contacted authorities.
"I think we're in a position to prove that when she (Cuevas) finally came forward, it was only after Delimar started making television appearances," said Zucker.
Assistant District Attorney Leslie Gomez said Correa's attorneys have been aware of the offer for several months, but it was formally handed over Wednesday.
WHAT'S NEXT
A status conference for Carolyn Correa will be held 9 a.m. Nov. 17 before Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe.
Buy: