On December 15, 1997, ten-day-old Delimar Vera died in a tragic housefire when the Philadelphia home of Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera caught fire unexpectedly. After a brief investigation, the fire department identified a faulty heater as the cause of the fire and deemed the baby’s death an accident and claimed that the girl’s remains had been completely destroyed in the blaze. Luz Cuevas was skeptical of their explanation and struggled to accept her daughter’s death.

Six years after the fire, Luz was at a party where she ran into Pedro’s cousin, whom she hadn’t seen in several years. The woman, Carolyn Correa, had with her a little girl named Aaliyah, whom she claimed was her daughter, though Luz didn’t remember her having children or being pregnant six years earlier. Even more suspicious was that six-year-old Aaliyah bore a striking resemblance to Luz herself and she couldn’t shake the feeling that Aaliyah was in fact her own supposedly dead daughter, Delimar.

Had Luz Cuevas been right all along? Had Delimar somehow managed to survive the fire? And if so, why was she now in the custody of a strange woman she hadn’t seen in six years?

Thank you to the incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research!

References

Benson, Clea, and Rusty Pray. 1997. "10-day-old baby dies in N. Phila. fire." Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16: 38.

CBS News. 2004. New twist in baby ID case. March 9. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-twist-in-baby-id-case/.

CNN. 2004. Mom finds kidnapped daughter six years later. March 2. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/03/01/girl.found.alive/.

Cuevas v. City of Philadelphia. 2006. 05-3749 (United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania, August 11).

Egan, Nicole Weisensee. 2005. "Her side of the story." Philadelphia Daily News, October 13: 3.

Frisby, Mann. 1997. "Heater blamed in fire that clais infant." Philadelphia Daily News, December 16: 10.

George, Jason. 2004. "Girl found and woman held after a ruse lasting years." New York Times, March 3: A13.

Gregory, Sean. 2004. Back from the blaze. March 15. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://time.com/archive/6737931/back-from-the-blaze/.

Pompilio, Natalie. 2004. "Kidnapped girl returned to birth mother." Philadelphia Inquirer, March 8.

Pompilio, Natalie, and Joel Bewley. 2004. "Case of child once believed dead is far from over." Philadelphia Inquirer, March 6.

Pompilio, Natalie, and Thomas Gibbons. 2004. "Woman suspected of kidnapping girl 6 years ago turns." Philadelphia Inquirer, March 2.

Soteropoulos, Jacqueline. 2005. "Abductor of infant gets 9 to 30 years." Philadelphia Inquirer, September 24: 1.

Tampa Bay Times. 2004. Daughter lost in fire returns, but questions swirl in family. March 7. Accessed June 27, 2024. https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2004/03/07/daughter-lost-in-fire-returns-but-questions-swirl-in-family/.

The Record. 2004. DNA testing helps mom find only daughter. March 2. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/2004/03/03/dna-testing-helps-mom-find/50702564007/.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)

Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)

Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley

Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally

Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025)

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