USA: AFTER YEARS OF THINKING HER DAUGHTER WAS DEAD LUZAIDA CUEVAS RETURNS HOME WITH HER DAUGHTER AFTER SHE WAS KIDNAPPED DURING A FIRE IN 1997

Record ID: 950934

  • Title: USA: AFTER YEARS OF THINKING HER DAUGHTER WAS DEAD LUZAIDA CUEVAS RETURNS HOME WITH HER DAUGHTER AFTER SHE WAS KIDNAPPED DURING A FIRE IN 1997
  • Date: 8th March 2004
  • Summary: (W3) PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 8, 2004) (NBC - NO ACCESS CNN, USA, INTERNET, WIRELESS) 1. LUZAIDA CUEVAS AND HOLDING DAUGHTER DELIMAR VERA IN WINDOW (REPORTER ASKING (OFF-CAMERA) "How do you feel") SOUNDBITE (English) DELIMAR VERA SAYING "Good." (REPORTER ASKING (OFF-CAMERA) "Do you feel like you're at h
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
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  • Location: PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAM86SD9UZDELI4UBSQ2WOUBR7
  • Story Text:Arson, kidnapping and a joyous reunion . It sounds
    like a storyline from a soap opera, but it really happened
    in Philadelphia.



    After years of thinking her daughter was dead, a
    mother's dream has come true.

    Monday (March 8) Luzaida Cuevas brought her
    six-year-old daughter, Delimar Vera, home for a second time.

    After a short reunion with her mother, mother and
    daughter greeted reporters though an open window, smiling
    and laughing about their new family.

    Delimar was kidnapped during an fire in 1997 but at
    the time, the 10-day old infant was believed to have been
    incinerated in the intense blaze. No body was found.

    Investigators believe the fire was an act of arson.

    Recently, Cuevas went to a birthday party for another
    child held by Delimar's father, Pedro Vera.

    At the party Cuevas saw 42-year-old Carolyn Correa with
    a six-year-old girl, and maternal instinct kicked in.

    Cuevas was convinced the girl was her daughter.

    Cuevas managed to obtain a hair from the child, and
    DNA testing proved that Delimar was in fact her daughter. A
    court has now granted custody to the real mother. Police
    are now investigating Correa, and the botched house fire
    investigation.

    To ease Delimar's transition, Cuevas is call her by the
    name given to her by Correa, Aaliyah Hernandez.

    Cuevas and Vera had a second child after Delimar's
    disappearance in 1997 but are currently estranged.
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