A young mother was sitting in the living room when she suddenly heard a loud explosion.



She ran upstairs, where the sound came from, and saw that the room where her baby was sleeping was on fire.



In a panic, she searched for her baby in the smoke, but she couldn’t find the baby.



On the night of December 15, 1997, a fire started in the home of Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera, a Puerto Rican couple living in Philadelphia, USA, with their two young sons and 10-day-old baby girl, Delimar.



Officials said the fire was caused by faulty wiring.

But the 10-day-old baby Delimar was not found. The medical report said she was “completely turned to ash” in the fire and was believed to be dead.

Her family was heartbroken.

But this was only the beginning of a terrible time in their lives.



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Shortly before the fire, someone knocked on the door.

When Luz opened it, she saw Carolyn, a distant cousin of Pedro. Carolyn’s mother was married to Pedro’s uncle.

Carolyn told Luz that she wanted to talk to Pedro about a job opportunity.

At that time, Pedro didn’t have a job. When he heard this, he left the house with Carolyn to meet some friends and talk about the job.



While Pedro was away, Carolyn said she forgot her wallet at the house and returned alone.

Luz opened the door again. Carolyn said she wanted to use the bathroom upstairs. Luz said yes.

After some time, Luz also went upstairs to check on Delimar.



Surprisingly, the baby was not in the bed where she had left her. Instead, she was in a crib near the window.

When Carolyn came out of the bathroom, Luz asked if she had moved the baby.

Carolyn said yes — she was worried the baby might fall and get hurt, so she put her in the crib.



Soon after Carolyn left the house, Luz heard a loud explosion. She ran upstairs and saw the baby’s room on fire.

Delimar was not in the flames. The window next to the crib was open.



Luz was in shock, but she couldn’t get close to the window because of the fire.

Minutes later, firefighters came and stopped the fire. They also took part of the crib that wasn’t burned for investigation.

Later, they gave this piece to Luz, saying it was the only thing left from Delimar.



Pedro, who had heard the news, came back home in panic. He saw Carolyn standing on the sidewalk, watching the firefighters.



A Birthday Celebration with the Family



At that time, Carolyn was also expecting a baby.

She happily told her family, friends, and coworkers that she was pregnant with her fourth child.



Later, she said she had given birth at home and had a baby girl named Aaliyah.

She lived about 20 km away from Luz and Pedro’s house. They didn’t see each other often. A few years later, Luz and Pedro separated.



In January 2004, a birthday party was held at the house of Pedro’s sister.

Even though Luz and Pedro were no longer together, she still had a good relationship with the Vera family. She was invited to the party too.



When she arrived, she saw Carolyn at the party with a little girl she said was her daughter.

Something caught Luz’s attention: the girl’s dimples.



Almost right away, Luz told her sister, who came to the party with her, “That little girl is Delimar.”



When Delimar went upstairs to play with the other children, Luz followed her and said, “You have gum in your hair.”



Using this excuse, Luz pulled Delimar’s — or as she was called then, Aaliyah’s — hair very hard and managed to take a small piece.



Carolyn realized what was happening and told Aaliyah, “We need to leave now. There is a bad woman who wants to take you from me, but we won’t let her.”



Aaliyah was very surprised.



DNA Test



Weeks later, Carolyn took Aaliyah and her other daughter, Angelica, to the doctor.

While waiting in the waiting room, she took them to the bathroom.



She asked Angelica to watch the door. When she was alone with Aaliyah, she took out a small bottle with clear liquid inside.



Then she told Aaliyah to open her mouth and sprayed the liquid on her tongue.

“Don’t swallow it,” she said.



Carolyn did this a few times before Aaliyah was taken to the doctor’s office to have a sample taken from her tongue.



The liquid Carolyn sprayed into Aaliyah’s mouth was actually Carolyn’s own saliva. They went to the clinic for a DNA test.



Carolyn was trying to change the results in her favor using the liquid.



But Luz, who had a small piece of Aaliyah’s hair, finally convinced the police to do a DNA test on her own DNA.



She also found a member of parliament who listened to her and a prosecutor ready to take her case.



The tests in February 2004 confirmed what Luz believed: six-year-old Aaliyah Hernandez was really Delimar Vera.



Carolyn had pretended to be pregnant and kidnapped the child.



Soon after, Carolyn admitted to kidnapping and went to prison.



Delimar believed she had two mothers.



Her life was turned upside down.



She wanted to ask Luz, “Why are you taking me away from my mother?”



She remembers those days: “But as time passed and I watched the news, I saw Carolyn was a criminal.”



She never liked her new name and never accepted it.



“At first, I hated this name; sometimes people called me Delimar and I didn’t even look at them.”



She started living with a mother and two siblings who were strangers to her.



Finally, she faced the big change in her life.



“I really felt like I had two mothers. One mother, Carolyn, and another mother, Luz. At that time, I thought I could have a good life with my mother, and maybe later another life with Carolyn. Maybe after a few months, maybe after a few years… But I believed that in the end, we would be together again,” she remembers, almost 30 years later.



Delimar’s anger toward Carolyn did not go away for many years.



When she visited Carolyn in prison, she scolded her:



“It was very hard. I asked her, ‘Why did you have to take me? You had three other children. Why did you do this to me? Why did you confuse me so much?’ I was very angry at her. But she did not say sorry. She said we would see each other again. That was all.”



After this, Delimar thought she had to say goodbye to Carolyn, and she never saw her again.



Delimar still has many questions in her mind.



Carolyn saw her with her father Pedro on the sidewalk right after the fire. How did she manage to kidnap the baby then?



There must have been a partner who came in through the window and took her away.



Who was that person?



During the trial, Carolyn blamed Pedro. Pedro denied it.



Delimar believes her father is innocent but says, “We know Carolyn had a partner, and this person would protect her no matter what.”



She adds, “Whoever took me from my crib and threw me out the window disappeared into the night with the wind. Unfortunately, we don’t know who that person is.”