Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story

Plot

The film depicts the struggle of Luz Cuevas (Judy Reyes) to find her baby daughter, Delimar Vera Cuevas, who disappeared in 1997 after their house caught fire during a party, just ten days after she was born. The police reported that Delimar was killed in the fire. However, Cuevas suspects that she was kidnapped and that the fire was staged by an outsider. Her husband, Pedro Vera (Hector Luis Bustamante), becomes estranged from her as a result. Six years after the fire, Cuevas meets Valerie Valleja (Ana Ortiz), former wife of one of Pedro's cousins, who was also at the party on the day of the fire. She has a six-year-old girl with her, named Aaliyah. The girl bears a resemblance to Cuevas and she suspects it is Delimar. Cuevas begins an investigation into Valleja, and finds out that Aaliyah is in fact Delimar through a DNA test. Valerie is arrested and Aaliyah (Delimar) is returned to her family.

Actual events

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. On December 15, 1997, Correa deliberately ignited a fire in Cuevas' house in Philadelphia to cover up the incident. 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.

Six years later, on January 2004, Cuevas attended a birthday party for an acquaintance and was surprised by her own resemblance to a 6-year-old girl. With the help of a state representative, Cuevas managed to get a series of DNA tests which resulted in a confirmation of Cuevas' maternity over Delimar. Correa was arrested in 2004 and taken to trial, having been placed on $1 million bail. Entering a plea of nolo contendere, she was accused and found guilty of kidnapping, arson, and attempted murder, and was sentenced to nine to thirty years in prison in 2005. Correa became eligible for parole in 2014.