LilMtnCbn
03-12-2004, 08:57 AM
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/8148323.htm
SOMETHING'S MISSING
GIRL'S KIDNAPPING CASE HAS MANY PUZZLING TWISTS
By Barbara Laker, Nicole Weisensee Egan, Scott Flander, Myung Oak Kim and
Regina Medina
IT'S A STORY that has spread across the globe:
A Philadelphia woman believes her 10-day-old baby perished in a house fire -
only to spot the child at a birthday party six years later, and immediately
recognize the girl as her own.
There's even a happy ending: a joyous mother and daughter reunion, with the
kidnapper behind bars.
But the truth - if it's out there - seems to be much more complicated.
And there are plenty of unanswered questions. Such as:
Q.The mother, Luzaida Cuevas, has told reporters she suspected from the
beginning that her baby had been kidnapped, possibly by Carolyn Correa, who was
arrested last week. Why didn't Cuevas do more during the past six years to get
her child back?
Cuevas claims that on the night of the fire, she told firefighters that little
Delimar was missing. But there's no indication she went to the police or other
authorities about her suspicions.
The reason, she told reporters, was that she wanted proof.
She said she asked her common-law husband at the time, Pedro Vera, for $500 to
hire an investigator to help her find Correa, but he wouldn't give it to her.
Vera is a relative by marriage of Correa, and knew her, according to Cuevas.
Vera said yesterday Cuevas never asked him for help.
Cuevas has said that at one point - it's not clear when - she asked a lawyer to
investigate the case. But the $100-an-hour he wanted to charge was more than
she could afford.
Cuevas has said it wasn't until she went to the party, this past January, that
she first saw her daughter, and grabbed some of her hair for DNA evidence. She
then sought state Rep. Angel Cruz' help in getting police to investigate.
However, Vera said yesterday that Cuevas took hair from the girl at a party in
2003. And two of his relatives have also told the Daily News that Cuevas saw
the girl at a party last year.
"I told her, 'Don't that girl look like you?' " one of the relatives recalled.
"She [Luzaida] just started crying."
Cuevas couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Q.Although no human remains were found, authorities concluded, wrongly, that
the baby had died in the December 1997 fire. Was the investigation botched?
All of that is still under investigation and will be discussed at City Council
hearings on March 29.
Cuevas contends she repeatedly told firefighters that her baby was missing from
the upstairs bedroom, but that they didn't listen.
That account is disputed by retired Fire Marshal Vincent Heeney, who
investigated the blaze. In an interview over the weekend, Heeney said it was
"totality of the case" that led him to believe Delimar died in the fire.
Among the factors, says Heeney: 1) Despite what she contends now, at the time
of the fire Cuevas insisted the baby was in the bedroom. 2) There was nothing
to indicate that the fire was arson, or that foul play was involved. There was
evidence, however, that the fire was caused by a homemade extension cord
attached to a space heater near Delimar's crib. 3) Heeney says he relied on the
opinion of an investigator with the medical examiner's office who told him it
possible for a 10-day-old baby's bones to be completely consumed by fire.
The medical examiner's office said that after it sifted through a box of what
investigators originally thought were Delimar Vera's remains, they went back to
the fire scene two more times to search. The third time a forensic
anthropologist went, too. After discovering no human remains, no death
certificate was issued and the M.E.'s office notified fire and police officials
to take whatever action needed to be taken.
However, a source said Vera's medical examiner's report says that "no
recognizable human tissues were found" and that the "infant is presumed to have
been completely consumed by the fire." This may have been what led the Fire
Department to list Vera as a 1997 fire death and the police to not launch a
probe.
Q.Was the language barrier an issue?
Cuevas acknowledges she speaks little English, and said the firefighters did
not understand when she said the baby was missing.
Heeney says he had Cuevas go through her story three times - including once
with a Spanish-speaking firefighter - and she insisted her baby was in the
bedroom. In addition, says Heeney, a Spanish-speaking paramedic took her to the
hospital.
Two neighbors interviewed by the Daily News Sunday said Cuevas had yelled out
that her baby was in the room.
Q.Is it possible for the bones of a 10-day-old to be completely consumed in a
house fire?
Despite what the investigator told Heeney and what Vera's autopsy report said,
the medical examiner's office now says it's highly unlikely that human remains
would be completely consumed by a house fire.
In the affidavit for Correa's arrest, police quoted Philadelphia Medical
Examiner Dr. Ian Hood as saying that cremating a body takes an hour at 1,000
degrees. (The fire at Cuevas's house took 14 minutes to bring under control.)
Hood said that in his 20-year career as a medical examiner, this would have
been the first time a body was completely consumed in a house fire, according
to the affidavit.
Q.Correa, who apparently was in the living room with Cuevas when the fire broke
out, has been charged with conspiring with "unknown persons" to start to the
fire and steal the baby. Who was her accomplice?
That is still under investigation by Special Victims Unit investigators, who
are trying to interview everyone Correa knew or hung out with. While media
organizations have identified several people as suspects, the police themselves
have not officially labeled anyone a suspect.
Q.The Fire Department has not yet ruled the fire an arson, and Fire
Commissioner Harold Hairston said Sunday, "We still don't know how she set it."
Then how could Correa be charged with arson?
Police haven't revealed their evidence against Correa. But a source said that
since the baby was kidnapped during the fire, there's "probable cause" to
believe the fire was set in some way. That's all that's needed to charge
Correa, though a higher standard is needed for conviction.
Q.Did Correa have a baby at the same time Delimar was born?
Yes, says Andre Moore, Correa's boyfriend at the time. Correa was clearly
pregnant, according to Correa's children and Moore, of Florence, N.J. She told
relatives she gave birth to a baby girl at her Willingboro home on Dec. 12,
1997, three days before the fire. The night of the fire, Correa brought Delimar
to see Moore's mother and said he was the father, Moore said. A paternity test
done several years later showed Moore was not the father. Relatives and
investigators now are asking what happened to Correa's baby.
Q.Did Correa have any other mystery pregnancies?
Possibly. New Jersey authorities thought Correa was pregnant in 1998 when they
sentenced her for setting fire to a medical office in Hamilton, N.J., in
November 1996. Co-workers at the Paramount drug store in Riverside, N.J., said
Correa claimed to be pregnant in 2000. She showed co-workers a hospital photo
of a newborn girl, saying the girl was stillborn, said co-worker Sam Rua Jr.
Rua said Correa appeared to be a good mother to Delimar, but he thought it was
strange that Correa did not appear upset when she showed him the photo of the
dead baby.
Q.Delimar has a new life, with a new family, in a new city. What's ahead for
her?
Although the girl looked relaxed and happy during the televised reunion with
her mother Monday night, psychologists say she's likely to have a long and
difficult adjustment period. She's been ripped out of the only home and family
she knew.
To complicate matters, her parents are at odds with each other, and are giving
reporters conflicting versions of what has happened since the fire.
Vera, the father, is seeking joint custody of Delimar. He wasn't invited to the
reunion - which he said hurt him - but he did have a chance to get together
with his daughter at her home yesterday. He brought her clothes, toys and
dolls, and told reporters afterwards that she didn't want him to leave.
He said he can visit his daughter as much as he wants, though he has to call in
advance.
Delimar is making what could be another difficult transition - from the
middle-class suburb of Willingboro, N.J., where she attended private school, to
Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia. It isn't clear where she'll go to
school now that she's living with Cuevas.
Cuevas has said she plans to move to a new location and said she plans to sue
the city of Philadelphia. As many as 25 television and film producers are
trying to buy the rights to her story. She has hired an entertainment lawyer,
Alexander Murphy Jr., of West Chester, to help field the offers.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
SOMETHING'S MISSING
GIRL'S KIDNAPPING CASE HAS MANY PUZZLING TWISTS
By Barbara Laker, Nicole Weisensee Egan, Scott Flander, Myung Oak Kim and
Regina Medina
IT'S A STORY that has spread across the globe:
A Philadelphia woman believes her 10-day-old baby perished in a house fire -
only to spot the child at a birthday party six years later, and immediately
recognize the girl as her own.
There's even a happy ending: a joyous mother and daughter reunion, with the
kidnapper behind bars.
But the truth - if it's out there - seems to be much more complicated.
And there are plenty of unanswered questions. Such as:
Q.The mother, Luzaida Cuevas, has told reporters she suspected from the
beginning that her baby had been kidnapped, possibly by Carolyn Correa, who was
arrested last week. Why didn't Cuevas do more during the past six years to get
her child back?
Cuevas claims that on the night of the fire, she told firefighters that little
Delimar was missing. But there's no indication she went to the police or other
authorities about her suspicions.
The reason, she told reporters, was that she wanted proof.
She said she asked her common-law husband at the time, Pedro Vera, for $500 to
hire an investigator to help her find Correa, but he wouldn't give it to her.
Vera is a relative by marriage of Correa, and knew her, according to Cuevas.
Vera said yesterday Cuevas never asked him for help.
Cuevas has said that at one point - it's not clear when - she asked a lawyer to
investigate the case. But the $100-an-hour he wanted to charge was more than
she could afford.
Cuevas has said it wasn't until she went to the party, this past January, that
she first saw her daughter, and grabbed some of her hair for DNA evidence. She
then sought state Rep. Angel Cruz' help in getting police to investigate.
However, Vera said yesterday that Cuevas took hair from the girl at a party in
2003. And two of his relatives have also told the Daily News that Cuevas saw
the girl at a party last year.
"I told her, 'Don't that girl look like you?' " one of the relatives recalled.
"She [Luzaida] just started crying."
Cuevas couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.
Q.Although no human remains were found, authorities concluded, wrongly, that
the baby had died in the December 1997 fire. Was the investigation botched?
All of that is still under investigation and will be discussed at City Council
hearings on March 29.
Cuevas contends she repeatedly told firefighters that her baby was missing from
the upstairs bedroom, but that they didn't listen.
That account is disputed by retired Fire Marshal Vincent Heeney, who
investigated the blaze. In an interview over the weekend, Heeney said it was
"totality of the case" that led him to believe Delimar died in the fire.
Among the factors, says Heeney: 1) Despite what she contends now, at the time
of the fire Cuevas insisted the baby was in the bedroom. 2) There was nothing
to indicate that the fire was arson, or that foul play was involved. There was
evidence, however, that the fire was caused by a homemade extension cord
attached to a space heater near Delimar's crib. 3) Heeney says he relied on the
opinion of an investigator with the medical examiner's office who told him it
possible for a 10-day-old baby's bones to be completely consumed by fire.
The medical examiner's office said that after it sifted through a box of what
investigators originally thought were Delimar Vera's remains, they went back to
the fire scene two more times to search. The third time a forensic
anthropologist went, too. After discovering no human remains, no death
certificate was issued and the M.E.'s office notified fire and police officials
to take whatever action needed to be taken.
However, a source said Vera's medical examiner's report says that "no
recognizable human tissues were found" and that the "infant is presumed to have
been completely consumed by the fire." This may have been what led the Fire
Department to list Vera as a 1997 fire death and the police to not launch a
probe.
Q.Was the language barrier an issue?
Cuevas acknowledges she speaks little English, and said the firefighters did
not understand when she said the baby was missing.
Heeney says he had Cuevas go through her story three times - including once
with a Spanish-speaking firefighter - and she insisted her baby was in the
bedroom. In addition, says Heeney, a Spanish-speaking paramedic took her to the
hospital.
Two neighbors interviewed by the Daily News Sunday said Cuevas had yelled out
that her baby was in the room.
Q.Is it possible for the bones of a 10-day-old to be completely consumed in a
house fire?
Despite what the investigator told Heeney and what Vera's autopsy report said,
the medical examiner's office now says it's highly unlikely that human remains
would be completely consumed by a house fire.
In the affidavit for Correa's arrest, police quoted Philadelphia Medical
Examiner Dr. Ian Hood as saying that cremating a body takes an hour at 1,000
degrees. (The fire at Cuevas's house took 14 minutes to bring under control.)
Hood said that in his 20-year career as a medical examiner, this would have
been the first time a body was completely consumed in a house fire, according
to the affidavit.
Q.Correa, who apparently was in the living room with Cuevas when the fire broke
out, has been charged with conspiring with "unknown persons" to start to the
fire and steal the baby. Who was her accomplice?
That is still under investigation by Special Victims Unit investigators, who
are trying to interview everyone Correa knew or hung out with. While media
organizations have identified several people as suspects, the police themselves
have not officially labeled anyone a suspect.
Q.The Fire Department has not yet ruled the fire an arson, and Fire
Commissioner Harold Hairston said Sunday, "We still don't know how she set it."
Then how could Correa be charged with arson?
Police haven't revealed their evidence against Correa. But a source said that
since the baby was kidnapped during the fire, there's "probable cause" to
believe the fire was set in some way. That's all that's needed to charge
Correa, though a higher standard is needed for conviction.
Q.Did Correa have a baby at the same time Delimar was born?
Yes, says Andre Moore, Correa's boyfriend at the time. Correa was clearly
pregnant, according to Correa's children and Moore, of Florence, N.J. She told
relatives she gave birth to a baby girl at her Willingboro home on Dec. 12,
1997, three days before the fire. The night of the fire, Correa brought Delimar
to see Moore's mother and said he was the father, Moore said. A paternity test
done several years later showed Moore was not the father. Relatives and
investigators now are asking what happened to Correa's baby.
Q.Did Correa have any other mystery pregnancies?
Possibly. New Jersey authorities thought Correa was pregnant in 1998 when they
sentenced her for setting fire to a medical office in Hamilton, N.J., in
November 1996. Co-workers at the Paramount drug store in Riverside, N.J., said
Correa claimed to be pregnant in 2000. She showed co-workers a hospital photo
of a newborn girl, saying the girl was stillborn, said co-worker Sam Rua Jr.
Rua said Correa appeared to be a good mother to Delimar, but he thought it was
strange that Correa did not appear upset when she showed him the photo of the
dead baby.
Q.Delimar has a new life, with a new family, in a new city. What's ahead for
her?
Although the girl looked relaxed and happy during the televised reunion with
her mother Monday night, psychologists say she's likely to have a long and
difficult adjustment period. She's been ripped out of the only home and family
she knew.
To complicate matters, her parents are at odds with each other, and are giving
reporters conflicting versions of what has happened since the fire.
Vera, the father, is seeking joint custody of Delimar. He wasn't invited to the
reunion - which he said hurt him - but he did have a chance to get together
with his daughter at her home yesterday. He brought her clothes, toys and
dolls, and told reporters afterwards that she didn't want him to leave.
He said he can visit his daughter as much as he wants, though he has to call in
advance.
Delimar is making what could be another difficult transition - from the
middle-class suburb of Willingboro, N.J., where she attended private school, to
Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia. It isn't clear where she'll go to
school now that she's living with Cuevas.
Cuevas has said she plans to move to a new location and said she plans to sue
the city of Philadelphia. As many as 25 television and film producers are
trying to buy the rights to her story. She has hired an entertainment lawyer,
Alexander Murphy Jr., of West Chester, to help field the offers.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
