Stolen as a baby, I called my abductor 鈥楳om鈥�
In 1997 a devastating house fire resulted in the loss of a ten-day-old baby. At a party six years later, the infant's mother sees a child she believes is her lost daughter.
On the night of December 15th, 1997, a fire broke out in the home of Luz Cuevas and Pedro Vera, a couple living in Philadelphia with their two young sons and their ten-day-old daughter, Delimar. She was asleep upstairs. In the aftermath, the fire was declared the result of faulty wiring. No trace of baby Delimar was ever found 鈥� she was presumed dead; 鈥渃ompletely consumed by the fire鈥�, according to the medical examiner鈥檚 report.
Naturally, her parents were devastated, but there would be no closure because this was just the start of Delimar's story. In circumstances almost too extraordinary to believe, Delimar was alive and being raised only 20 kilometres or so across town. She had been renamed Aaliyah, and lived with Carolyn, a woman she thought was her mother.
Delimar has made a documentary about her extraordinary experience called Back From the Dead: Who Kidnapped Me?
Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder
Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
On radio
More episodes
Next
Broadcasts
- Tomorrow 12:06GMT麻豆官网首页入口 World Service
- Tomorrow 23:06GMT麻豆官网首页入口 World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Tuesday 03:06GMT麻豆官网首页入口 World Service
Contact Outlook
Info on how we might use your contribution on air
Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary
Step into someone else鈥檚 life and expect the unexpected