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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Angel Cruz |
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Movie featuring Rep. Cruz to air on Lifetime Network
HARRISBURG, July 21 – State Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Phila., said a film depicting the story of Delimar Vera titled "Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story," will air at 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 17 on the Lifetime Network.
Delimar, an infant at the time, was sleeping in an upstairs front bedroom when fire broke out at her family's two-story row house in north Philadelphia on Dec. 15, 1997.
Delimar's mother, Luz Cuevas, could not find her baby when she ran into the room and eventually ran out of the house, overcome by smoke. Though police concluded that the child's remains had been incinerated in the flames, Cuevas never believed that her daughter perished in the fire.
Six years later, at a birthday party for an acquaintance's child, Cuevas was struck by the resemblance of one 6-year-old girl at the party to herself and her other children.
Telling the girl she had bubble gum in her hair, Cuevas was able to take strands of the girl's hair for DNA testing. As Cuevas' state representative, Cruz became involved in the case, and helped put Cuevas in touch with police, who launched an investigation. The DNA tests confirmed that the girl at the party was Cuevas' daughter, Delimar.
"I'm just so happy that Luz Cuevas was reunited with her daughter and can now share her amazing story with the country," Cruz said.
Cuevas was reunited with Delimar on March 8, 2004.
Carolyn Correa, the woman accused of kidnapping Delimar and raising her for six years, pleaded no contest to the charges in 2005 and is now serving a nine-to-30 year prison sentence.
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CONTACT: Ashley Conjar
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