Delimar Vera was 10 days old when a fire consumed her room in Philadelphia. Authorities found no remains and declared her dead. Her mother, Luz Cuevas, put on the mourning that society expects, but deep down she never accepted that version.
For six years she carried that certainty without proof, until at a party she came across a girl with dimples that she found impossible to ignore. Using any excuse, she plucked a lock of the girl’s hair and took it to the police.
In February 2004, DNA confirmed what Luz suspected: the girl raised as Aaliyah was Delimar. She had been raised by Carolyn Correa, a distant acquaintance of the family who was accused of starting the fire minutes after taking her out of the house.
