A mother who was told her new born girl had died in a fire received the shock of her life six years later when she saw her at a party.

Mum Luzaida Cuevas was distraught after being told her 10-day old child Delimar had died in a fire. But she had in fact been kidnapped by Carolyn Correa, a cousin by marriage via Delimar's father Pedro.

Correa went on to raise the child as her own and named her Aaliyah Hernandez. A new documentary 'Back from the Dead: Who Kidnapped Me?' shows the twisted ordeal.

While no body was found, authorities told Delimar's parents that she had died in a December 1997 fire that was blamed on a heater's extension cord. But Luzaida believed her daughter was alive.

Delimar's mum always believed that her child was alive (

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She held firm to her belief as when she the fire tore through the family home, the mum raced to where Delimar had been sleeping and found an empty cot. The window was wide open at the time.

Firefighters needed to drag her from the home as she screamed that her baby had been taken.

Delimar, now 26, told The Sun: "People think that you get kidnapped and in the aftermath, everything is rainbows, butterflies and life moves on. But sadly, that’s not the truth. There’s a lot of work that goes into repairing those relationships and moving on."

She grew in New Jersey with Correa and alongside her owner children. Delimar added: "I never thought I looked like her [Correa]. Her daughter was more fair skinned like myself. So, I always thought me and her daughter look alike. I just don’t look like my mum."

Then in 2004, Luziada attended a birthday party and found a girl that she believed looked just like her daughter. Utilising her quick thinking, she acted as though the girl had chewed gum and offered to fix it, pulling out strands of hair in the hope of getting a DNA sample.

Delimar (centre-left) said she struggled with the language barrier when she was reunited with her parents (

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Delimar recalled she remembered Luziada pulling on her hair. She continued: "I remember seeing her and thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this woman is really pretty.’ I kept looking at her, like, ‘Oh, she’s so beautiful.’"

She added that it was instinctive that she knew Luziada was her mum. Then she noted how she "naturally gravitated" towards her.

Luzaida was determined to prove her case and an investigation eventually led to DNA tests proving the she and Pedro were Delimar's parents. Correa was later arrested and was jailed to between nine and 30 years after she pleaded no contest to kidnapping, interference of child custody and conspiracy in 2005.

Pedro claimed in the documentary that he had been unemployed at the time of the kidnapping and that Correa had tricked him into leaving the house with the promise of a job offer. Correa then returned to the property alone.

When he arrived home, firefighters were already tending to the blaze. Following the ordeal, Delimar was taken into foster care where she was able to bond with Luzaida and Pedro.

But the transition was difficult as Delimar spoke English and her parents mainly talked to one another in Spanish. She added: "I don’t want to say everybody, but a lot of people wanted to exploit us, but nobody thought for a second, maybe this family needs help."

She also claimed to have felt suicidal at 12 years old after the magnitude of the kidnapping hit her. It is still unknown what the motivation was for Correa was to kidnap Delimar.

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