Instinct given a chance ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS Above, Luz Cuevas, left, gets a hug from her sister Luz de Jesus, while speaking about her daughter, Delimar Vera, on Tuesday in Philadelphia. At right, Cuevas' daughter was thought to have died in a 1997 house fire when she was 10 days old, but was allegedly kidnapped by a woman who set the blaze to cover her tracks, police said Monday. Hair helped prove girl was daughter PHILADELPHIA - Luz Cuevas took one look at the dimpled, dark-haired little girl with the big brown eyes at a birthday party and instantly knew two things: She was watching her daughter, presumed killed in a 1997 fire, and she needed a way to prove it. She pretended the 6-year-old girl had gum in her hair, removed five strands from the child's head, folded them in a napkin and placed them in a plastic | bag. After locking the evidence in a safe at home, she contacted a local lawmaker for help. "Because of TV, I knew they needed hair for the DNA," Cuevas said Tuesday. The DNA tests confirmed the mother's intuition. The girl was her only daughter, Delimar Vera - the girl everyone believed had died 10 days after she was born. Carolyn Correa, 42, of Willingboro, about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia, surrendered to police in Philadelphia late Tuesday afternoon, said her attorney, Jeffrey Zucker. She faces charges including arson and kidnapping, police said. By JOANN LOVIGLIO The Associated Press Raising skepticism Cuevas, 31, said Correa was a family acquaintance who announced that she was pregnant during a visit to the new mother shortly after Delimar's birth. Correa then abruptly ceased contact after the Dec. 15, 1997, fire. That raised Cuevas' suspicion, as did several elements of the chaotic night when her home in the Feltonville neighborhood of North Philadelphia burned. "I went inside the room and looked in the crib, and she wasn't there," Cuevas said, adding that the window was inexplicably open though it was a cold winter evening. Police and fire officials that night told the hysterical mother that maybe it was her nerves, she said. Fire officials believed the one-alarm blaze was sparked by a home-rigged extension cord connected to a space heater. Delimar's room was gutted, and investigators concluded the infant's body must have been consumed by the intense heat and flames. Finding family Cuevas, who speaks in halting English, said she instantly recognized the child called Aliyah as her daughter at the Jan. 24 birthday party, where she used the ruse of gum in the child's hair to gather a DNA sample. It was unclear what brought the child and her biological mother to the same party. "When I see her, I saw that she was my daughter," she said. "I want to hug her. I want to run with her." She sought help from Pennsylvania state Rep. Angel Cruz, who represents the poor, largely Hispanic neighborhood where Cuevas Cruz said he was initially skeptical at first, but "something inside" told him that there could be something to the bizarre claim. Delimar was in foster care Tuesday and remained in the custody of New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, spokesman Andy Williams said. It will be up to a Family Court judge to determine where the little girl should live, but no timetable had been set immediately for the courts to hear the case, Williams said. Citing confidentiality rules, Williams would not say whether child welfare officials knew of any previous problems or when Delimar was removed from Correa's home. Police say accused woman previously set fire By GEOFF MULVIHILL The Associated Press WILLINGBORO - The woman charged with kidnapping an infant, then setting the child's house afire to cover up her crime had been convicted of arson previously, authorities said Tuesday. Carolyn Correa, 42, pleaded guilty in June 1998 to starting a fire in a Hamilton Township, Mercer County, medical office in November 1996. She was sentenced to commu- Delimar Vera was presumed dead in a 1997 house fire - until DNA testing proved her the daughter of Luz Cuevas. The accused Carolyn Correa surrendered to police to At a glance The baby face charges she kidnapped Delimar Vera and set fire to the house, police said. The mother Luz Cuevas said she knew when she saw a 6-year-old girl at a birthday party that it was her daughter. nity service and five years probation, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. Philadelphia police allege that in December 1997, Correa started another fire. She is accused of kidnapping a 10-day-old girl from the home of a distant cousin, then setting the child's room on fire. The baby - born Delimar Vera but later known as Ailyah Hernandez was presumed dead. But her mother met her at another child's birthday party in January. Authorities said DNA testing, proves the child was the offspring of Luz Aida Cuevas and Pedro Vera. Correa was turning herself in to police in Philadelphia late Tuesday afternoon, her lawyer, Jeffrey Zucker, confirmed. Zucker would not elaborate. Correa is charged with a dozen crimes including kidnapping, arson, aggravated assault and conspiracy.