'Little Girl Lost': Lifetime movie based on kidnapping of Feltonville baby

The 1997 kidnapping of 10-day-old Delimar Vera, a Philadelphia true-crime story with more melodrama than a fictional potboiler, has been made into a Lifetime Movie Network film that will premiere on Aug. 17.

"Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story" stars former City Councilman Angel Ortiz's daughter, Ana Ortiz, an award-winning actress from ABC's "Ugly Betty," as Carolyn Correa, who is currently serving nine to 30 years in prison for kidnapping Delimar and then raising her as her own child for six years in Willingboro, N.J.

At the sentencing hearing, Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Pamela Dembe called Correa's act "truly monstrous."

But in a 2005 jailhouse interview, Correa, then 43, told the Daily News: "They put me out there to be a monster, but I am a loving person. If I could do something for you, I'd do it. I could have two soups in my bins - and even though I know I have to eat tomorrow - I'd give away that soup."

Correa has never admitted wrongdoing, which caused Dembe to say: "And I don't truly have the sense that Ms. Correa has fully accepted the responsibility for what she's done."

The real-to-reel soap opera began in December 1997 when 10-day-old Delimar was presumed dead after a fire consumed her family's Feltonville home.

City investigators concluded that her body had been consumed by the flames.

But in January 2004, Delimar's mother, Luz Cuevas, saw a 6-year-old girl at a birthday party and was convinced that she was looking at her daughter - miraculously alive.

A month later, DNA tests confirmed that the 6-year-old, who went by the name of Aaliyah Hernandez was, in fact, Delimar Vera.

In March 2004, Correa surrendered to police, charged with setting fire to Correa's home to cover up her taking Delimar. The arson charge was later dropped, replaced by a kidnapping charge.

Delimar's parents signed a six-figure movie/book deal.

Correa pleaded no contest in February 2005, and was sentenced that September to 9 to 30 years in prison.

"Little Girl Lost" features Judy Reyes (Nurse Carla on "Scrubs") as Cuevas, Hector Luis Bustamente of "The Shield" and "24" as her husband, and A Martinez from "General Hospital" as state Rep. Angel Cruz, who took up Cuevas' cause and acted as the Spanish-speaking family's interpreter during news conferences.

Cruz is scheduled to be a special guest at an Aug. 7 preview screening in Los Angeles. *