The story of the little girl people in Denver came to know as Candace Newmaker begins in the rolling hills of North Carolina. She was born just over 11 years ago, in Lincoln County, Nov. 19, 1989.

"David thought up the name 'Tiara,' and it was a precious jewel, and I thought, 'how true, how true,' so we named her Candace Tiara Elmore," said Angela Elmore, Candace's birth mother.

"I had plans for her. I wanted to put her in ballet. I wanted to put her in dance. I wanted to do all these things for her," Elmore said.

But Elmore told 7News reporter Julie Hayden that her dreams were ended by what Elmore calls an abusive marriage and conflicts with the Department of Social Services.

"I got me a puppy, mommy," Candace said on a family home video of her fifth birthday. Shortly after the home video was taken, social services took Candice away.

"I had Candace in my arms and Candace wasn't letting go, and they jerked her away from me, kicking and screaming," Elmore said.

Jeanne Newmaker, a Durham, N.C., nurse, adopted Candace.

Candace's birth certificate was changed. "Candace Tiara Elmore" became "Candace Elizabeth Newmaker" - a change her birth mother knew nothing about. It was a change that would have broken Elmore's heart.

"This is Candace Tiara Elmore, and this was taken on her birthday, November 19. She was five years old. This was the dress she was wearing," Candace's birth grandmother Mary Davis said as she looked through pictures and Candace's old belongings.

Elmore said that social services didn't take any of Candace's belongings. The family kept everything, though, so that they could show Candace some day.

She was five when they took her away for the last time, old enough to remember, Davis said.

Candace's mother and grandmother were raised in foster care, and they found each other later in life. They had no doubt that Candace would eventually find them.

"I always figured she was going to be taller than me, and that she was going to walk up that sidewalk one day and say, 'Mama, do you not know who I am?' and I was going to say, 'It can't be Candice,'" Davis said.

Now, their dream of a reunion is a broken dream.

"They destroyed our hope and our prayer," Davis said.

The only mementos they have of Candace's last five years are of a lot of questions, concerns, and a grainy picture from a newspaper story about her death.

"What kept me going all these years she's been gone was the fact that she would find me one day and I would hold her again," Elmore said.

Previous Stories:

• February 05, 2001: Court Date Set For Adoptive Mother Of Dead Child
• January 10, 2001: Fatal 'Rebirthing' Video To Be Released