Wacky Mix-upFollow

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- In a tragic case of mistaken identity, the family of an Indiana college student believed to have survived a multiple-fatality crash in late April said Wednesday that their daughter was dead, while the parents of a student thought to have died in that collision learned their daughter was alive in a Michigan hospital.

The sad and extraordinary story came to light on a Web log set up by the family of Laura VanRyn, a 22-year-old student from Caledonia, Mich. Her relatives had kept a five-week vigil at the Grand Rapids hospital bed of a young woman they thought was their daughter.

Uncertainty about the woman's identity grew this week as she regained consciousness, and dental records confirmed the woman the VanRyn family had been watching over was actually 18-year-old Whitney Cerak of Gaylord, Mich.

The Cerak family had unknowingly buried VanRyn on April 30 in the Michigan woods about 180 miles north of Grand Rapids.

"Our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura, but instead a fellow Taylor student of hers," the VanRyns said on their blog.

Authorities in Indiana were trying to unravel the heartbreaking mix-up on Wednesday, five weeks after five people--including four students from Taylor University, a small evangelical Christian college in Upland, Ind.--were killed in a crash on Interstate Highway 69, in Grant County near Marion, Ind.

Now they, what, either dig up their daughter or just have a funeral without a coffin?

I imagine they'll move the body to their own plot, eventually. I'm sure they'll also compensate the other family for funeral and burial expenses, or come to a mutual agreement that the hospital costs override them.

I'm wondering what the insurance providers are going to do. This is going to be a paperwork nightmare for someone.

The only thing that would override all others is a positive family ID. Tha would mean that her mother or father couldn't even tell her apart.

What about dental records!

The coroner responsible for the misidentification of a Michigan girl thought to be killed in an April car accident said today that he is not cut out for the job and plans to leave his post at the end of the year.

Grant County, Ind. Coroner Ron Mowery said he has a law enforcement background - he served as county sheriff, Marion Police chief and Marion’s mayor - and completed a state coroner’s association training course, but was not certified.

“I’m a career law enforcement officer,” Mowery said Thursday. “The decision to leave this position is something I decided before this tragedy, which has taken a huge toll on me.”

You allow non-medics to be coroners?

WTF