'Dead' girl from crash found alive

[IndianaGreen]

The wreck was so bad, that the victims were misidentified.

:27 PM May 31, 2006

'Dead' girl from crash found alive

By Theodore Kim

In a case of mistaken identity that brought joy to one family and grief to another, authorities announced today that a Taylor University student believed to have been killed in a van crash is actually alive — and that another student who was said to have survived had, in fact, died at the scene five weeks ago.

“We have some hard news to share with you today,” the family of Laura J. VanRyn said in a web site blog where it had been posting updates on the survivor’s condition. “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, Whitney Cerak.”

The family said a “misidentification” was made at the time of the April 26 accident and that the women shared an “uncanny” resemblance.

“Their body types are similar, their hair color and texture, their facial features, etc.,” the family said.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/LOCAL/60531039

Taylor University: Crash victims' identities mixed up

May 31, 2006 06:10 PM EDT

Grand Rapids, MI - In a stunning case of mistaken identity, a young woman once thought killed five weeks ago in the Taylor University van crash is alive in a Michigan Hospital.

Four Taylor University students and one staff member people died in the April 26t crash on Interstate 69. Ever since that time, Taylor University believed that one of the dead was 18-year-old student Whitney Cerak.

But Wednesday, officials confirmed that Cerak is alive and has been in a Michigan hospital recovering from very serious injuries. She had been mistaken for 22-year-old Laura VanRyn.

VanRyn's remains were mistakenly identified as those of Whitney Cerak.The Cerak family buried VanRyn in Gaylord, Michigan several weeks ago.

http://wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=4970548

[TroglodyteScholar]

1. Okay, that's effed up. n/t

[Poppyseedman]

2. Call me a cynic, but I find this hard to believe.

I could understand a couple of days, but 5 weeks!!!

[IndianaGreen]

3. I find it hard to believe, but it is big news here

The families are taking it rather well, considering.

[LizW]

4. I know of another case where this happened.

It was here in Alabama years ago and I don't remember all the details, but the two victims were teenaged girls who were good friends. One borrowed a piece of jewelry from the other and that led to the misidentification. It was only a day or so, but it was horrifying to hear that the surviving girl was so badly injured that neither family could recognize her.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Didn't VanRyn's family contact her after the supposed near miss?

How could they not have known?

[uppityperson]

10. What "near miss"?

They confused the 2 young women, must've had serious cosmetic injuries. If your loved one is heavily bandaged, comatose, or unconcious, you might not know if it is really them or not. So 1 family find out their "dead and buried daughter" is alive, the other find out their "heavily injured daughter" is dead. Poor people.

[FiveGoodMen]

13. Family of one is told, "daughter is dead", other family is told

"daughter was in an accident".

Second family says, "Oh my god!" and calls loved one immediately only to find they can't contact daughter because it's not her.

[uppityperson]

14. One in hospital had severe head injuries, sounds like non-responsive&cosme

combination of severe head/cosmetic injuries and severe head/brain injuries led them to believe that the girl in the bed was their daughter. Both girls were in the accident, 1 ended up smushed and dead, 1 smushed and in hospital. Which smushed girl was which was answered wrong, got them mixed up. Poor families, am glad for the survivor since it sounds like she is recovering some.

[IndianaGreen]

6. Tragic mix-up after deadly accident (CNN)

Tragic mix-up after deadly accident

Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Posted: 8:00 p.m. EDT (00:00 GMT)

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- A couple sat by their daughter's hospital bedside for weeks after an auto accident until she came out of a coma and they realized she was not their daughter after all, but another blond-haired young woman injured in the wreck.

Their own daughter, it turned out, was dead and buried.

In a tragic mix-up, one family had been incorrectly told their daughter had died in the April 26 crash in Indiana, and another was erroneously informed their daughter was in a coma. (Watch as the coroner talks about the "tragedy upon tragedy" -- 2:50)

The two young women -- both students at Indiana's Taylor University -- looked remarkably alike, and the one in a coma suffered facial swelling, broken bones and cuts and bruises, and was in a neck brace.

The family of Laura VanRyn, 22, disclosed the mix-up Wednesday on a Web log that they had used to record detailed updates on the young woman's recovery.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/31/wrong.id.ap/index.html

[truthisfreedom]

7. perhaps her face was badly injured.

[IndianaGreen]

8. The van they were traveling was smashed by a semi that cross the median

when the driver felt sleep. The bodies were pretty badly mangled.

[IndianaGreen]

9. Identities of crash survivor, victim mixed up (MSNBC)

Identities of crash survivor, victim mixed up

Family tends to comatose woman, then learns their real daughter is dead



Four Taylor students and an employee were killed when their van was struck by a tractor-trailer that had drifted across a highway median. Those in the van worked for Taylor’s dining services and were preparing for a banquet for the inauguration of a new president of the 1,850-student school.

It was not clear who mistakenly identified the victims or how the error happened. The coroner’s office did not immediately return a call. But the VanRyns, who are from Caledonia, Mich., said their daughter and Cerak, 18, of Gaylord, Mich., bore an “uncanny resemblance.”

Most of the crash victims had funerals with closed caskets. A month ago, an overflow crowd of more than 1,400 people turned out for what they thought was Cerak’s funeral in Gaylord, Mich.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13067706/

[politicat]

11. Sounds like serious head injuries and medically induced comas.

If the hospital kept Cerak sedated and both had head injuries, it would be easy to mix them up. Especially if they had their IDs in their purses rather than physically on their bodies.

One of the many reasons that I insist that my clothes have a wallet pocket....

[Raine]

12. So sad for the parents

who thought their daughter was alive, then to find out she has been dead for weeks and already buried. :-(