A car crash in Michigan resulted in several fatalities and left one victim wrongly identified. One family buried one daughter (who they believed to be their own), while another held vigil over a seriously injured woman whom they thought was their daughter who survived, until the young woman woke up and told them she wasn’t who they thought she was:

In a tragic mix-up, the family of Whitney Cerak, 18, was incorrectly told their daughter had died in the April 26 crash in Indiana, while 22-year-old Laura VanRyn’s parents were told their daughter was in a coma.

The misidentification was corrected yesterday through dental records that showed Whitney Cerak was the lone survivor of the crash. Her family, who had held a funeral attended by more than 1400 people, arrived at the hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they met the VanRyns for the first time, exchanging roles and emotions.

It is not clear who mistakenly identified the victims or how the error happened. But the VanRyns said their daughter and Whitney Cerak bore an “uncanny resemblance”.

Whitney had suffered facial swelling, broken bones and cuts and bruises, and was in a neck brace, which made identification even more difficult.

The VanRyn family revealed the mix-up on a weblog that they had used to record detailed updates on the recovery of the woman they thought was Laura. “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,” they said. Read the rest…

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