RichardCranium
06-02-2006, 06:21 PM
"It's just so unbelievable," Whitney's grandfather Emil Frank said of a case of mistaken identities that left one family and one hometown exultant; another family and another town crushed; and a shaken coroner concluding that he's not cut out for the job.
"We're so elated," said Joe Duff, manager of Whitney's hometown of Gaylord, Mich., upon learning that Whitney, and not her fellow college student Laura, had survived a highway wreck. "But the community's kind of torn because there's another community and another family that's going through exactly the kind of terrible loss that we went through."
Laura's hometown of Caledonia, Mich., was shocked, said high school Principal Ellen Zack: "It's like, 'How can this happen?'... This is a story with so much joy and sorrow." On Sunday, Laura's friends and relatives will gather in Kentwood, a Grand Rapids suburb, for a memorial service.
It began April 26, when the two college students were involved in a violent crash in northern Indiana. Whitney, now 19, and Laura, 22, were riding with a group from Taylor University when a tractor-trailer slammed into their van, killing five people.
Whitney's family was told she was among the dead. Laura's family was told that their daughter was alive, but in a coma-like state.
In Gaylord, Whitney's family held a closed-casket funeral that drew 1,400. The VanRyns, meanwhile, stayed by the injured young woman's bedside for weeks. On a daily Web log of her recovery, they detailed the many small steps they believed their daughter was making, such as feeding herself applesauce and playing the game Connect Four.
On Monday, the VanRyns reported: "While certain things seem to be coming back to her, she still has times where she'll say things that don't make much sense." Then the VanRyns learned why: The recovering patient wasn't their daughter. She was Whitney Cerak.
The family disclosed the mix-up on their blog Wednesday: "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."
"I still can't get over it," said Frank, Whitney's grandfather. "It's like a fairy tale."
A Tragedy Unfolds
In fact, it sounded more like The Twilight Zone than the Brothers Grimm. The mix-up started at a chaotic accident scene, according to Grant County, Ind., coroner Ron Mowery.
"The identification, and the personal effects from the van and the occupants from the van, were strewn all about the accident scene and into the grass area off the highway," he said. "There were three agencies that were working together, but were experiencing a difficult time pulling it all together."
He said a series of events led to the mistake:
-- When Whitney Cerak was airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital, Laura VanRyn's ID went with her.
-- Members of the Taylor University staff - who knew the women and were asked to identify the victims - confused the women.
-- At the hospital in Fort Wayne, Laura's family believed she was the injured woman.
-- Whitney's family never looked at the body recovered from the accident. One sister came to the hospital with the intention of doing so, but ultimately decided against it.
-- No DNA test was performed to confirm the dead woman's identity.
"We did everything we knew to do ... and trusted the same processes and the same policies that we always do," Mowery said. But the coroner said he planned to quit by year's end. "The decision to leave this position is something I decided before this tragedy, which has taken a huge toll on me."
Mowery, a politician who has been a county sheriff and mayor of the city of Marion, is completing the term of an elected coroner who moved to a different office. Mowery had signed up for a training course offered by the state Coroners Training Board but had not taken it.
Once the initial mistake had been made, why wasn't the survivor recognized as Whitney Cerak?
In a statement, the VanRyn and Cerak families said the two women shared a "striking similarity in appearance." Both had straight long blond hair. They had similar facial features, build and height.
Also, the victim's face was swollen. Her neck was in a brace. She had broken bones and bruises. For a time she was in a coma-like state.
The VanRyn family's website said the patient had a tracheotomy, which would have made speech difficult until it was capped May 15.
But early on, Mowery said, Laura's boyfriend had questioned her identity based on the young woman's behavior and comments.
In addition, Taylor University officials said late Thursday that Laura's roommate had expressed doubts about the patient's identity as far back as two weeks ago.
As her facial swelling began to recede, the injured woman didn't quite look like Laura, and she said things and did things Laura normally wouldn't, The Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press and the Associated Press reported.
The reports said VanRyn's father became suspicious when she referred to him by a pet name he didn't recognize. Sometimes she seemed frustrated, once trying to tear off her neck brace. Another time, she took a swing at one of the VanRyns. Several times when relatives addressed her as "Laura," the young woman replied, "Whitney," the reports said.
Finally, dental records confirmed the injured woman's identity.
Not the First Case
Was there an element of denial or wishful thinking in the VanRyns' failure to detect the mistake?
Robert Hayes, a psychologist from Indiana who works for the Red Cross during disasters, said he could understand why the VanRyns might not have noticed that the patient was not really their daughter. "In that kind of a situation, denial works very nicely," he said.
"The things we don't want to see, or would work against what we would believe in or want, we wouldn't notice."
It isn't the first time crash victims have been confused.
In July 2004, Patrick Bement, 17, and Nate Smith, 16, were in a car accident in northern Michigan. One died and one was seriously injured. The survivor's head wounds required extensive bandaging.
Based on where they found a wallet, authorities thought the survivor was Smith. But when Bement's parents saw the face of the boy in the casket at a funeral home, they realized it was not their son.
In such cases, those who find their loved one effectively brought back to life appreciate the agony of those on the other side of the tragedy, Hayes said.
The Ceraks' joy was mixed with sympathy for the VanRyns. "We feel just as much for the family that found out it was not their daughter," Frank said.
"Our families are supporting each other in prayer, and we thank our families, friends and communities for their prayers," the families' statement said.
In the cemetery where Laura's body was buried five weeks ago, the temporary nameplate that had marked the future spot of Whitney's headstone was removed Wednesday. It was unclear when Laura's casket would be exhumed and taken 175 miles south for burial near Grand Rapids.
On their blog Thursday, Laura's family cited Psalms 18: "In my distress I call to the Lord; I cry to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice. ... He reached down from on high and took hold of me."
The family added: "This is our prayer this morning. God's Word is sufficient, no matter what your circumstance."
"We're so elated," said Joe Duff, manager of Whitney's hometown of Gaylord, Mich., upon learning that Whitney, and not her fellow college student Laura, had survived a highway wreck. "But the community's kind of torn because there's another community and another family that's going through exactly the kind of terrible loss that we went through."
Laura's hometown of Caledonia, Mich., was shocked, said high school Principal Ellen Zack: "It's like, 'How can this happen?'... This is a story with so much joy and sorrow." On Sunday, Laura's friends and relatives will gather in Kentwood, a Grand Rapids suburb, for a memorial service.
It began April 26, when the two college students were involved in a violent crash in northern Indiana. Whitney, now 19, and Laura, 22, were riding with a group from Taylor University when a tractor-trailer slammed into their van, killing five people.
Whitney's family was told she was among the dead. Laura's family was told that their daughter was alive, but in a coma-like state.
In Gaylord, Whitney's family held a closed-casket funeral that drew 1,400. The VanRyns, meanwhile, stayed by the injured young woman's bedside for weeks. On a daily Web log of her recovery, they detailed the many small steps they believed their daughter was making, such as feeding herself applesauce and playing the game Connect Four.
On Monday, the VanRyns reported: "While certain things seem to be coming back to her, she still has times where she'll say things that don't make much sense." Then the VanRyns learned why: The recovering patient wasn't their daughter. She was Whitney Cerak.
The family disclosed the mix-up on their blog Wednesday: "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."
"I still can't get over it," said Frank, Whitney's grandfather. "It's like a fairy tale."
A Tragedy Unfolds
In fact, it sounded more like The Twilight Zone than the Brothers Grimm. The mix-up started at a chaotic accident scene, according to Grant County, Ind., coroner Ron Mowery.
"The identification, and the personal effects from the van and the occupants from the van, were strewn all about the accident scene and into the grass area off the highway," he said. "There were three agencies that were working together, but were experiencing a difficult time pulling it all together."
He said a series of events led to the mistake:
-- When Whitney Cerak was airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital, Laura VanRyn's ID went with her.
-- Members of the Taylor University staff - who knew the women and were asked to identify the victims - confused the women.
-- At the hospital in Fort Wayne, Laura's family believed she was the injured woman.
-- Whitney's family never looked at the body recovered from the accident. One sister came to the hospital with the intention of doing so, but ultimately decided against it.
-- No DNA test was performed to confirm the dead woman's identity.
"We did everything we knew to do ... and trusted the same processes and the same policies that we always do," Mowery said. But the coroner said he planned to quit by year's end. "The decision to leave this position is something I decided before this tragedy, which has taken a huge toll on me."
Mowery, a politician who has been a county sheriff and mayor of the city of Marion, is completing the term of an elected coroner who moved to a different office. Mowery had signed up for a training course offered by the state Coroners Training Board but had not taken it.
Once the initial mistake had been made, why wasn't the survivor recognized as Whitney Cerak?
In a statement, the VanRyn and Cerak families said the two women shared a "striking similarity in appearance." Both had straight long blond hair. They had similar facial features, build and height.
Also, the victim's face was swollen. Her neck was in a brace. She had broken bones and bruises. For a time she was in a coma-like state.
The VanRyn family's website said the patient had a tracheotomy, which would have made speech difficult until it was capped May 15.
But early on, Mowery said, Laura's boyfriend had questioned her identity based on the young woman's behavior and comments.
In addition, Taylor University officials said late Thursday that Laura's roommate had expressed doubts about the patient's identity as far back as two weeks ago.
As her facial swelling began to recede, the injured woman didn't quite look like Laura, and she said things and did things Laura normally wouldn't, The Indianapolis Star, Detroit Free Press and the Associated Press reported.
The reports said VanRyn's father became suspicious when she referred to him by a pet name he didn't recognize. Sometimes she seemed frustrated, once trying to tear off her neck brace. Another time, she took a swing at one of the VanRyns. Several times when relatives addressed her as "Laura," the young woman replied, "Whitney," the reports said.
Finally, dental records confirmed the injured woman's identity.
Not the First Case
Was there an element of denial or wishful thinking in the VanRyns' failure to detect the mistake?
Robert Hayes, a psychologist from Indiana who works for the Red Cross during disasters, said he could understand why the VanRyns might not have noticed that the patient was not really their daughter. "In that kind of a situation, denial works very nicely," he said.
"The things we don't want to see, or would work against what we would believe in or want, we wouldn't notice."
It isn't the first time crash victims have been confused.
In July 2004, Patrick Bement, 17, and Nate Smith, 16, were in a car accident in northern Michigan. One died and one was seriously injured. The survivor's head wounds required extensive bandaging.
Based on where they found a wallet, authorities thought the survivor was Smith. But when Bement's parents saw the face of the boy in the casket at a funeral home, they realized it was not their son.
In such cases, those who find their loved one effectively brought back to life appreciate the agony of those on the other side of the tragedy, Hayes said.
The Ceraks' joy was mixed with sympathy for the VanRyns. "We feel just as much for the family that found out it was not their daughter," Frank said.
"Our families are supporting each other in prayer, and we thank our families, friends and communities for their prayers," the families' statement said.
In the cemetery where Laura's body was buried five weeks ago, the temporary nameplate that had marked the future spot of Whitney's headstone was removed Wednesday. It was unclear when Laura's casket would be exhumed and taken 175 miles south for burial near Grand Rapids.
On their blog Thursday, Laura's family cited Psalms 18: "In my distress I call to the Lord; I cry to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice. ... He reached down from on high and took hold of me."
The family added: "This is our prayer this morning. God's Word is sufficient, no matter what your circumstance."