Father Mistakenly Told His Son is Dead

Frank Kerrigan buried his homeless son at a cemetery in Orange County, California last month. Friends and family travelled from as far as Las Vegas and Washington State to mourn at the $20,000 funeral. To Kerrigan’s great surprise, Bill Shinker, a longtime friend and pallbearer at the funeral, called on May 23 to tell him that his son was not dead. After speaking with his son, Kerrigan is seeking compensation from the coroner’s office. Initially, the coroner’s office told Kerrigan that it was not necessary to visually identify the body because they had used fingerprint identification. The lawsuit alleges that the Kerrigans’ civil rights were violated based on the coroner’s office failing to perform due diligence in correctly identifying the deceased.

See Ariel Zilber, Outrage as Father Is Told His Homeless Son Is Dead and Buries Him in $20k Funeral – Only to Be Told 11 Days Later that It Was a Mistake by the Coroner and that His Son Is Very Much ALIVE!, Daily Mail.com, June 24, 2017.

Special thanks to Molly Neace for bringing this article to my attention.