Thursday, June 01, 2006

Mistaken identity shifts grief after deadly accident

quote[The casket was closed for Whitney Cerak's funeral more than a month ago. Her mother, Colleen, declined to look at the body, battered as it was in a collision between a van and a tractor-trailer.

"They wanted to remember her the way she was," said Cerak's grandfather, Emil Frank.

Meanwhile, the family of Laura VanRyn, another victim of the crash, kept vigil by a hospital bed. The severely injured young woman was in a coma for a time, but the family's blog detailed the many small steps she made toward recovery: feeding herself applesauce, playing Connect Four with a therapist. (Watch what role the family played in identifying the survivor -- 2:50)

But as her condition improved, Laura Van Ryn's family realized they had the wrong woman, and Colleen Cerak realized she had not buried her daughter.]


File this in "the messed up story" department.

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