California father buries wrong man after coroner's mistake

Eleven days after Frank J. Kerrigan held a funeral for his son Frank M. Kerrigan, a friend called to tell him his son was alive.

Frank J Kerrigan (82) from Wildomar, CA, was told that a body of a man was found dead at a Verizon store in Fountain Valley, was that of his son.

"Your son is alive", longtime family friend Bill Shinkler told Frank Sr before passing the receiver to his son, the Orange County Register reported on Friday.

Someone apparently told authorities that the person found outside of the Verizon store looked like the younger Frank, who coincidentally grew up up about two blocks from where the body was found.

His identity had been confirmed through fingerprints, someone at the coroner's office told Kerrigan's father and namesake in a phone call in early May, he told ABC 7 last week.

"The department extends regrets to the family of Frank M. Kerrigan, 57, for any emotional stress caused as a result of this unfortunate incident", the Orange County Sheriff's department said in a statement. His dad says his son doesn't realise the affect the incident has had.

It all began on May 6, when Kerrigan was notified by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department that he needed to get in touch with the Orange County Coroner. "Someone else had a attractive send off".

At the funeral, Mr Kerrigan had looked at the man in the casket and stroked his hair.

When he contacted the coroner's office, he was told the Frank's fingerprints were not a match to the deceased body. The father also said that he only saw the body days before a $20,000 funeral ceremony and burial and that between his grief and what he'd been told by authorities that he believed he was really looking at his son.

"We thought we were burying our brother", Frank jnr's sister, Carole Meikle, 56, said. 'I didn't know what my dead son was going to look like'.

When the family received Frank Kerrigan's belongings, there were red flags that pointed to the body possibly not being him.

A Southern California man who thought his son had died has learned he buried the wrong man. She saw blood and dirty blankets, grief-stricken, she set up a memorial at the site, according to ABC News. Attorneys from Easton & Easton, LLP are filing a claim on behalf of the family due to the coroner's negligence with the allegation attached that Kerrigan was treated differently because he is homeless and mentally ill.

When Frank was found to be alive, the man's fingerprints were re-entered into the database and matched someone else.

"The people that we put in place to handle things, when they make these kind of mistakes, they have to be held accountable", family attorney W. Douglas Easton said.

Frank Jr has returned to his life on the streets and according to his sister is unable to grasp the effect the weird incident had on the family.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department said it was conducting an internal investigation into the mix-up and that all identification policies and procedures would be reviewed to ensure no misidentifications occurred in the future. 'He was dead on the sidewalk.

"Those feelings don't go away".