SANTA ANA, Calif.—Family members who believed they had buried their relative in 2017, only to later discover he was in fact alive and the body was misidentified, are now suing the county.
Frank Kerrigan, 86, and his daughter Carol Meikle, 60, are accusing the Orange County Coroner’s Office of “intentional and negligent misrepresentation” in identifying a body as Frankie Kerrigan in 2017 through fingerprints and state ID, leading them to believe the man had died. The case was first heard on March 21.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the Coroner’s office, declined to comment at this time.
On May 6, 2017, Frank Kerrigan received a dreaded call for any parent—a call from the coroner’s office informing him that his son, Frankie, had died. His body was found behind a Verizon store in Fountain Valley, California, Kerrigan family lawyer V. James DeSimone told The Epoch Times.
Just two days prior, the Kerrigan family had attempted to get Frankie, who battled schizophrenia and was homeless, into supportive housing and medical care.
Frank never went to identify the body as Frankie’s because the coroner’s office assured him it was not necessary due to the state ID and fingerprints, DeSimone said, adding the coroner’s office never had the ID or matched the fingerprints to Frankie because they were not his.
“This was devastating for the Kerrigan family,” DeSimone said. “The family was just very devastated that their son and brother had died under such uncertain circumstances.”
After holding a funeral for Frankie and burying what they believed to be his body, Frankie showed up at the home of a family friend, who was also one of the pallbearers at the funeral, just 11 days later. The friend immediately called Frank, Frankie’s father, to inform him that his son was alive.
The body buried was that of John D. Dickens, a 54-year-old army veteran from Kansas who was also homeless.
The mix-up began when a Fountain Valley Police Officer said Dickens’ body could be Kerrigan’s at the scene, and the coroner later “confirmed” it after looking at Kerrigan’s 11-year-old DMV photo, according to DeSimone.
“While it’s true that … they were overjoyed when [Frankie] showed up alive 11 days later, they really are still harmed by what they feel was a lack of honesty, a betrayal of the Orange County Coroner’s office duties to them, and still have feelings of sadness and anxiety about that this whole event,” DeSimone said.
Jury selection for the case was set to begin Mar. 23.
While details are not fully known yet, the family will be seeking “full and fair” compensation for the harm suffered from the ordeal, DeSimone said.
