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Originally posted by arfmel:
Coroner should pay for the funeral, at least.

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Originally posted by Silent:
The problem with finger prints.

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From the original post:
It turns out that the coroner’s office never conducted a fingerprint identification.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Why such an expensive funeral?

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Originally posted by jbcummings:

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Why such an expensive funeral?

Kommiefornia! I imagine a cardboard casket and a hole to put it in would eat up most of that out there.

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posted June 24, 2017 10:14 PM Hide Post
I don't know the details of why sonny was homeless and the relationship with the father but does it seem odd that daddy would spend 20k on a funeral? I mean that 20k could have gotten him back on his feet. If you'd spend 20k to bury him why not spend that money while he is alive? Like I said, more unknowns but this seems odd to me.

If I'm fed up with bailing sonny out or fed up with whatever bullshit I don't know that I'm spending 20k. 2k maybe

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Why such an expensive funeral?

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Originally posted by wcb6092:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

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!

Frank J. Kerrigan, 82, buried his homeless son, Frank M. Kerrigan, 57, at a cemetery in Orange County, California, last month
Kerrigan was told by the coroner's office that his son's fingerprints match those of a man whose body was found behind a Verizon store days earlier
The family paid for a $20,000 funeral before having his body interred
Eleven days later, Kerrigan received a call from a family friend who says that his son is alive
'Hi Dad,' Frank M. Kerrigan told his stunned father
It was later learned that the coroner's office erred and had misidentified Frank M. Kerrigan based on the appearance of an unidentified dead man.

A California man who days ago attended his homeless son’s funeral was shocked to receive a phone call from his ‘dead’ son whom coroners mistakenly pronounced as deceased, it was reported on Saturday.

On May 12, Frank J. Kerrigan, 82, watched as the coffin that contained the body of a man widely assumed to be that of his son, Frank M. Kerrigan, was interred at the Cemetery of the Holy Sepulchre in Orange County.

Moments earlier, the family and its friends gathered for a memorial service at Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, according to The Orange County Register.

On May 23, however, the phone rang in Kerrigan’s home.

Bill Shinker, a longtime family friend who served as pallbearer at the $20,000 funeral, was on the line.

‘Your son is alive,’ he told his friend.

‘Bill put my son on the phone,’ Kerrigan said.

‘He said “Hi Dad.”’

Kerrigan called the coroner and was told that his 57-year-old son, who is homeless and suffers from mental illness, was found dead behind a Verizon store in Fountain Valley.

When he asked if he should identify the body, the coroner’s office told him that wasn’t necessary since his son’s identity was already confirmed by fingerprints.

It was only after the ordeal that Kerrigan learned the coroner was mistaken.

After the younger Frank called his father to assure him he was alive, the family hired a lawyer to investigate.

It turns out that the coroner’s office never conducted a fingerprint identification.

The authorities apparently determined it was Frank M. Kerrigan because the dead man bore an outer resemblance to him.

When the fingerprints of the dead man were put into the computer, they did not match those of Frank M. Kerrigan.

The family has begun to take steps toward legal action against the coroner’s office.