Mistaken identity body exhumed

[StoneMtn]

Mistaken identity body exhumed

Wed, June 7, 2006

By AP

GAYLORD, MICH. -- Crews exhumed the body of Laura VanRyn from a northern Michigan cemetery yesterday where the parents of another young woman had buried her in a tragic case of mistaken identity.

VanRyn's casket was removed nearly a week after the stunning news that fellow college classmate Whitney Cerak -- not VanRyn -- had survived an April van crash that killed five people.

Cerak, 19, and VanRyn, 22, looked remarkably alike and were together the night of April 26, returning from banquet preparations with a group from Taylor University, when a tractor-trailer slammed into their university van.

Cerak's family was told their daughter was dead, and they never viewed the body. VanRyn's parents were told their daughter was alive but seriously injured and in a coma.

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