23-year-old Portland resident, Tyler Chase, reappeared at a government office in late December only to learn he had died from a drug overdose 3 months prior … and had already been cremated.
On a chilly day in December 2023, Tyler Chase went to the Oregon Department of Human Services in Portland in an effort to find out why his food assistance stamps were no longer active.
It was then he discovered he had been dead for months.
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Chase had been living in a recovery home for several months after battling addiction issues and surviving on the streets. He hadn’t been in contact with his family in years.
Then he found something odd, his food assistance benefits suddenly became inactive.
“I go to DHS [Department of Human Services], and they asked me to enter my social security and everything, and they were like ‘alright we’ll see if we can help you fix this,'” the confused man told FOX 12. “And then all of the sudden they start interrogating me and were like ‘Oh can we see your ID?’ So I gave it to them and then they just looked as confused as I was and they’re like ‘right here it says you are dead.'”
It turns out his family had not only received a formal death certificate but also an urn full of burnt human remains, and were told these were his ashes.
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On December 19, Chase told FOX, the county medical examiners office found him at his recovery home and admitted they had wrongfully declared him dead.
It was then he learned that officials had found a man in Portland, who had died from a drug overdose back in September. His only form of identification was a temporary Oregon driver’s license, in a wallet presumably stolen from Chase — the temporary license had no picture.
“So they find a paper ID of me that’s smudged and everything and they were like ‘that’s Tyler John Chase,’ so they put him down as me,” the resurrected man said. “And then they notified the family like protocol.”
His family was notified on September 11 and the body was cremated on October 1.
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The local medical examiner would not say anything regarding the identity of the man who was actually cremated.
However, a spokesperson told FOX 12: “We deeply regret that the misidentification happened. The misidentification occurred because the deceased person was carrying Mr. Tyler Chase’s wallet and his official temporary Oregon driver’s license.”
The medical examiner said this error has led them to make a policy change: “The medical examiner’s office also launched a comprehensive review to identify any gaps in current practices and is working to implement an institutional change. Going forward, all individuals who are found with a temporary state-issued identification must also have fingerprints submitted for positive identification, to ensure that this will never happen again.”
Meanwhile, NBC affiliate KGW spoke with Chase’s cousin Latasha Rosales, who said she just “lost it” upon learning he was still alive: “It is so hard to believe how something like this could even happen. It just makes no sense to me.”
The medical examiner told KGW: “Misidentification is extremely rare but has been reported in a small number of cases nationwide.”
“Although television often shows people identifying their loved ones at a Medical Examiner’s Office, in reality, most Medical Examiner’s Offices do not have viewing facilities,” the medical examiner said. “Families are able to view their loved one and confirm their identity at the funeral home making the arrangements.”
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