BREAKING NEWS: Family buried wrong body
Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 1:12 am
BREAKING NEWS: Family buried wrong body 
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- The family of a woman who died in an apartment fire was given the wrong body, and the mistake was not discovered until after they buried her, an Ohio coroner's office said.
Butler County Coroner Richard Burkhardt said Wednesday his office takes responsibility for the mix-up.
"It is our fault," he said. "It is our responsibility and we apologize to the families involved."
Deborah Reed, 52, died in the fire Friday. But the coroner's office, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati, released the body of a 23-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose
Saturday, Burkhardt said.
It was not clear how the mistake happened. Burkhardt, who ordered that the younger woman's body be exhumed, said an employee in his office will face discipline.
Tom Zettler, managing director of Zettler Funeral Home, said it is not his policy to check on the bodies of fire victims.
"You trust the coroner to determine the cause of death and so forth, and that the correct body would be released," Zettler said.
Reed's son, Brian Winkle, said family members did not look at the body before burial, and apparently no one else did either.
Winkle said a family member learned of the mix-up after receiving a call from a friend who lives next to the cemetery. The friend said a body was being exhumed by detectives and the coroner's office.
"I came out here and asked a couple of people who work for the cemetery. They were covering up the hole," Winkle said. "One of them finally told me apparently the woman buried wasn't my mother."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/02/burial ... index.html
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) -- The family of a woman who died in an apartment fire was given the wrong body, and the mistake was not discovered until after they buried her, an Ohio coroner's office said.
Butler County Coroner Richard Burkhardt said Wednesday his office takes responsibility for the mix-up.
"It is our fault," he said. "It is our responsibility and we apologize to the families involved."
Deborah Reed, 52, died in the fire Friday. But the coroner's office, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati, released the body of a 23-year-old woman who died of a drug overdose
Saturday, Burkhardt said.It was not clear how the mistake happened. Burkhardt, who ordered that the younger woman's body be exhumed, said an employee in his office will face discipline.
Tom Zettler, managing director of Zettler Funeral Home, said it is not his policy to check on the bodies of fire victims.
"You trust the coroner to determine the cause of death and so forth, and that the correct body would be released," Zettler said.
Reed's son, Brian Winkle, said family members did not look at the body before burial, and apparently no one else did either.
Winkle said a family member learned of the mix-up after receiving a call from a friend who lives next to the cemetery. The friend said a body was being exhumed by detectives and the coroner's office.
"I came out here and asked a couple of people who work for the cemetery. They were covering up the hole," Winkle said. "One of them finally told me apparently the woman buried wasn't my mother."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/02/burial ... index.html