Beer Steak Bullshit

The story of Whitney Cerak and Laura Van Ryn begins sometime in late April of 2006. In a shocking string of events, Whitney Cerak was proclaimed dead and had a funeral that was attended by 1400 people. It wasn’t until five weeks later that the mix-up was revealed. It wasn’t Whitney Cerak who died and was buried, it was Laura Van Ryn. What exactly happened? Read on:

The death certificate of Whitney Cerak says she died on April 26, 2006. She was buried in Gaylord, Michigan (damn, they have a town named Gaylord in Michigan? I wanna live there and become the lord of all gay), her home town. Whitney Cerak and four other people were killed in a vicious car accident when their van got into a crash with a semi trailer.

There were a total of 9 people in the van. Whitney Cerak, Laura Van Ryn and their seven friends were all students at Taylor University in Indiana. They were on their way back to the campus from a gig they attended as staff to make some student cash. As they were driving home, the oncoming semi trailer lost control and swooshed across the media running into the van at full speed. Five people were killed, including Whitney Cerak and Laura Van Ryn. Four other were severely injured, but survived the crash.

The accident was really bad, the entire Interstate 69 in Grant County, Indiana was shut to clear off the debris and collect the bodies, many of which suffered head trauma to the point of no recognition. And that is where the whole mistaken identity story begins. When bypassers stopped to see if there are any survivors, they saw a girl struggling for life. There was a purse belonging to Laura Van Ryn right next to her so everyone assumed that was her name. During following 5 week, a girl who was previously Whitney Cerak became Laura Van Ryn. This was just one odd span of events that lead to a fascinating story of mistaken identity.

Whitney Cerak, believed to be Laura Van Ryn suffered level 1 head trauma with massive brain injuries that cause her brain to swell. She was in an intensive care unit with doctors fighting for her life. Unable to respond, everyone believed that this badly damaged body was Laura Van Ryn.

Meantimely, the family of Whitney Cerak was notified about their daughter’s death. Coroners mistakenly identified dead body of Laura Van Ryn as Whitney Cerak, but it was an identity never the less so her parents were not needed to identify her. Her sister chose not to come and see her either as she wanted to keep the memory of the way she was when she was alive, not crushed beyond recognition. Coroners, who based identification of victims on IDs found within proximity of each victim now regret not insisting on Whitney’s sister coming to confirm the identity of the victim. Had she come to the morgue, the mistaken identity story would have ended there.

As soon as doctors got Whitney Cerak who was believed to be Laura Van Ryn out of immediate danger, the Van Ryns were notified of it, but were told not to expect her to look like herself. When Don Van Ryn came to see what he believed was his daughter in the hospital, he saw a body with cuts and bruises and head in bandages. Tube was sticking out of her mouth and brain. Doctors gave him victim’s purse and shoes. Purse belonged to Laura Van Ryn, it had her IDs and wallet inside, but Susie Van Ryn, Laura’s mother did not recognize the shoes. Still, she didn’t give it much thought. It seemed weird, but there were more important things of concern at the time. Afterall, she lived on a campus, maybe she borrowed shoes from one of her friends.

Four weeks after the accident, the family of Whitney Cerak held a funeral for their deceased daughter. No one knew at the time that the body in the casket is not Whitney Cerak, but Laura Van Ryn.

Meantimely, girl in the hospital - Whitney Cerak believed to be Laura Van Ryn - started to slowly recover. Members of Van Ryn family were by her side all the time. As time went by, she was slowly able to speak. When someone would call her Laura, she would correct them by saying she was Whitney. Suspicion over mistaken identity was building and when Whitney clearly stated that her last name was Cerak and her parent’s names were Newell and Colleen, the mistaken identity became completely apparent.

Colleen Cerak, Whitney’s mother got a phone call from the same coroner who called her 5 weeks ago with the devastating news of her daughter death. This time, 5 weeks later the coroner said they had reasons to believe that her daughter was alive. Colleen was asked to bring Laura’s dental records to the hospital so they could verify her identity. Having had buried what they believed was their daughter just a week prior, Colleen Cerak thought this was an uncalled for nasty prank.

Whitney Cerak is now a fully recovered young woman. She went through near death experience and had her identity mistaken for 5 weeks. What a story. She has no memory of the accident and hardly any memory of her stay in the hospital. She remembers being at the banquet, going for pizza, then boarding the van and that was it. To put her experience in words, Whitney Cerak wrote a book titled Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope.