An Oregon man was alive and well in December 2023 when he found out that the Multnomah County medical examiner had declared him dead just three months earlier. Tyler Chase, 23, had been living in a recovery center in Portland after years of struggling with substance abuse. At the time, he hadn't been in contact with his family for quite a while, but he had no idea they thought he had died.
Chase told Fox 12 he discovered the mix-up when his food assistance benefits became inactive. Thankfully, Chase got to the bottom of the error and thinks he knows what happened.
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Chase had not seen his family for years.
The man told Fox 12 that he struggled with drugs and lived on the streets for quite some time before he got clean. During those years, he had no contact with his family, but although the relationship was strained, he thought they knew he was alive.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case. His family had actually received a death certificate and what they believed to be his ashes back in September 2023.
He found out about his alleged death in December.
Chase said he was living in a recovery facility and was approved for food assistance benefits in October 2023. In December, he had an issue with the program and went to the agency for help.
He explained to Fox 12, "I go to DHS, 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,'" he explained. "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.'"
He was positively shocked.
Days later, the medical examiner's office tracked him down.
On December 19, a Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office representative found Chase at the recovery center and explained what had happened. The man whose body was found allegedly had Chase's wallet. They believed someone stole the wallet from the recovery center, and the identification inside the wallet led them to believe the deceased man was Chase when in fact it was not.
"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," Chase said. "And then they notified the family like protocol," Fox 12 reported.
His family was equally as shocked.
Chase's cousin, Latasha Rosales, told KGW8 that the medical examiner's office contacted them a second time to admit to the mistake. The family set up a video call and had a tearful and joyous reunion.
"I just lost it," Rosales said. "It is so hard to believe how something like this could even happen. It just makes no sense to me."
She added that her heart went out to the other man's family. "I can't even imagine how they feel," Rosales said. "Their child, their brother, their loved one was cremated. He passed away without them even being notified."
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The medical examiner's office said this type of mix-up is highly unusual.
The office explained in a statement to KGW8 that misidentification cases are extremely rare and that this was just a terrible mistake. The statement added that the public does not always understand what happens when someone dies because of what they see on TV and in movies.
"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 statement explained. "Families are able to view their loved one and confirm their identity at the funeral home making the arrangements.
