Heartbreaking Mix-Up Stuns Families

The two college students looked remarkably alike: Attractive young women with blond hair and similar facial features. Both stood about the same height and had about the same build.

When the women were involved in a van crash in Indiana, the family of 18-year-old Whitney Cerak was told she had died. Meanwhile, the parents of Laura VanRyn, 22, kept watch at a bedside, hoping she would make a full recovery.

But as the woman began to get better, the VanRyns said, she began saying things that didn't make sense. Her boyfriend questioned her identity. After they took their concerns to hospital officials, there was a stunning discovery, the injured woman was not VanRyn, but Cerak.

"Our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura," the VanRyn family wrote Wednesday in their Web log, where they disclosed the mix-up.

The shock was equal but joyous for the family of Cerak, whose funeral more than a month ago drew 1,400 in her hometown of Gaylord in northern Michigan.

"I still can't get over it. It's like a fairy tale," said Emil Frank, Whitney's grandfather.

VanRyn and Cerak, both students at Indiana's Taylor University, were in a university van April 26 when a truck crossed the median of Interstate 69 and collided with it. Five of the 10 students and staff on board died.

Prosecutors are weighing criminal charges against the truck driver involved in the crash, saying he may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Although her family was told she was dead, it was Cerak who was in a coma for a time, the result of a brain injury. Her face was swollen, her neck was in a brace and she had broken bones, cuts and bruises.

VanRyn's relatives stood vigil at the woman's bed at a rehabilitation center in Grand Rapids. The family's blog detailed the many small steps she made toward recovery: feeding herself applesauce, playing Connect Four with a therapist.

But as her condition improved, VanRyn's family realized they had the wrong woman, and Colleen Cerak realized she had not buried her daughter. As she began regaining consciousness, the young woman said things that made them question who she is, the VanRyns said.

As recently as Monday, the VanRyns reported: "While certain things seem to be coming back to her, she still has times where she'll say things that don't make much sense."

In a statement, the two families said they took their concerns to hospital officials, and dental records confirmed that the injured woman was Cerak.

"Both families understand how this could have happened," said Bruce Rossman, a spokesman for Spectrum Health, which operates the rehab center.

Officials at Taylor University, an evangelical Christian college in Upland, Ind., about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis, confirmed the case of mistaken identity.

"We rejoice with the Ceraks. We grieve with the VanRyns," said Taylor spokesman Jim Garringer.

The Grant County, Ind., coroner described an accident scene strewn with purses and wallets and said acquaintances of the students had identified the survivor as VanRyn. No scientific testing was conducted to verify the identifications. The coronor apologized, CBS News reported.

"I can't stress enough that we did everything we knew to do under those circumstances, and trusted the same processes and the same policies that we always do," said Coroner Ron Mowery. "This tragedy unfolded like we could never have imagined."

"Is it unusual? This whole accident was terribly unusual," Mowery told CBS News.

Word of the mix-up began to circulate Wednesday morning at Gaylord High School, said Cerak's volleyball coach, Jen Mazza.

"I don't know what to feel right now. You're elated but you almost don't want to trust it," Mazza said. "Right now we just want to get her home and see her for ourselves. ... Everyone who was touched and grieving for Whitney will be grieving for the other family. We've been there."

Joe Sereno, associate pastor at Gaylord Evangelical Free Church, said what had been thought to have been Cerak's casket had been closed both for visitation and for the funeral. The family say they never wanted to look at the body since the victims were identified by relatives and university staff, CBS News correspondent Meg Oliver reports.

"We did everything you usually do," Sereno said. "We had a memorial service at the church. The family did a private burial the next day. Everybody thought it was Whitney."

Telephone messages were left Wednesday for the VanRyns and Ceraks, and a young man outside the VanRyns' home declined a reporter's requests for comment. A message also was left for a lawyer for the Cerak family.

On Wednesday evening, a steady stream of cars came and went from the VanRyns' house in Caledonia, a village about 20 miles southeast of Grand Rapids. The home is hidden by trees from the rest of the small, rural development.

A memorial service for VanRyn is scheduled for this sunday, Oliver reports.