They Buried The Wrong Man: A Family Sues County And Funeral Home

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA — Last May, a homeless man was pronounced dead outside a Fountain Valley Verizon store. The coroner identified him through fingerprints as 57-year-old Frankie Kerrigan and contacted his family. Following an autopsy, the body was delivered to an Orange County funeral home for Catholic burial. The trouble started when Frankie turned up alive just two weeks after his funeral, at his pallbearer's home.

According to the Kerrigan family attorney James DeSimone, pallbearer Bill Shinker called and asked Frankie's father, "Are you sitting down?" A moment later, Francis Kerrigan was speaking to his son on the telephone.

Frankie was alive. He was fine. So who was in the grave? And how did this mistake happen?

According to the Kerrigan family, Orange County authorities lied when they claimed to have analyzed fingerprints to identify the body, then orchestrated a cover-up to conceal their failure to properly identify the dead man. The family claims authorities still aren't being truthful about the dead man's true identity.

On Tuesday Feb. 13, the family of Frankie Kerrigan filed a lawsuit against Orange County and the Chapman Family Funeral Home, citing negligence, violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Intentional infliction of Emotional Distress, and Concealment. (Read the full compliant and Original Fountain Valley Police reports below.)

"This is a family that deeply loves their son. Frankie did not become mentally ill until he was 40 years old. Now he lives, homeless in Orange County," DeSimone told Patch in a telephone interview. "His father, Francis, was distraught to learn of his son's death. Francis was told by the coroner that he didn't need to identify Frankie's body as that had already been done. His sister set up a shrine outside of the store where she believed her brother died. She was unable to look during the open viewing. His father merely stroked his son's hair and looked away. They were grieving."

The lawsuit alleges that the body released to the funeral home looked "close enough" to Frankie Kerrigan.

DeSimone told Patch that the coroner's officials did so "with the belief that no one would care because the deceased was mentally ill and homeless."

Even though the Coroner's officials notified the family in June that the body they had buried was that of John Dickens, a 54-year-old homeless man, it wasn't until late August that Dickens' body was exhumed from the cemetery, cremated and returned to relatives in Kansas, according to DeSimone.

Dickens' body closely resembled Frankie's in size and stature, according to reports. However, according to Fountain Valley Police Department police report (full report below) the man that was found outside the Verizon store was over 250 pounds, dark haired and used a wheelchair.

DeSimone and the Kerrigan family have posed the statement in their complaint that there was a third unidentified homeless man in this bizarre triangle.

"The family bought clothes for burial that would fit Frankie," DeSimone said. "Pants with a 32-inch waist, a size-7 shoe. The man found outside the Verizon store was much larger and heavier than either Frankie or Dickens." This would indicate, based upon the lawsuit, that Dickens--who matched Kerrigan in body size and type, was not the transient originally misidentified as Kerrigan.

In the original report, according to the complaint, Fountain Valley firefighters listed the body as a transient of approximately 65-years-old weighing 250 pounds. A witness at the store said the dead man was heavy-set with long, dark hair, the complaint states.

At this point, the identity of the man who was found dead outside of the Fountain Valley Verizon store remains unknown.

"It's a horror show on top of a horror show," Francis Kerrigan said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times at DeSimone's office on Tuesday.

The plaintiffs claim the Orange County coroner's office "caused the Kerrigan family unimaginable pain and suffering because it did not want to spend its time properly identifying the body of a deceased homeless person," according to the lawsuit.

"The Orange County Coroner's Office did not use proper identification procedures when it received the body because it did not think anyone would care about a deceased mentally ill homeless man," the lawsuit said. "When the mis-identification was realized, the county of Orange orchestrated a cover-up in an attempt to conceal the gross negligence that occurred at the Orange County Coroner's Office. Chapman Funeral Homes failed to disclose facts that would have revealed the cover-up to plaintiffs."

Jennifer Nentwig, a spokeswoman for Orange County spoke briefly with Patch regarding the complaint, which was received by the county on Wednesday.

"To date, Orange County has paid the family more than $20,000 for funeral expenses," Nentwig said. "We are also working with three separate claims from Kerrigan family members."

An attempt to reach Chapman Funeral Homes was not immediately successful.

Complaint Kerrigan Et Al. v. Orange County Et Al. by Ashley Ludwig on Scribd

FVPD Original Report by Ashley Ludwig on Scribd

Read also: California Father Buries Wrong Man

Photo: Ashley Ludwig, Patch Editor