Tyler Chase: Oregon man finds out he is 'dead' for weeks as family is ent urn of ashes, death certificate

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OREGON: Tyler Chase, a 23-year-old Oregon man, was shocked to discover that he had been declared dead and his family had received an urn of ashes and a death certificate in his name.

Chase was a dead man for authorities and his family for weeks until he inquired about his food assistance not being active.

How did Tyler Chase find out he was ‘dead’?

Chase had been living in a recovery program for several months after struggling with substance abuse on the streets.

 He had lost contact with his family for years. In October 2023, he tried to use his food assistance benefits, but they were not active, Daily Mail reported.

He went to the Department of Human Services to find out why and was met with disbelief. "They were like, “Can we see your ID?” So, I gave it to them,’ Chase recalled. ‘Then they just looked as confused as I was, and they’re like, “Right here it says you are dead,”’ Fox 12 reported. 

The mix-up that led to the death report of Tyler Chase

Chase had no idea that on September 11, 2023, a man who had overdosed on drugs in Portland was mistakenly identified as him.

The man had stolen Chase’s wallet and his temporary Oregon driver’s license from the center.

The medical examiners used the smudged ID card to pronounce Chase dead and notify his family.

"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, according to the publication. 

Adding, "And then they notified the family like protocol."

Chase’s family, who had not heard from him for a long time, accepted the news and received an urn of ashes and a death certificate from the county.

The correction and the apology from the county

The error was discovered on December 19, 2023, when officials found Chase alive and well at the recovery center.

They realized that they had misidentified the deceased person and apologized to Chase and his family. "We deeply regret that the misidentification happened,’" a county spokesperson said in a statement.

"The misidentification occurred because the deceased person was carrying Mr Tyler Chase’s wallet and his official temporary Oregon driver’s license."

The county also announced that they had changed their protocols for identifying dead people.

"From now on, anyone who is found with a temporary state-issued ID must also have their fingerprints checked to confirm their identity. To ensure that this will never happen again," the statement said.