A woman holding a rose at a funeral.
A family in Rochester, New York, is seething after going on an intense, four-year emotional rollercoaster, much of which could have been prevented. In July 2021, the family of Shanice Crews reported her missing after she abruptly disappeared, leaving two children behind. In April of 2024, police informed the family that she had passed away and her body was found in a Rochester lot.
To add further grief to their incredible loss, the family was told that she died from acute cocaine intoxication, even though they believed that Crews was never involved with the drug. Reading the autopsy was traumatic. That was, it's one thing to hear it, you know what Im saying, but then its another thing to actually read it, and then her name is attached to it, Crews sister, Shanita Hopkins, told Rochester First. So we thinking, this is how she died. And then were trying to think, did somebody like lace her, or is she doing this on her? Its so much that goes into it. Your mind just goes crazy.
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Because the body was in a state of advanced decomposition, authorities didnt allow the family to see it. Still, they insisted that the dental records on the corpse matched. The family quickly had the body cremated and then, last summer, held a memorial service for Crews.
Then, last November, Hopkins received a shocking text from a person she did not know in Detroit. The text was accompanied by a photo of Crews looking happy and healthy. Her first message is Maam with the picture of my sister C Maam, Im concerned, your sister is not dead. She just volunteered at my event today. This is just a random message, Hopkins added.
The Monroe County Medical Examiners Office, which swore that the dental records were a match, conducted a DNA test on the unknown womans ashes. We went the next day. They wanted my youngest sister because she and Shanice have the same mom and dad, and then they wanted her son. So both of them went and they did a DNA test, and when the results came back, they said it wasnt it wasnt a match, Shanita says. We dealt with the ashes and stuffCwe put them in necklaces and we mixed my mom with this strangeryes, Shanita says.
The medical examiners office has offered to pay the family back for the cremation and funeral expenses, but the family wants more than that. Theyve recently hired a lawyer to examine the familys options.
A death certificate.via Canva/Photos
It will be interesting to see what difficulties Crews may experience after she has been declared deceased. In 2023, Phil Anderson was declared dead by the IRS and didnt realize it until he tried to file his taxes, and his account was locked. His social security number was mixed up with his daughters, who had passed away from cystic fibrosis. Anderson had to reach out to his Congresswoman, Brittany Peterson, who represents Colorados 7th district, to have his IRS account unlocked. "Last time I checked, and in the immortal words of Monty Python, 'I'm not dead yet,'" he said, according to USA Today. Although its relatively rare for the US government to declare someone deceased incorrectly, it does happen. According to USA Today, 3.1 million deaths are reported to the Social Security Administration every year, and less than one-third of one percent ever need to be corrected.