13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |New book examines Taylor University crash and mix-up

New book examines Taylor University crash and mix-up

Indianapolis - For the first time, two Taylor University families tell their story of loss and hope in a new book you can pick up starting Tuesday. It involves the shocking case of mistaken identity after the crash that killed five people on I-69 two years ago.

The book is entitled Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope.

In the book, the families tell their experiences after the crash that killed four Taylor University students and a staff member. Whitney Cerak was believed to be dead, and Laura Van Ryn was fighting for her life in the hospital. Then five weeks later, their families discovered that the Grant County coroner had confused their daughters' identities.

Both the Cerak and Van Ryn families shared their personal experiences in the new book, but also on national television programs this week.

"I think they just told me that they were sorry that Whitney was one of the victims in the accident and that she had died. I was just so sad. I just said thank you, I didn't talk very long on the phone," Colleen Cerak told NBC's Matt Lauer.

"Not much you could see. You could see this much of her face, she had a blanket over her, and had a blanket wrapped over her. Her eyes were closed and a little bit of swelling it looked like. And some minor cuts," said Lisa Van Ryn, Laura's sister.

Matt Lauer says the hardest part for people to understand is why it took the family so long to recognize that the woman in that hospital bed wasn't their daughter and sister. Lauer said that the Van Ryn family had no reason to suspect that it wasn't Laura, and they were told that because of the crash, she was in an altered state. "They never thought there was a puzzle to solve," Lauer said.

The rest of that interview with Matt Lauer will air Thursday on Today and Friday on a two-hour Dateline special.

Mistaken Identity - See an archive of stories related to this case.