His family believed they had scattered some of his ashes in Hawaii. James was, however, alive and well. A 50-year-old American reappeared three years after his supposed death and the cremation of his remains, the San Francisco Chronicle reported this Monday, November 25.
The Californian newspaper returns to the incredible story of James Robinson, whom his entire family believed to be dead since 2021 due to a forensic doctor's error. A body was found in a hotel room in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on May 7, 2021, the victim of an overdose. Employees at the scene presented him under the name James Robinson to legal authorities, who did not specifically verify the identity of the corpse, despite blatant inconsistencies in build or tattoos between the reports of two men.
They then contacted James Robinson's family to tell them the news. The latter ended their regular visits to the Californian city, while the man was living on the streets and was known to use drugs. They requested that his body be cremated and soon after collected his ashes from authorities. Since then, it has been enthroned on an altar in their house in the San Francisco Bay after having spread part of it in Hawaii.
But everything changed in July when a family friend claimed to have encountered James Robinson in town, on Market Street. The family asked for explanations… and the medical examiner at the time admitted his mistake. The one who had never stopped living was able to briefly reunite with his loved ones and begin detoxification, before voluntarily disappearing again, underlines the San Francisco Chronicle.
DNA analyzes carried out on the basis of hotel room records in 2021 made it possible to establish on November 12 that the man who died in 2021 was in reality Jacob Bruce Chrisinger, whose family partly resided in the neighboring state from Oregon. His family was looking for him without really looking for him. Known to be homeless and addicted to drugs, he had a habit of disappearing for several months, then suddenly reappearing just like that.
But when her eldest son called her to tell her of Jacob's death in May 2021, Patricia Hines had no choice but to come to terms with the loss of one of her children, at the age 47 years old. “It’s horrible. This poor family. His poor daughter. I don’t know what to say to them, I feel so bad,” reacted this 70-year-old American about James Robinson’s relatives after this announcement and the discovery of the authorities’ blunder.
Her pain and anger are even greater towards the medical examiner who made this mistake: “I don't know why they let the hotel staff identify my son's body,” said Patricia Hines. I don't understand. It's very frustrating. I feel like Jacob was thrown in the trash.”
Related News :