A pair of Missouri parents are able to breathe a deep sigh of relief after learning that their daughter, who they thought was dead, is actually alive. The news had left them thinking they had lost a loved one followed a hit-and-run accident. But the case of mistaken identity is one that causes deep concern.
Nichole Kent was killed in a hit-and-run collision after a pickup truck reportedly ran a red light. This happened on May 22, shortly after midnight, in East St. Louis, Missouri. But police showed up on the doorstep of Mae and Charlie Ferguson and informed them that their daughter, Danika Ferguson, was the one who had died in the accident. Ten hours later, they found out Danika was still alive.
Danika was never in the vehicle to begin with. In fact, she was sound asleep in her new apartment, but her phone had died, so no one was able to reach her.
Danika's family spent those 10 hours making funeral arrangements, organ donation arrangements, and breaking the news to her kids, who they were babysitting at the time. So imagine what it was like when they found out that their daughter was actually alive.
The family of Nichole Kent suspected something was off when they saw reports of the crash on the news and noticed it was their daughter's car. They also couldn't get in contact with her. That's when her mother, Cynthia Mobley, called the morgue.
"I told the city morgue that they have an identity problem," she said in an interview. "I told her you need to look at that body you have down there and tell me if it has a sleeve tattoo. I said, 'And there's going to be a flower on one side,' and she says, 'a Hello Kitty.' And I said, 'You've got Nichole Kent.'"
Nichole and Danika are distant relatives, and it seems that Danika had lost her ID and someone in the car was going to give it back to her. Her ID was found at the crash site, and a survivor of the crash asked where she was, leading hospital workers to believe she was the one who had died.
"I'm alive," Danika shared of the frantic moment she heard what had happened. "They said, 'Your mother thinks you're dead, this county thinks you're dead, call your mom!"
Though the hospital hasn't responded to the outlet's request for comment, Sheriff Darin Layman offered an apology and shared that not only will all death notifications be sent directly to him going forward, but said notifications "will also require a written message."
