It's every parent's worst nightmare.
Last Thursday, Alaska State Troopers told Jay and Karen Priest, of Palmer, Alaska, their son died in a car crash in Juneau the night before.
Jay Priest then called Juneau police to confirm that his son, 29-year-old Justin Priest, was in fact dead, Alaska Dispatch News reported. Police said the news was true.
But the Priests' nightmare ended a couple hours later when they found their son alive and well at his house in Anchorage when they went to deliver the grim news to his live-in girlfriend.
"Justin?" his father said when his confused son opened the door at 5:30 a.m. "It's Justin! Praise Jesus, we thought you were dead."
The person who died in the crash was a man who had the same name as Justin Priest but a different birthday. Juneau police contacted Alaska State Troopers to ask the parents in Palmer if the man, who died when the vehicle crashed into a tree, was in Juneau on Wednesday night.
"Instead,...the communication got mixed up," Juneau Police Chief Bryce Johnson told Fox 31 Denver. "We somehow communicated it wrong, and they thought that we wanted to tell the family that their son had died in the crash."
Law enforcement apologized for the horrible mistake which led to the parents calling other relatives to inform them Justin was dead and then driving to Anchorage to tell Justin's brother Cody.
Jay, Karen and Cody Priest then drove to Justin's house to notify his girlfriend of five years, AND reported.
Justin, a biologist, had no idea what was going on when his heartbroken family knocked on his door early that morning. He was asleep but woke up early to take his dog for a walk.
The family embraced and cried with each other for about half an hour.
"I was shocked and astonished and had to keep grabbing and hugging him," Jay told AND. "I never cried so much in all my life."
But the Priests said their happiness was marred by the fact that another family lost a son.
Johnson said Juneau police are looking into changing protocols to avoid another case of mistaken identity.
