myjoyonline.com
A Philadelphia woman has shown up alive 13 days after her family buried her in an emotional service.
Sharolyn Jackson, 50, was laid to rest at Colonial Memorial Park by her devastated family on August 3, following the Philadelphia Medical Examiner signing a death certificate and releasing a body believed to be hers.
‘I had to call my wife and give her the sad news over the phone you know, that they’d just found our daughter dead,’ her father Dave Minnie said.
But last Friday, Jackson showed up alive at a mental health facility in central Philadelphia.
Her son, Travis, passed on the good news to her father, who was overjoyed.
‘You know you feel you’re just about to get over it, that she’s dead, then Travis comes here with the good news that she’s alive,’ he told CBS News, laughing.
Jackson was reported missing from her West Philadelphia home on July 18.
When a body of a woman fitting her description was found on July 20 on a West Philadelphia street, officials thought it could be her.
A social worker who knows Jackson, and Travis, both identified pictures of the dead woman as the missing Jackson.
The Medical Examiner’s Office then signed a death certificate, which allowed an undertaker to remove her body for funeral services and burial.
‘They showed (Travis) black and white photos. It looked like her,’ Minnie said.
The Philadelphia Health Department insists all proper procedures were followed and, with two people, including a family member, identifying her, it was following protocol to hand over the body.
An investigation has now been launched into whose body is in fact buried in the grave thought to be Jackson’s.
Officials know the woman died from natural causes and her body was found on the street on July 20.
They are seeking an order to exhume the body in an attempt to identify the woman.
Minnie said that while he was thrilled to have his daughter back, he feel’s great sorrow for the family whose loved one is buried at the gravesite.