In what was already a parents’ worst nightmare, events that seemed to be at their worst possible point took a turn for the worse.
Little Jaylen Talley, only 14 months old, died from apparent breathing problems due to an alleged undiagnosed heart defect.
On May 24, his parents could tell something was wrong. They called 911, and Jaylen’s father tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the toddler. Jaylen later died at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
As if it wasn’t enough that these parents lost their son, something worse happened: their son was accidentally cremated.
The Talleys had been planning a funeral for Jaylen. They bought a white tux for him to wear. Little did they know it would never be used.
The mix-up happened at the Franklin County coroner’s office, located in Columbus, Ohio. Both Jaylen’s body and the body of a 22-day-old boy were there at the same time. The 22-day-old boy was scheduled to be cremated; Jaylen was not. Someone made a mistake, and the reverse happened.
When questioned, workers at the coroner’s office said they did not open the body bags to double check the identities out of respect for the dead.
If this isn’t unbelievable enough, this isn’t the first time this has happened. It isn’t the first time in history, nor in the country, nor this year, nor at this specific location.
Yes, you heard me: a mistaken cremation happened another time this year at this exact location. Two Ohio plane crash victims were involved in another mix-up in which two bodies were mixed up and the wrong one was cremated.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Talley family. I can’t imagine the grief they are experiencing from losing their dear, young child, and can’t begin to understand the way the grief is compounded when a tragedy like this stands in the way of closure.