FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - A man believed to have died in a Colorado flood in 1976 has been found living in Oklahoma.
Sixty-three-year-old Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan for a story Friday that he didn't know he had been counted among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson Canyon flood until a resident called him last year.
Barb Anderson said residents didn't want his name on a memorial plaque without proof he was dead.
Johnson and his family had decided to leave their shabby cabin the morning of the flood after just one night. A few hours later, the resort was washed away.
How Johnson ended up on the victims list remains a mystery.
He now directs funerals in Oklahoma City and acknowledges he was lucky to get the bad cabin.
Says something about the state of records. If the guy was declared dead in 1976 I'd think his Social Security Number would be in the Social Security Death Index.
Of course, having a living person show up in the death index is a real problem, so a death not being reported seems a better error, considering the problems than a "false positive" can cause.
Odd problem for someone in the death industry, though.
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