Tonight, on the NBC television magazine “Dateline,” the story of the mistaken identities in the 2006 tragedy of a truck crash which killed students from Tayklor University in Indiana will be revisited.
The revisit of the story is due to the publishing of a new book by Whitney Cerak, 19, of Gaylord, Mich.
Cerak, 19, was with eight fellow-students and staff from Indiana's Taylor University when their school van collided with a tractor-trailer on April 26, 2006. Five people died in the crash, including Laura VanRyn, a 22-year-old Taylor senior from the Grand Rapids. Mich. area.
However, VanRyn's mother and father mistakenly were told that she was alive, while Cerak's parents believed their daughter to be among the dead. VanRyn's family and boyfriend kept vigil at the badly injured Cerak's bedside for five weeks before the error came to light.
As she healed and the initial bruises from the horrifc accident began to subside, it became apparent it was Cerak who was the survivor. VanRyn’s relatives had to exhume her body from the grave originally thought to be Cerak. Also killed in the crash were students Elizabeth A. Smith, 22, of Mount Zion, Ill.; Laurel E. Erb, 20, of St. Charles, Ill.; Bradley J. Larson, 22, of Elm Grove, Wis.; and university employee Monica Felver, 53, of Hartford City, Ind.
The truck driver, Robert F. Spencer, 38, was accused of falling asleep on Interstate .69, a north-south freeway which connects Michigan to Indinanapolis through central Indiana.
Authorities said he had driven at least nine hours more than allowed under federal rules at the time of the crash.
Spencer, from Canton Township, Mich., had been set to stand trial in August but agreed to plead guilty to five counts of reckless homicide and four counts of criminal recklessness resulting in serious bodily injury, all felonies, prosecutors said.
He now faces four to 24 years in prison at sentencing Aug. 14.
Working with writer Mark Tabb, Newell and Colleen Cerak, along with daughter Whitney, and Don and Susie Van Ryn have written "Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope."
Besides tonight’s NBC show, the family is scheduled for Oprah Winfrey’s show" April 2. Their publisher is Howard Books, the Christian division of Simon & Schuster.
Contents of this site are Copyright 2008 by WBBM. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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