News Edition: 09/21/2004
Squires was believed to have been hit and killed by a GO commuter train in the east end of Toronto last Friday night. His own sister, Diana, had identified his body at the coroner's office this week.
As Squires' relatives were leaving his funeral at an east-end Toronto funeral home Thursday, the funeral director came running out to say there was an important phone call.
"She ran out and she said, 'It's him. I talked to him.' And I just about fainted," his daughter Trina Squires told CFTO News. "I was like, 'That can't be for me. I can't handle this.'"
Squires reportedly discovered the problem when he read his own obituary in the newspaper.
After phoning the funeral home, Squires went to his sister's home in the city's east end where mourners were gathering for a wake, said a friend who was in attendance but refused to give his name.
A memorial service that was to be held next week in St. John's has now been cancelled.
Now police are looking to identify the real victim.
Toronto police Det.-Const. Dave Stirling says he doesn't know how the sister could have gotten the identification wrong, though noted the body was badly mutilated.
"There must have been a likeness," Stirling told the Sun. "It certainly is an unfortunate circumstance. It's certainly a shock."
Squires' sister Diana told CFTO that the victim looked "identical to my brother."
The deceased's body was taken from the funeral home and returned to the coroner's office for further investigation.
Coroner Dr. Barry McLellan said having a family member mistake a body is "an extremely rare occurrence."
"The relative was quite confident as to the identification," he said. Police are once again seeking the public's assistance in identifying this man. He is described as: white, 6 feet tall, 180 lbs., 4045, receding short brownish red hair and beard.
