Update: News Article About Unidentified Bodies Changed Twice

A Naperville Sun article, which originally stated that there were five unidentified bodies in the DuPage County Morgue, was altered twice on Tuesday.

The original article published on Sunday opened with the following: "The DuPage County Coroner's Office currently holds the bodies or remains of five unidentified people in its morgue, one of whom has languished in that particular purgatory for nearly seven years."

That prompted a response from DuPage County Coroner Richard Jorgensen on Monday. "As the reporter was repeatedly told, there is only one unidentified deceased person in the morgue of the DuPage County Coroner," Jorgensen said in a press release.

The coroner was worried that people with missing loved ones could develop unwarranted hope of closure after hearing false news that there were unidentified bodies in his morgue. In an email, Jorgensen stated that when his office actually has an unidentified body, they are often inundated with calls and emails from all over the country.

The Sun changed the article the next day so that it opened with this: "The DuPage County Coroner's Office currently holds the bodies or remains of five unidentified or unclaimed people in its morgue, one of whom has languished in that particular purgatory for nearly seven years."

An email to the reporter who wrote the article went unanswered. When contacted by phone on Tuesday afternoon, a staff member at the Naperville Sun declined to comment on the story.

Two hours after that call, the story was changed again, now starting with this: "The DuPage County Coroner's Office currently has one unidentified body in its morgue, and has had others in the past in addition to those that have been unclaimed by family or friends."

Many news organizations publish corrections to the immense volume of information they rapidly publish. There was no note of the change after either of the modifications. The Chicago Tribune has a section for corrections, but there is nothing listed for the morgue story as of Wednesday.

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