"Dead" Man Shows Up at His Own Wake in Brazil

[DiamondSmiles]

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Gilberto Araujo had not been seen by his family for four months when police called to say he had been killed on Sunday

Brother, Jose Marcos Araujo, mistakenly identified similar looking Genivaldo Santos Gama and took body home for wake on Tuesday

The 41-year-old car washer from Alagoinhas, Brazil was told the family believed him dead by a friend in the street

24 October 2012

A family gathering to mourn the death of a relative were shocked to tears and fainting when the deceased man in question pitched up at his own funeral on Tuesday.

In a bizarre case of mistaken identity, news of car washer Gilberto Araujo's murder had been relayed to the family by local police in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday.

Shortly after, when the wayward vagabond's brother was called into the morgue to make a positive identification on the body, he saw his brother lying on the table and took the corpse home so his family could hold a wake.

Family and friends of Gilberto Araujo, (photo below), (right), had spent the night grieving beside his open coffin. But the body they were weeping over was that of a workmate, (left), who relatives say looked uncannily like 41-year-old Gilberto Jose Marcos Araujo was so fooled by the likeness of fellow car washer Genivaldo Santos Gama to his brother Gilberto, that he mistakenly confirmed the body to be his sibling's.

Police inspector Roberto Lima said that Jose Marcos took the body to his mother's Alagoinhas home where a wake was held on Tuesday

'The confusion started when news started circulating that a car washer had been shot dead,' Jose Marcos' wife, Ana Paula, told the UOL Internet news portal.

'Police called my husband and told him that his brother had been killed and his body was at the morgue,' she explained.

Mother's love: Gilberto Araujo's mother, Marina Santana, (photo below), was shocked and overjoyed to see her son after a friend told the man that his family thought he was dead and he should go and let them know he was okay
Lima said the confusion was 'understandable.'

'The two men closely resembled each other and both worked as car washers,' Lima said adding that no further information on Gama was immediately available.

According to Gawker, the family had not seen or heard from Mr Araujo in the four months before the vexing case of mistaken identity.

A few hours before the Monday burial 'a friend of Gilberto's saw him walking down the street and told him that his family was mourning him,' he said.

Relief: Family gather outside Mr Araujo's mother's home in Alagoinas, Brazil, after many fainted and ran away at the sight of the car washer walking into his own funeral on Tuesday
'So he went to his mother's home to let everyone know he was very much alive, (photo below).'

When Araujo showed up at his wake 'some people fainted and others were so scared they ran away. It was a big shock,' family friend Maria Menezes told the G1 online news site.

Gilberto's mother Marina Santana told reporters, 'I am overjoyed. What mother wouldn't be after being told that her son is dead and then sees him alive?'

[Brometheus]

id be fooled if i just met him..

or if i was related to me and havent seen him in a long time.. i have a problem recognizing family sometimes. dead family members would be harder for me to identify in that case also (havent seen in a long time).

[DiamondSmiles]

Thank goodness I only had to ID one body after a fire, but, I had no doubt, he was my brother.

I don't know why the coroner couldn't determine the color of his eyes and to this day, I don't know if his eyes were open or he had no eyelids. I really could not tell.

When I read the article above, I thought, "dumb ass!", to myself.

I'm good at recognizing people from years and years ago and remembering names.

[Megamel29]

So, do they not do autopsies on murder victims there? You would think at some point they would have run dna....

[DiamondSmiles]

I had to provide ID. I guess it is assumed if you have proof you are a relative, you know the deceased.

If there is a question or no one comes forward, I would think they would.

[Megamel29]

Hmm...Just seems DNA should be checked in a murder case, regardless of if the victim has been identified. Are they looking for the killer?

[Dynamo47]

That is awesome. I am sure I'm not alone when I say I wish I could attend my wake to see who came and what they said about me!

[DiamondSmiles]

Originally Posted by Megamel29

Hmm...Just seems DNA should be checked in a murder case, regardless of if the victim has been identified. Are they looking for the killer?

Haven't heard any more about it. I'm sure the family came forward and had a good chuckle!

Not! Can you imagine?

That happened with two young blonde girls. One girl died in a car crash. The one who survived was thought to be the girl who actually died.

Eventually they figured out, they had it backwards. One family thought they buried their daughter, then they get her back.

The other family thought they had their daughter and had her taken away.

I know a tv show, I think, "House", featured a similar story, but, it was a brunette in a building collapse. Someone realized they were giving her the wrong blood type after a reaction to the wrong type.

[Darkest Angel]

wow- came to his own wake! Hey, better late than never great post.