New York family learn the truth about sister they were told was killed

by · Mail Online

A New York City family was initially told by police that Denise Owen, a sister and daughter, was fatally struck by a car in the early morning hours on Halloween.

After spending the next 18 hours coming to terms with her death and getting prepared to file a wrongful death suit, the heartbroken Staten Island clan found out Owen hadn't actually died. 

It was a case of mistaken identity, ABC New York reported.

Police arrived at the door of Sheila Nagengast, Owen's sister, at 1:30 am on October 31 to deliver the terrible news.

'They said, "I'm sorry to inform you but your sister has been killed fatally in a car accident,"' Nagengast said.

Sheila Nagengast, Denise Owen's sister, was visibly emotional recounting how she found her sister supposedly died
Pictured: Police stand in Nagengast's foyer at 1:30 am on Halloween to tell her that her 44-year-old sister was killed by a speeding car on Hyland Boulevard

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They said Owen, 44, was hit by a car on Hyland Boulevard, a major busy road on Staten Island, and was thrown in the air on impact.

'My question was: how did you identify my sister? They said that there was some sort of ID there, that they were able to identify her,' Nagengast said.

Nagengast also explained that Owen suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless during certain times of her life. 

With the relative certainty projected by the NYPD, news reportedly spread fast on Facebook, where people shared a Staten Island Advance article reporting on Owen's supposed death.

Nagengast ran around like crazy for the next day or so, rushing to the hospital morgue and also meeting with attorney Jonathan D'Agostino to discuss filing a lawsuit.

While Nagengast was talking with D'Agostino, she got a call from her other sister, who spotted Owen alive and well at the 7-Eleven near where police had said she was killed.

Nagengast went so far as to begin discussing filing a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her sister. Here, she's pictured with attorney Jonathan D'Agostino
During that meeting, Nagengast was informed by her other sister that Denise Owens, pictured, was actually alive

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'[My sister] FaceTimed me, and my sister Denise, who was pronounced dead by NYPD, Staten Island Hospital North, the morgue who has all her information and everybody else... the newspapers, is standing directly in front of my sister... alive and well,' Nagengast said.

The NYPD has apologized to the Nagengast and said they corrected the records.

The original Staten Island Advance piece that reported Owens' death has been updated to include the NYPD's error.

'During the course of our initial investigation, the NYPD misidentified the victim of a fatal vehicle collision,' Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nieves said in a statement. 'Upon further investigation, a proper identification and subsequent family notification was made.' 

The outlet reported that the victim was actually Justine Perez, 37, of New Springville.

'In 35 years of handling accident cases, I've never had this mix-up, I've never seen this mix-up,' said D'Agostino, who is now shifting the focus of the lawsuit to focus on possible NYPD negligence and the emotional distress that the family suffered.

'Nobody should go through what I've been through in the last 24 hours... nobody,' Nagengast said.