Police bury man as John Doe while family gets another’s body

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Fernando Cante

A San Felipe family is making a claim that sounds as if it’s straight out of a movie. According to their post on Facebook, Fernando Cante, who lived alone, died on the night of Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at around 7 p.m. At around 10:30 p.m. they got him to the Northern Regional Hospital morgue where a COVID-19 test was performed since they did not know what caused his death.
The following day they were notified that the test was negative but a second swab was taken to confirm the result. However, due to the holidays, they were told they would not receive the results until the following week.
The family says that on Tuesday of this week, they were called and told that the second test was also negative and so they could pick up Fernando’s body.
When his son, Luis Cante arrived at the Hospital with a casket, and they showed him the body, he realized that the body was not his father’s. By this time, the family in San Felipe had set in motion all the preparations for burial, including preparing food for those, who would stop by to pay their respects.
While calling the police to report the mix-up, Lewis was told that his father’s corpse had been taken to Belize City and was subsequently buried in Ladyville by police, they suspect, as a John Doe.
They were later told he was buried in Trial Farm and were then taken to the location by police who told them they had the option of leaving him there or exhuming the body to take him for a proper burial.
The family is devastated as a result of this huge blunder and are now considering a lawsuit as a result.