Man officially declared dead by medical examiner found alive months later

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) – A man in Oregon who was legally declared dead by the Multnomah County medical examiner was found alive months later.

Tyler Chase, 23, was declared dead from a drug overdose on Sept. 11, 2023.

It turns out Chase is alive and well. His family contacted KPTV at the end of 2023 to share their story after learning he was alive on Dec. 19.

The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office admitted to the mistake and is now promising a policy change.

In a statement, the county admits it was not until Dec. 18 they realized an error had been made in declaring Chase deceased on Sept 11, and contacted Chase and his family the next day.

Chase has been living in a recovery program for the last several months after struggling on the streets with substance abuse and not having contact with his family for several years.

He learned of the issue when his food assistance benefits were not active in October.

When Chase went to the Department of Human Services for help, they started interrogating him after entering his social security number.

“They were like, ‘Can we see your ID?’ So, I gave it to them,” Chase recalled. “Then they just looked as confused as I was, and they’re like, ‘Right here it says you are dead.’”

Chase says it was a shock and still had not been able to track down his family.

What Chase did not know is that his family had received a formal death certificate, and an urn full of a stranger’s ashes.

Chase said officials from the medical examiner’s office found him at the recovery center on Dec. 19 and admitted to the mistake they made in wrongfully declaring him dead.

County officials also informed him the man found dead in Portland had been carrying Chase’s wallet, believed to have been stolen from him at the recovery center where he is living.

A temporary Oregon driver’s license was the only form of identification in the wallet, according to Chase and county officials.

“So, they find a paper ID of me that’s smudged and everything and they were like ‘that’s Tyler John Chase,’ so they put him down as me,” Chase said. “And then they notified the family like protocol.”

“We deeply regret that the misidentification happened,” a county spokesperson said in a statement. “The misidentification occurred because the deceased person was carrying Mr. Tyler Chase’s wallet and his official temporary Oregon driver’s license.”

The statement also says in part that the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office is making changes after what happened with Chase and the confusion experienced by his family.

“Going forward, all individuals who are found with a temporary state-issued identification must also have fingerprints submitted for positive identification, to ensure that this will never happen again,” the statement said.

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