It ’s often said that we all have a double somewhere in the world . It ’s a persistent thinking . In a common sense , our identity is all we have . When it fail to form properly , we struggle psychologically . When it ’s stolen , we confront fallacious measure , ruined credit and a years - long nightmare of red mag tape . And when it ’s mistaken , well , far worse outcomes might await .
Perhaps that ’s why , in so many legends and weird narrative extend back centuries , encountering one’sdoppelgangertends to end badly . gratefully , we dwell during the eld of fingerprint , DNA and CSI , in the post-911 public of ever - more Orwellian recognition requirements , and we ’ve left cases of mistaken identity firm in the past .
Well , perhaps not . According to a 2012 report in theDenver Post , " More than 500 people were wrongly imprisoned in Denver ’s jails over seven years , with some spending hebdomad remand or pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit . "
Such narrative furnish sobering reminders that a domain run by bureaucrats contains at least as much of Kafka as Orwell — and maybe a touch of Rod Serling , as well . The people you are about to adjoin would no doubt agree .
10: ‘Casino Royale’ Craps Out
We start with a lighthearted case of how mistakenidentitycan have circumstantially expensive consequences , specially when it brings together a big - mouthed executive and a shortly - harden performing artist .
Comedic acting fable Peter Sellers had a reputation for being unmanageable to put to work with . He was also a gifted mimicker and a bit of a smart aleck . So when Leo Jaffe , chair of Columbia Pictures , mistook him for his " Casino Royale " costar Woody Allen , he decided to roll with it . Unfortunately , Jaffe want to kick to " Allen " about Sellers , saying he wished they ’d never sign him to the motion picture . marketer became so incensed that he leave the set — and the country . Perhaps he was especially disquieted because this was n’t the first time such a mistake had occurred . It had happened often on the set of " What ’s New Pussycat , " which had especially irked seller , who at the time was at the height of his life history while Allen was a relative neophyte [ source : Lewis ] .
The film never regain . In the final stage , Columbia finish it using stand - ins whileeditorsstruggled to cobble together something apprehensible from existing footage [ source : Lewis ] . Today , the 1967 spy comedy is known in flick circles as a fabled fiasco , but most agree there ’s quite a little of inculpation to go around for the debacle , Sellers ' tirade notwithstanding [ source : Sikov ] .
9: The Assassin Who Stole My ID
Imagine checking in with your favourite word source only to discover that officials inDubaiare look for you in connection with a execution . And they ’re not seeking someone with your name or who mistily pit your visual aspect — they want youspecifically . You know this because they ’ve published ikon of your recommendation … except it is n’t quite correct . That ’s not your picture , or your signature , or your engagement of giving birth , but the quietus is spot - on .
Now imagine the murder in which you ’re implicated is the assassination of Hamas tribal chief Mahmoud al - Mabhouh .
That was the office look in 2010 by 26 westerners live in Israel , including Australian citizen Nicole McCabe , who was six months fraught at the time and plausibly needed all that sleep she was about to turn a loss thinking about death squads bent on payback [ sources : ABC News , Herald Sun ] .
An intelligence expert assure theHerald Sunof Victoria , Australia , that the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad , which prefers to practice actual identity as concealment for its broker , saw the large number of foreigners living in Israel as a thoroughgoing root . It did n’t count that they ’d never been to Dubai , or that theirpassportshad never been stolen — because the information was lifted from government database , it stay beyond their ascendence from the beginning .
At last report , the Australian government had offer little help to McCabe and her two fellow Aussies beyond a unexampled pass . They strongly advise her to take it : The old one was likely to land her on wanted inclination everywhere she traveled [ sources : ABC News , Herald Sun ] .
8: The Two William Wests
Around the turn of the 20th century , crook arrested in certain jurisdictions were put through a variety ofanthropometry , a series of facial , skull and bodily mensuration intended to serve as identification . Fingerprintinghadn’t yet catch on , and the interlingual rendition of this procedure pioneered by French police officer Alphonse Bertillon was considered state - of - the - art .
So naturally , when the good citizenry of New York sent Will West to Leavenworth prison , the record clerk follow process : He took West ’s measurements and classify through the piled recognition cards until one name remained : William West . This was bad news for Will , who claimed never to have had a old run - in with the New York law . But there was his name , along with a set of nearly identical Bertillon measurements . Even the pic on record was his spit mental image [ origin : Iowa Department of Public Safety , Olsen , Trimm ] .
Except it was n’t him . The William West on record , his nearphysical similitude , was already in Leavenworth , serve a liveliness prison term for slaying . The discrepancy was soon answer via fingerprints , and textbooks and speeches still advert the case as a Greco-Roman instance of the proficiency ’s usefulness . It ’s unclear what the consequences might have been for Will had the mistake not been caught ; but at the very least , he likely would have find a harsh time for repetition offense [ source : Olsen , Trimm ] .
7: The Unfortunate Adolf Beck
convict artistssay that an ideal image should be charming but easy forgotten . The man who travel under the name John Smith and Lord Wilton de Willoughby in 1877 and 1896 , the same piece who convinced women to part with their jewelry in exchange for synthetic rubber checks , was clearly a educatee of that school . Unfortunately for Adolf Beck , he bear a superficial resemblance to the man in head .
By now , you see where this is going .
Tragically , the entire issue might have been cleared up had the court simply view sure grounds , such as the fact that Beck was in Peru during the initial offense fling , or the somewhat more delicate detail that the original malefactor ( whose real name was possibly Frederick Meyer ) wascircumcisedwhile Beck was not ( that measurement was not among the Bertillon tool ) . Instead , legal miscarriages multiplied into 15 convictions and 7 year of punishable servitude [ sources : Cathcart , Porter , Sydney Morning Herald ] .
However , the British courts had not finished with Beck . Three year after his release , the 60 - class - old human was convict of more Lord Willoughby crimes and faced an additional four to five years in prison house . jubilantly , while Beck was lock up for the 2nd time , the original crook was catch in the act . The Crown eventually released Beck and , thanks to public outcry , grant him a respectable £ 5,000 in recompense . The case has since become a pillar of British legal traditional knowledge and a demonstration of the undependableness of eyewitness identification — at least 16 people positively identified Beck [ informant : Cathcart , Porter , Sydney Morning Herald ] .
6: Worst Stork Ever: Medical Identity Theft
Which would you rather have get laid up : Your credit story or your medical history ? No need to answer . Thanks to aesculapian personal identity stealing , in which people practice stolen identities to have medical procedures or expensive surgeries , you’re able to have both .
Do n’t concern ; it ’s even worse than it sound . Take the case of Anndorie Sachs , a mother of four in Salt Lake City , Utah , who end up on the amiss side of the jurisprudence when a hospital reported that a newborn tiddler under her name tested cocksure forillegal drug . Problem was , it wasn’thernewborn [ sources : Engeler , Johnson ] .
Eventually , it emerged that a pregnant drug exploiter had expose into Sachs ’s car , steal her ID and had the baby under her name , leaving her with a $ 10,000 medical account and a fate of explicate to do . Even after the accuracy came out ( and after social service had interrogated her children ) , Sachs was not net until a DNA test prove the baby was n’t hers [ sources : Engeler , Johnson ] .
Her legal and fiscal troubles behind her , Sachs now face another problem : The thief might have allow different aesculapian selective information to her doctors , which would have been listed under Sachs ’s name . However , Sachs has a rakehell clotting disorderliness and could buy the farm if give the ill-timed blood case . The hospitals say they ’ve addressed these issue , but Sachs ca n’t be certain , because privacy laws foreclose them from showing her the record book [ source : Engeler , Johnson ] .
5: Bartender Shaken by DNA Mix-up
In 2003 , British police hold barkeeper Peter Hamkin on suspicion of murdering a char in Italy the twelvemonth before . Now , bartenders know a bunch of tricks , but shoot down over strangers in countries they ’ve never visited is not among them . Was this another event ofeyewitness accountsgone wrong ? No , although official said he matched the description of the attacker . This time , the culprit was that strong mainstay of crime procedurals , DNA[source : Geddes ] .
DNA database matching really compares only a survival of subsites on the fibril known asloci . American labs use 13 loci , while in the UK 10 is the sorcerous figure , and suspects need not cope with all of them . If that sounds scary , look at this : Because countries do n’t always expend the same area , a proposed pan - European database would need a mere six loci for a mates [ origin : Geddes ] .
This bit once seemed like plenty — experts placed the chance of a sham mate among unrelated multitude at 1 in 113 billion . But in 2008 Arizona state offense lab analyst Kathryn Troyer found scads of such matches when using the nine - loci banner unwashed at the time , which suggests the field of study might benefit from some second thought . It also commit lawyer nationwide on a genetic fishing junket [ source : Felch and Dolan ] .
Luckily for Hamkin , his initial match was not the last of the story . After a more elaborate deoxyribonucleic acid comparison , he was exonerated and unblock , having spent 20 days in jail [ source : Geddes ] .
4: Transplant Recipient Chilled to the Marrow
The previous story show up how the half - dozen to dozen DNA marker used in database match could post police knocking down the incorrect doorway . But can a straight mate still charge to the ill-timed suspect ?
Have you read the deed of conveyance of this article ?
police force investigating one particular intimate assault case must have think the character was go well . They had a semen sample distribution with useable DNA , and it matched desoxyribonucleic acid of an Alaskan man already in the arrangement . There was just one hitch : The man in inquiry had been in slammer when the offence was committed . Was it a mix - up in the system ? No , although that ’s what technicians think at first . In truth , the solution was even unusual : One year earlier , the captive man had receive osseous tissue marrow from the factual aggressor , his brother [ sources : Aldhous , BBC ] .
Today , bone substance recipients sometimes retain some of their own marrow and end up with miscellaneous genetic profile . But in this case , the captive Isle of Man had lost all of his original marrow , and so he registered as a full match for the felon in interrogative [ sources : Aldhous , BBC ] .
By the way , motley DNA can also show up in impudence swabs if you ’ve been smooching . According to a 2013 study , DNA can linger in your mouth for up to an hour , a fact that could potentially aid catch sexual predatory animal [ source : New Scientist ] .
3: Identical Twins Beat the Rap(s)
No leaning of mistaken identity would be stark without a few eviltwins . Here are a few vitrine in which a malefactor used his fellow monozygote to lam jurist .
Our first case takes us to Germany ’s far-famed Kaufhaus des Westens , the largest section store in continental Europe . In January 2009 , one of the three stealer in masque and gloves who steal $ 6.8 million in jewellery from the KaDeWe bequeath behind a latex paint glove . Whendie Polizeiran a DNA test on the sweat encounter within , they identified two match : 27 - yr - old identical Gemini Hassan and Abbas O. ( German law keep their full names being used ) . Unfortunately for the officers , the stealer did not leave behind a fingermark : monovular twins have distinctive fingerprints , but they apportion 99 percentage of the same deoxyribonucleic acid . Unable to pin down which brother , if not both , committed the heist , they had to let them both go [ source : Himmelreich ] .
The news provide plenty of other evil - matching examples . In 2009 , selfsame twins in Malaysia escaped a death sentence for narcotics trafficking when prosecuting officer failed to try out which one owned the savor . In 2011 , an Arizona nightclub murder exit unsolved because eyewitness differ about which Twin Falls actually did the killing [ source : Palmer ] .
Although eyewitness report will likely always pose a problem , the science ofepigenetics , reportedly holds some promise of distinguish the DNA of counterpart [ source : Palmer[url=‘http://www.slate.com / articles / news_and_politics / explainer/2012/08 / true_crime_with_twins_can_identical_twins_get_away_with_murder_.html ' ] ] . Epigenetic factor alter how the same genes are express differently in dissimilar hoi polloi due to environmental factors , life events or the substances we waste .
2: Single White … Male?
It would be irresponsible ( not to say slanderous ) to designate a psychological diagnosis to our next case , even if draw parallel to the film " Single White Female , " which portray a woman withborderline personality disorderslowly assuming her roommate’sidentity , is inevitable .
One Clarence Day in 2007 , Brittany Ossenfort and her boss received a phone call expect for $ 1,050 to bail someone out of the Orange County Jail . The jailbird ? Someone cite Brittany Ossenfort . Yes , in an over-the-top collision of identicalness thieving and bad sound judgement , Brittany ’s 18 - class - honest-to-goodness manly friend , Richard Lester Phillips , had proposition an undercover cop for a $ 30 sex number and been booked under her name . Ossenfort love that her 5 - foot-3 - column inch , 95 - lbf. ( 1.6 - metre , 43 - kilogram ) friend was a cross - dresser , but the quietus no doubt came as something of a shock . Phillips convinced the police well enough to be put up with distaff inmates , so … well done ?
The matter was soon cleared up — sort of . Because policy foreclose jail official from altering name info in the computer database after booking , this crime will remain listed under Ossenfort ’s name . In fact , Ossenfort must now bear paperwork with her verifying that she has never been accuse of prostitution , just in case police ever stop her and take out up her criminal record . But hey , at least they accept the information down from their website — finally [ source : Lundy and Hunt ] .
1: The Taylor University Car Crash
On a former bound 24-hour interval in 2006 , a deputy coroner and a chaplain drove to a Michigan home to deliver the polar sort of newsworthiness that these tripper unremarkably entailed : They were going to tell the female parent and father of Whitney Cerak that their girl was alive . It was bound to be a bit of a shock . They conceive they had buried her weeks sooner [ sources : Myers , WTHR ] .
On April 26 , 2006 , a semi - truck driver had fallen asleep at the cycle , causing his motortruck to pass over a median value and crash into a Taylor University van hold in nine people . One of the worst clangoring in local memory , it wipe out five and hurled trunk and belongings more than 50 feet from the impact site . In the boot to save lives , a first responder had loaded Cerak into the evacchopperalong with the ID of the deceased Laura Van Ryn — who closely resemble Cerak in hair coloration , pearl social organisation and build [ sources : Myers , WTHR ] .
In the weeks that follow , while Cerak slowly recovered from a shut chief harm , 1,400 people , including extremity of her family , friends and schoolfellow mourned her loss and attended her funeral , while Van Ryn ’s loved ones hold back for the somebody they thought was their girl to recover . Eventually , as the patient ’s behavioural repugnance mounted , they could no longer disregard their suspicion . Finally , when a therapist enquire her to write her name , the true statement was there in black and blanched : " Whitney " [ sources : Myers , WTHR ] .
Lots More Information
" The innocent have nothing to fear , " eh ? After search this musical composition , I ’m not so certain . Granted , most of these extreme examples affect fluke , but I turned up score of other object lesson just like them . By the way , research shows that people are terrible eyewitnesses ; it also bring out that jury are inordinately swayed by evidence that voice like it come up out of a CSI episode . So I remember the deterrent example here is that due process , appeals and other legal aegis are something that we want to keep around .
Or is it that , excuse - impertinent , slammer is the safe place to be ?
