Alaska parents find son alive after police notify wrong family

It was the phone call that every parent dreads, the horrible news that your son has passed away. But even after Karen and Jay Priest received the horrible news that their son Justin died in a car accident, the Palmer, Alaska residents were in for an even bigger shock . . .

Justin was still alive.

On Thursday, October 9, Alaska state trooper police informed Karen and Jay Priest that their son Justin had died in a car accident. The parents were already dreading the news the trooper would bring. "He knew right away, the dread. It's not good when a trooper knocks on your door at three o'clock in the morning," Karen Priest told AP.

An image of Justin uploaded to Facebook in December 2011.

The parents then drove to inform Justin's longtime girlfriend Julia of the terrible news. But as they knocked on Julia's door, Karen and Jay were floored to see Justin answer it, alive and in the flesh.

"It opens and right here is Justin. I don't even see it but Jay is sobbing. It doesn't compute to me. . . 'Am I hallucinating?' Justin didn't know what was going on," Karen told AP.

Justin was incredibly puzzled to see why his parents were sobbing hysterically at the doorstep, thinking that they might have been possibly taken on by a scam artist.

"I didn't know why they were yelling and screaming," Justin Priest said. "I was mostly asleep. They were yelling, 'Praise Jesus! It's a miracle!'"

After the family reconciled, Justin contacted Juneau police to let them know that he was, in fact, still alive. The police apologized for the mistake, and are reviewing audio tapes and other information to see what went wrong.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.