Man believed dead attends his own funeral in Argentina, shouting 'I'm alive!'

A man who was believed to be dead turned up at his own funeral in Alderetes, a town north of Córdoba, Argentina, shouting "I'm alive!" The moment unfolded as investigators were tracing what had been described to police as a missing-person case involving a 22-year-old who had gone missing during a days-long heavy drinking spree. The mother of the younger man had reported him dead to police after another young man was run over by a sugarcane truck, a incident that set off a chain of misidentifications and autopsy considerations.

Prosecutors initially suspected suicide but ultimately classified the case as negligent homicide and ordered an autopsy on the body. The mother said she recognized the deceased by clothing and some physical features, and authorities released the remains to the family, who organized a wake. The revelation that the person in the coffin was not the missing 22-year-old — and that the one who arrived alive was completely unaware of any death designation — left mourners and police questioning who was actually in the coffin.

The man who appeared alive admitted to a days-long drinking binge in Alderetes and said he had no knowledge of any death declaration. He was taken to the police station for questioning while the body that had been released to the family was returned to the morgue to confirm its true identity. In the end, authorities identified the body as Maximiliano Enrique Acosta, 28, from the nearby town of Delfín Gallo, though the process was not straightforward.

Authorities later said the body had been identified as that of Maximiliano Enrique Acosta, 28, and that the family had not initially received the correct remains. A series of missteps followed, including handing over a body without proper identification and sending the family to the morgue twice in pursuit of the right individual. The confusion prompted criticism from Acosta’s relatives and prompted officials to review the procedures used to verify identities and return bodies to families.

Hernán Acosta, Maximiliano’s brother, said, "Everything was wrong from the beginning. First, they handed over the body without proper identification. Then they made me go to the morgue twice. We shouldn't have to go through this after everything we suffered." The family’s ordeal underscored the human cost of the errors and the distress of uncertain timelines in a case already stretched by inconclusive initial findings.

By Tuesday, Acosta’s body had been returned to his family and a funeral was held in Delfín Gallo. The Argentine Public Prosecutor's Office said an internal investigation has been opened to determine how the errors occurred and to prevent similar mix-ups in the future.