Son exhumes dads grave for answers, finds strangers body in casket instead

A son who was told his ‘missing’ dad had died more than 40 years ago has exhumed the body – and found they buried the WRONG person.Mark Wells, 52, has spent decades wondering what really happened to his dad, Dale Wayne Wells, who disappeared aged 38 in February 1985.After becoming frustrated at a lack of answers from the authorities, he paid to get his dad’s remains exhumed in the hope that new DNA could help solve the mystery.But Mark was stunned when the results came back — and revealed the man he buried and mourned as a child was not his dad — and belonged to a complete stranger.And he has now slammed the “inexcusable” mix-up he believes could have been a way for police to ‘close’ a missing persons enquiry without making the most basic enquiries.The body he thought was Dale’s was found in Colfax, California, a quarter of a mile from his then-wife’s house, eight months after he was reported missing.According to his son, his body had been “ransacked” by animals.The police have never been able to find out how Dale died or who was responsible, leaving Mark searching for answers.Mark, a business owner from the Bay Area, California, said: “I want to know why that person is buried in the ground instead of my father.“Most importantly, I want to know if my father is alive.“I don’t know if he has passed away – I want answers.“When I got the results back, I was mad, mad that something like this could happen.”Mark said in August 2019 that he became fed up with getting nowhere with the authorities, so he paid for the exhumation.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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Never miss a story.So far, police have not been able to work out who the man is, and have now reopened his dad’s missing persons case.But when he got the results back in May 2022, he found o...