GREELEY, Colo. -- A man from Eaton is trying to get his life back in order after a local newspaper said he was dead.
Edgar Balderrama said he read about his death in the Greeley Tribune on Friday. The obituary called him Edward, but then listed his family.
It also described him as a man with a great sense of humor. But this was no laughing matter for the 28-year-old.
"I thought it was like a 'Final Destination' thing...like I was seeing my death or reading my death before it really happened," Balderrama told us.
Balderrama said he had went to work on Friday without reading the newspaper, leaving his wife and their two small girls at home where they were soon inundated with emotional family and friends at their front door.
"Actually, his cousin came first and she was crying and I was like ‘It's not true.’ And then her mom came. And my mom was calling me and telling me that some of her family was calling her," said Erica Balderrama, Edgar's wife.
Erica said she knew right away that the obituary was false because she had seen her husband that morning and the paper said he died on January 23rd. For Edgar, seeing details about how he had died was shocking.
"I read it twice and I thought who could it be?" Edgar Balderrama said. Confused and upset, it was Erica who called the Greeley Tribune.
She said the answer to who was behind this was as shocking as the obituary itself.
"He's like…’Do you know a Banesa Ortega? And I said that she's my sister in law. He’s like are you enemies with her? I said ‘No, I just talked to her," Erica said.
Erica and Edgar said they're not sure why Edgar's sister would do this, but they did call police who charged the sister with harassment.
Edgar said after talking with the Tribune staff he believes they are going to change their policy on how they gather information for obituaries.
We called the Greeley Tribune to ask them about this, but they never returned our call.
