Botched body ID leaves parents searching for five years

New York City

The man's body was found in New York's East River

HEARTBROKEN British parents spent five years searching for their son despite authorities knowing he was dead.

They have now filed a suit against New York City's Medical Examiner's Office after they were told the mishap was due to errors in body identification, The New York Post reported today.

Richard Massey disappeared in 2002, and his body was found floating in New York's East River three months later, but his parents were not told for five years and were still searching for him.

The ME's office did not tell Massey's family about his death until October 2008, years after the tech whiz was already buried.

"There was a breakdown in communication between the ME and the NYPD," said James Modzelewski, lawyer for the British family.

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Massey, 27, was reported to be acting bizarrely and was taken to hospital shortly after he arrived in New York from England.

He checked himself out of St Vincent's hospital on December 19, 2002, and was never seen alive again.

His body was recovered on March 5, 2003, and was marked a John Doe.

Meanwhile, his family filed missing-person reports and made pleas to the public for help through a website.

The family eventually hired a lawyer, who went to the ME's office.

Using DNA evidence and dental records, they were able to identify Massey.

The cause of death was undetermined.