East St. Louis sued after mistaken-identity burial

BELLEVILLE -- A woman whose son was killed, misidentified and buried by the wrong family has filed a lawsuit against East St. Louis and one of its detectives.

Kenny Thomas Stainback was not carrying identification when he was killed in East St. Louis in February 2008. A man not related to Stainback mistakenly identified the body as his son, who had gone missing.

The man was buried as 41-year-old Frederick McWherter Jr. The McWherter family discovered later that Frederick McWherter was alive and at a rehab facility in St. Louis.

Kenny Thomas Stainback was buried last Friday at the Sunset Garden of Memory cemetery in Belleville.

It's the same cemetery where his body was buried after being misidentified.

His family says they're upset at police for not using fingerprints to correctly identify the man.