'I Was Horrified:' Mother Falsely Told Son Was Dead By LA Coroner Still Searching For His Whereabouts

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) — A Santa Clarita mother is desperate to find her 27-year-old son after she was mistakenly told by the L.A. County coroner he was dead.

Angela Winters says her son, Adam Buckley, went missing from a halfway house in June. The manager at the house told her Buckley packed a bag and left without telling her or any of his friends where he was going.

Winters says her son has schizophrenia and his off his medication.

"I can't sleep. I can't eat," she said. "The only thing I'm concerned with at this point is finding my son."

Winters says she got a call last month from the L.A. County Coroner positively identifying a body burned beyond recognition as the body of her son.

"I was horrified. I was terrified that something like that had happened to my son. And I was consumed with his last moments and what they must have been like," she said.

Then, a few days ago as the family prepared for a celebration of life, Winters received another call.

The coroner had made a mistake and her son was not dead. The coroner's office released a statement admitting they had falsely identified the body and apologized to the family and to the public.

"I was relieved but to be honest I'm still in a very confused state," Winters said. "First, they told me my son was positively identified as being murdered. Then they told me they made a mistake."

Instead, Buckley had been arrested in Torrance for vagrancy and transferred to Los Angeles, where he was released.

Now Winters says she's frantically trying to find him and hopes the public will help.