海角大神

The parents of a聽Marine聽sergeant who died while stationed in Greece say that they discovered weeks after his funeral that his body had been sent home without a聽heart聽鈥� and that the Department of Defense later gave them somebody else's聽heart聽in its place.

Craig and Beverly LaLoup, who are suing the department, said Tuesday that authorities told them 21-year-old Brian LaLoup had shot himself in the head during a party at the U.S. Embassy compound in Athens, where he worked a security detail.

The聽Marine聽was taken to an Athens hospital and died a few hours later. Six days after that, on Aug. 18, 2012, the state-run hospital performed an unauthorized autopsy, according to the family's lawsuit, filed Friday in Pennsylvania.

The LaLoups don't know what happened to their son's聽heart. They say a聽heart聽arrived months later and the Department of Defense and Greek authorities claimed it was their son's. However, a months-long wait for DNA results proved otherwise.

"This is his聽heart. This is his soul. This is what made Brian who he is," Beverly LaLoup said Tuesday in a phone interview.

Brian LaLoup, who was buried with full military honors, had served in Afghanistan before being selected for the embassy detail in 2011. He first worked in South Africa, where a photograph shows him with visiting first lady Michelle Obama. He loved the聽Marines聽but was upset about a recent romantic breakup, said the family's lawsuit, which seeks at least the minimum $75,000 for a federal claim.

A friend told a聽Marine聽supervisor, who suggested more drinks instead of getting help, the lawsuit alleged. LaLoup, despite being intoxicated, was allowed to get a weapon from an unsecured storage area, it said.

Government immunity prevents the family from filing a wrongful-death lawsuit. Their lawsuit instead seeks damages for emotional distress over the missing聽heart. But mostly, the family wants answers.

The Department of Defense says it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The LaLoups only learned their son's聽heart聽was missing by chance. They were filling out paperwork weeks after the funeral when a military official with the file let it slip, Beverly LaLoup said.

"I was absolutely devastated," she said. "I was hysterical. I was running around the house, hyperventilating."

She made a flurry of phone calls, to the embassy, to the聽Marine聽Corps, to the Department of State.

A spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that the聽heart聽was removed during the autopsy.

"His聽heart聽was kept for toxicological tests," said spokesman Christos Failadis, who declined to answer questions about what happened to it or why the family received a聽heart聽belonging to someone else.

"The Greek ambassador in Washington has offered his condolences to the soldier's mother," Failadis said.

Family lawyer Aaron Freiwald said he doesn't believe that聽hearts聽are typically tested for toxicology.

Dr. Judy Melinek, a San Francisco pathologist unaffiliated with the case, agreed it would be unusual to use aheart聽for toxicology testing. However, she said, organs are sometimes removed for further study, especially if anything seems amiss, and laws governing how long they can be retained vary from place to place.

The LaLoups sued the Department of Defense along with the Navy, which handled the family's inquiries. They spent months trying to work through administrative channels but got nowhere, said Freiwald, who hopes to learn not only what happened to LaLoup's聽heart聽but what led to the wrong one being flown to the U.S.