HOW family's ordeal unfolded

December 19, 2002: Mr Massey disappears.

January 2, 2003: Massey family travel from Doncaster to New York to begin search and hold press conference.

March 5, 2003: Body recovered from New York’s Hudson River – police do not link case with Mr Massey’s disappearance and body is registered as a “John Doe”

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July 2003: Police and medical examiners in New York fail to identify body as Richard Massey and authorise his burial in a pauper’s grave

December 2008: Body exhumed and DNA tests carried out in Britain to secure UK death certificate. Funeral for Mr Massey takes place at a Doncaster church.

January 2010: Lawsuit filed seeking damages from public authorities for negligence.