Family of Sunil Tripathi, misidentified in the Boston bombing, can finally mourn him

Officials confirmed on Thursday that a body found submerged in a Rhode Island river was that of Sunil Tripathi, a former Brown University student that had been very publicly and very incorrectly named as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Tripathi’s identity was confirmed by dental records and, according to the Christian Science Monitor, he was believed to have been dead for some time. It was a tragic end for the Tripathi family, who had been seeking the missing student since he dropped out of school in a depressed state of mind in mid-March.

"This last month has changed our lives forever, and we hope it will change yours too," the Tripathi family said in a Facebook post. "Take care of one another. Be gentle, be compassionate. Be open to letting someone in when it is you who is faltering. Lend your hand. We need it. The world needs it."

Somehow, one month after his disappearance, Tripathi managed to be implicated in a terrorist attack in another state, identified online as a suspect being sought by police and, just as quickly, forgotten when two Chechen brothers were confirmed to be the actual suspects at the heart of a terrorist manhunt.

Over the course of the past two chaotic, tragic weeks two families stand out: the Tripathi family and the Tsarnaev family.

In both cases, in various forms, both families suffered as their young men were named as suspected bombers. Both families denied the charges, refused to believe. Both begged their young men to come home, prayed the nightmare would end.

It has not ended, not for either family. It won't.

[ Related: Sunil Tripathi body found; was misidentified in Boston bombing ]

The Tripathis suffered first as 22-year-old Sunil was publicly identified as one of the bombing suspects. First by members of Reddit, an online forum often credited with being the new, immediate face of journalism. Later, he was named by the old guards of journalism as well.

He was not the terror suspect. He was a young man who had dropped out of school and went missing.

The Tripathis had refused to believe Sunil was connected in any way to the Boston bombing, even as members of the public demonized him and attacked his family name. They were right not to believe.

Is it any wonder that members of the Tsarnaev family refused to accept that 19-year-old Dzhokhar and 26-year-old Tamerlan could be involved? Refused to believe even after police identified them as suspects? Even after they led police on a deadly chase through city streets, after Tamerlan was killed and Dzhokhar arrested in the back of a boat?

"Give us evidence," their aunt, Maret Tsarnaeva, demanded of Canadian reporters. "For me to be convinced that these nephews of mine committed these kinds of atrocities, it cannot be taken lightly. Convince me."

Since then, Dzhokhar has reportedly confessed to police, although his lawyer protests the circumstances, and according to Reuters has admitted to a plan to strike New York City.

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For the Tripathis, their public suffering is over, and private mourning can begin.

Erik Martin, general manager of Reddit, apologized to the family in a blog post this week, expressing sadness in the roll the site played in causing the family pain.

Martin wrote:

In the rush to understand the understandable, to come to grips with what happened in Boston that day, the eyes of the world stumbled and fell. And they took Sunil Tripathi with them.

Is it any wonder he is being called the "other victim" of the Boston bombing?