Inside a laboratory in Manhattan, forensic scientists in white coats are still working diligently to fulfill a promise made 25 years ago. They are extracting DNA from thousands of human remains recovered after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, trying to compare them with samples from toothbrushes, razors and other sources provided by victims’ relatives. What has changed is the science they are using to extract DNA from remains and evolving forensic investigation techniques that didn’t exist in 2001. “When… after years of pushing that science, you’re finally able to figure out who it is and return that loved one to their family… that’s powerful,” said Mark Desire, deputy director of forensic biology for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The remains of forty percent of the 2,753 people who died at Ground Zero have not been identified, including approximately 10 of the 24 Canadian victims. Last month, the laboratory announced that it made its first identification of previously unknown remains using an innovative technique. The woman’s family chose to keep her name private. It is the first identification made by the laboratory in a year. The technique combines DNA testing with genetic genealogy, which uses family tree research conducted by members of the New York City Police Department. “I think it’s kind of a new frontier,” said Dr. Jason Graham, New York’s chief medical examiner. “We had truly found a revolutionary innovation that, I hope and believe, will open the door to many other identifications.” For Monica Iken-Murphy, whose husband Michael Iken died in the collapse of the south tower where he worked as a bond trader, this brings renewed hope. “I didn’t get a ring, I didn’t get ID. People got cards. They found papers with their names on them,” he said. But for her, “it’s like he goes to work and that’s it. Nothing.” Monica Iken-Murphy had only been married to her husband Michael Iken for 11 months when he died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. (Submitted by Monica Iken-Murphy) The challenges of excavating and preserving remains Desire was a rookie scientist at the New York crime lab on September 11, 2001, and was sent to the scene to preserve evidence shortly after the second tower hit. I had never worked on a mass fatality before. “One of the… first victims I saw die that day landed right in front of us.” Shortly after Desire and his colleague arrived, he heard a sound he described as a “crack” and realized they were too close to the south tower as it began to collapse. He ran towards a nearby building for cover and barely made it in time. Debris fell on him just as he escaped into the building through a broken window. “It just fell on my legs and shattered my foot – the most violent moment of my life.” He survived and set out to fulfill the promise made by then-chief medical examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch to preserve and identify the remains of all victims. Mark Desire, right, deputy director of the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, watches a lab technician at work on April 15, 2014. Desire has been working to identify victims of the World Trade Center attack since day one. (Bebeto Matthews/The Associated Press) The World Trade Center was reduced to a 70-foot hill of rubble that, for visual reference, if extended, could cover approximately eight city blocks. Plans were made to excavate debris from the site and move it to be sifted and sorted at a landfill on Staten Island in hopes of preserving whatever remains they could. “Everything that destroys DNA was present at Ground Zero: the fire, the water to put out the fire, the jet fuel, the diesel fuel, the chemicals in the building, the chemicals in the soil, sunlight, mold, bacteria,” Desire said. Excavation work officially ended in 2002, but scientists continued searching for DNA in the remains they had. Four years later, more debris was found on the roof of a nearby Deutsche Bank building, where more than 700 bone fragments were recovered. That led to reopening searches in the area that lasted until 2014, leading to the recovery of approximately 2,000 additional bone fragments. Firefighters and emergency personnel remove debris from the site of the World Trade Center towers collapse in New York on September 13, 2001. The debris was later moved from Ground Zero to a landfill on Staten Island, where workers examined it for human remains. (Stephen Chernin/The Associated Press) At first, the remains were preserved by freezing them. Later, as best practices for handling remains for forensic purposes changed, they began drying bone fragments to preserve them longer. Since 2001, almost 22,000 pieces of human remains have been recovered. The science behind identifying remains During the early years, victims were identified using fingerprints, dental records and what was then considered cutting-edge DNA technology. Since then, science has advanced such that more DNA can be extracted from bone fragments. But it hasn’t made enough progress yet. Bone, Desire says, is the most resistant material for obtaining DNA. “Blood, hair and skin cells are easy. Bone… you have to pulverize it.” He says that thousands of samples that have yet to be identified have not even had their DNA extracted because they are so burned. SEE | How scientists keep a promise to victims’ families: Inside the lab working to identify 9/11 victims CBC News chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault visits a New York City lab still working to identify the remains of people who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, 25 years later. One of the challenges scientists face is whether to continue analyzing a sample. Each time the remains are analyzed, some of the material is consumed and cannot be analyzed again. Doing too many tests on a sample risks losing it completely before a match can be achieved. “It’s very stressful, because today we have remnants of what we’ve tried 10, 15 times over the years,” Desire said. That is why this new technique brings so much hope. The process involves sending DNA from unidentified remains to an outside laboratory that can generate a complete genomic sequence. Then, similar to genealogical methods that have been used to generate new leads in cold cases, the NYPD searches family trees. If a possible match is found, it will be returned to the medical examiner’s office to confirm the relationship through DNA testing. Desire noted that there were 47 sets of remains for which they have complete DNA profiles that do not match any of the 17,000 reference samples provided by family members. Therefore, individuals may have relatives who never contacted the laboratory or provided samples. “Using genealogy to help identify them was an excellent next step.” The chief medical examiner’s office is renewing its call for families to provide samples, hoping it can help make more matches. Families face difficult decisions Despite the lab’s continued work, many families of victims whose remains have never been found do not want to know if a match is made. “That can be very traumatic,” said Jennifer Odein, a World Trade Center anthropologist at the New York City Office of the Medical Examiner. She is the direct line between families and the lab, and says some families are contacted multiple times because their loved ones have been matched multiple times with their remains. “And if they’ve gotten phone calls in the past, they might have said, ‘Okay, we’ve had enough, we’ve had our ceremony… we’re fine if we don’t get the notification.'” A long time ago, Abigail Carter, a Canadian expat whose husband Arron Dack died while attending a trade show at Windows on the World in the North Tower, decided she didn’t need to know if his remains were ever found. “I know he was there,” Carter said. “She called me and that was good enough for me.” She has found her own way to honor him WATCH | Canadian woman remembers losing her husband on 9/11: Center At her daughter’s wedding last summer in France, where Carter now owns a chateau, they placed a framed photo of Dack on a chair and then added a martini (shaken, not stirred, the way he liked it) to make sure his presence was felt. He had a little bit of a different personality. He had a very, very silly, very silly side,” she said. Iken-Murphy understands the complexity of grief. She hopes one day her husband Michael’s remains will match the samples provided to the lab, but she says she wouldn’t want to keep them herself. “I want to remember Michael as a complete human being. With her beautiful face, her blue eyes and her smile.” Instead, she says they will stay in storage at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero, where the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner stores all unidentified remains.
