More than 20 years after 9/11, difficult work of identifying remains continues

Identification of John Nien

• The New York City office of the chief medical examiner made a promise to identify the remains of the victims of the 9/11 attacks nearly a quarter century ago, and that work has never stopped, with more than 1,000 families still waiting for word (30s).
• Ellen Borin recently received news about her husband, John Nien, who had been missing for 22 years, after his remains were identified in December (44s).
• John Nien was a 44-year-old insurance executive who was on the 105th floor of the South Tower when the terrorist attack began, and he had an opportunity to call his wife before the tower collapsed (1m54s).
• Andrea Habberman, a 25-year-old, was on the 92nd floor of the South Tower on her first trip to her company's headquarters, and her family was watching the news as the second plane hit (2m57s).
• Dr. Charles Hirsch, the city's chief medical examiner, and his team, including a young scientist named Mark Desire, rushed to the base of the burning towers to set up a temporary morgue and preserve evidence (3m26s).
• Mark Desire narrowly escaped death when the South Tower collapsed, and he was blasted off his feet while trying to run away from the collapsing tower (4m19s).
• The medical examiner's team survived the collapse of the towers, and their work has continued to identify the remains of the victims, including John Nien and Andrea Habberman (4m36s).

Search for Andrea Habberman

• Andrea Habberman's family, including her parents and fiancé, drove 16 hours to Manhattan to search for her in various hospitals, but they were unable to find her (4m54s).

DNA Collection and Remains Search

• Following the 9/11 attacks, families of the missing lined up at a National Guard Armory to give DNA samples to the medical examiner, with 177,000 reference samples collected, including toothbrushes, razors, and hairbrushes that the missing individuals had touched when they were alive (6m1s).
• If personal items were not available, DNA swabs were taken from living relatives, such as children, to aid in the identification process (6m15s).
• Nearly 2 million tons of debris were searched by hand for human remains, with a shocking revelation in 2006 of bone fragments on the roof of a building across the street from Ground Zero (6m45s).
• Anthropologist Bradley Adams led a team that found over 700 small bone fragments on the rooftop, prompting a new search for clues at Ground Zero (7m14s).
• The discovery at the Deutsche Bank building, which included remains from American Airlines flight 11, led to a new search for human remains mixed with World Trade Center debris (7m36s).
• Over the course of a year, 18,000 tons of excavation material were collected, and 75 anthropologists washed it through screens, resulting in the discovery of over 1,000 more human remains (8m2s).
• The total World Trade Center remains came to 2,995, with the recovery efforts being monumental and unprecedented (8m30s).

Ongoing Identification Efforts and New Technologies

• Today, Dr. Jason Graham, New York City's chief medical examiner, continues the work of identifying the remaining victims, with 40% of the 2,753 homicide victims still unidentified (8m47s).
• Mark Desire, assistant director of forensic biology, is responsible for putting a name to the remaining unidentified remains, which have been tested multiple times without a result, but new technologies offer hope for breakthroughs (9m35s).
• New technologies, such as those demonstrated by Desire using animal bone, make it possible to generate a DNA profile from bone remains, offering hope for identifying the remaining victims (10m28s).
• The process of identifying remains from the 9/11 attacks has been ongoing for over 20 years, with advancements in technology significantly improving the ability to extract DNA from bone fragments, including the use of a cryogenic grinder filled with liquid nitrogen (10m37s).
• The early days of 9/11 identification involved manual processes, such as using a mortar and pestle, but equipment like the cryogenic grinder has taken the process to the next level, allowing for the extraction of DNA from even the smallest fragments (10m42s).
• Innovations in DNA amplification have also enabled the revelation of more information from tiny fragments, some as small as the size of a Tic Tac, allowing for the generation of DNA profiles (11m11s).
• Samples are tested every week with advanced technology, and in some cases, matches have been made years after the initial testing, such as in the case of John Nen's bone fragments, which were matched to his infant son's cheek swab 22 years after the fact (11m33s).

Notification of Families and Emotional Impact

• When a match is made, first notifications are made in person, and the news can be a shock to families, even after all these years, as seen in the case of Ellen Nen, who thought the door to her husband's identification had long been closed (11m50s).
• Many families don't want to know if their loved one is identified, with about half of 9/11 families telling the medical examiner that they don't want to be notified if their loved one is identified today (12m55s).
• However, the other half still hope for word, and Dr. Jennifer O'Dian, the medical examiner's World Trade Center Anthropologist, understands this mix of emotions, having worked with hundreds of families and listening to their memories and stories (13m14s).
• Dr. O'Dian's role involves not only identifying remains but also being a counselor to families, listening to their stories and answering their questions, with some phone calls lasting up to an hour (14m25s).
• Ellen Nen spoke to Dr. O'Dian after her husband's remains were identified, and her son Jack, who was 18 months old when his father died, shared his reaction to the news, which was very sad for him (15m36s).

Continuing Work and Storage of Remains

• The identification of remains from 9/11 continues to be an ongoing process, with people working tirelessly to find any piece of the victims, which can be a source of comfort for the families affected (15m43s).
• As remains are identified, the folders containing information about the victims grow, with new identifications being added to the DM files, and the medical examiner's office keeps track of all remains, assigning a unique number to each one (16m35s).
• The medical examiner's office has a system in place to store and manage the remains, with families having the option to have the remains transferred to a funeral home or leave them in the custody of the medical examiner (17m38s).

Family Choices and Grieving Process

• Families can choose to be notified of new identifications, and some, like the Hans, have asked to be informed of all new identifications related to their daughter, Andrea (18m28s).
• For Gordon Hans, having Andrea's remains identified has been a significant step in the grieving process, and he believes that knowing what happened to her is essential, even if it's difficult to process (19m3s).
• The Hans family has a collection of artifacts from Andrea's purse, which were archived and cataloged by the National September 11th Memorial Museum, and include items such as her phone and pager (19m59s).
• Gordon Hans initially kept the artifacts in a desk drawer for 7 years before donating them to the museum in 2011, as he was concerned about his wife's pain and wanted to protect her (20m30s).
• The identification of remains and the preservation of artifacts serve as a reminder of the victims and their stories, and can be a source of comfort and closure for the families affected by the 9/11 tragedy (18m40s).

The Repository and Family Visits

• The family of Andrea, a victim of the 9/11 attacks, has been able to identify some of her remains, but they believe that some still remain unidentified and are stored in the museum's repository (21m28s).
• The repository is located behind a wall in the museum and contains around 10,000 remains, both identified and unidentified, stored in dark wooden cabinets (23m58s).
• The repository is not open to the public, but families of victims can visit by appointment, accompanied by an escort, often Dr. Jennifer Odian, who provides support and answers questions (22m26s).
• Dr. Odian does not consider her work a burden, despite the emotional challenges, as it allows her to help families find closure and answer their questions (22m48s).
• Gordon Haberman, who lost his daughter in the attacks, visits the repository to feel close to her and finds comfort in the knowledge that her remains are being cared for (24m11s).
• Ellen Nian, who lost her husband John, has visited the reflecting pools often and is grateful for the ongoing efforts to identify remains, which has allowed her to feel the nation's devotion once again (24m30s).

Ongoing Hope and Closure

• The identification process has been ongoing for over 20 years, with researchers sifting through remains and conducting research to try to identify the victims (25m1s).
• Despite the challenges, families of the victims continue to hold onto hope that their loved ones will be identified and that they will find closure (25m25s).