Sifting for Evidence a Huge Job

By Mae M. Cheng and Graham Rayman | STAFF WRITERS

September 13, 2001

In what is likely the largest crime scene in U.S. history, every shred of debris stretching for blocks in the heart of New York's financial district could contain the crucial piece of evidence that would link the masterminds of the World Trade Center destruction to the terrorist attack.

While officials at the crime scene continue to focus on the rescue of the thousands of victims still believed to be buried beneath the rubble of what was once the Twin Towers, they are preparing for the all-out investigation stage, which would include sifting through the more than 20 tons of debris strewn throughout the streets of lower Manhattan.

"The crime scene at the WTC has been secured," U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday during a Washington news conference. "But it is not yet a crime scene accessible to investigators."

More than 120 dump trucks filled with wreckage were taken from the scene and workers piled even more debris onto barges. The rubble is being carted to a large indoor facility along Route 440 in Staten Island where investigators will eventually spend months sifting through each scrap of debris, law enforcement sources said.

"It's going to take a long time," said Joseph Valiquette, a New York FBI spokesman.

Investigators also will have to determine which pieces can be analyzed in New York and which need to be sent to the FBI lab in Washington, officials said.

Among those who will be pouring through each piece of debris will be the FBI's Evidence Response Team. Established in 1993, it consists of highly trained FBI investigators who specialize in organizing and conducting major evidence recovery operations.

After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, investigators used sifting devices to extract clues from debris in the center's parking garage that eventually led to the terrorists. Similarly, investigators in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, built much of their case from a tiny piece of a circuit board extracted from the wreckage. In 1995, after the Oklahoma City bombing, investigators went through three tons of forensic evidence to find the microscopic bit of residue linking Timothy McVeigh to the interior of the rental truck used to transport explosive material.

As of late yesterday, rescue workers at the World Trade Center were going through much of the rubble by hand in search of survivors. Bulldozers were used only at the periphery of the crime scene to lift the 30-foot iron beams that had fallen.