Families Cling to Hope, Prepare for Worst

By Karen Freifeld | STAFF WRITER

September 15, 2001

A woman looks over photos of the misssing Friday at a bus stop near Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. (Newsday Photo / Mayita Mendez)

David Vincent stood in the rain outside the 69th Regiment Armory on Friday waiting for his daughter's Hoboken, N.J., roommate to bring a toothbrush with 28-year-old Melissa Vincent's DNA.

"I have to remain hopeful," the choked-up Rochester, N.Y., father said, grasping a photograph of the 5-foot-5 young woman, who worked for Alliance Consulting on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center. "This is my daughter we're talking about here. I'd do anything to get her back."

Vincent, who drove to New York on Thursday after exhausting all phone avenues to track her down, was among the relatives of victims at the Lexington Avenue armory, many returning after filing missing-persons reports there earlier this week. On Friday, they seemed even more desperate for information about their loved ones.

"I've been down here since this happened ... We've been to the veterans hospital, Bellevue, NYU and St. Vincents, Chelsea Piers ... and nothing yet," said a tearful Carmen Chardon, 48, of the Bronx, as she held up a photograph of her brother, George Velazquez, 47. "At this point, I'm staying right here because they told me, in about two hours probably, there's going to be another list."

Sobbing, she said, "He's trapped down there. But I have hope. My brother always told me, never give up if you have faith in the Lord."

She said her brother was a Seventh Day Adventist who liked to help people. "We used to feed the homeless. My little brother," she said, beginning to cry again. "That was my buddy. Who do I have now? My mother's in Puerto Rico. Who am I going to go to when I have a problem? ... I'm going back inside to check on the list."

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"People are coming to the realization they may not find their loved one," said Jack Hermann, the disaster mental health coordinator for the Red Cross. He said relatives will cling to hope "as long as rescue workers are in a search and rescue mode. That will change when we're in a search and recovery mode."

Hermann said some 3,000 cases were filed at the Armory on Thursday and that many people returned Friday with dental records, X-rays and other information to help rescuers identify their loved ones.

"Some of them are crying. Some of them are stoic. It's just hard to fathom that many people in a room trying to find their loved ones."

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"My hopes are not too high - you've got to be realistic, but you've got to keep trying," said Jose Liz Jr., who, with his father, reported his sister, Nancy, missing on Tuesday.

Liz said his father got a call from Nancy, 39, at 9:15 a.m. the day of the disaster "that she was all right, that there was a fire in the first building, and that she might be coming home early."

But they heard nothing after that. "She's the 228th person reported missing," he said, pointing to the case number written below a photograph. "She leaves a 4-year-old son. I told him she's on vacation."

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Naomi Konovitch, of Westchester, taped another flier of her brother-in-law, Andrew Zucker, to a brick wall on Lexington Avenue, one of hundreds the family has plastered around the city. "I'm not giving up," she said. "I just want him to come home. I want people to have answers, to know if they can start mourning, or if they can start celebrating."

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Vince and Joyce Boland of Ringwood, N.J., carried a yellow plastic bag with dental records and a photograph of their son, Vincent Jr., 25, a computer softwear designer for Marsh & McClennan on the 97th floor. The Bolands got a log number and a case number after filing a lengthy missing persons report at the armory. "Now you sit and wait," Joyce Boland said. "That's the hardest part."

Staff writer Laura Price-Brown contributed.