Two more victims of the 9/11 attacks on New York City have been identified just days before the city marks the 22nd anniversary of the day of infamy, Mayor Eric Adams and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced on Friday.
The remains of the victims, a man and woman whose names aren’t being released by the city at the request of their families, mark the 1,648th and 1,649th individuals lost in the terror attacks on the World Trade Center who have been identified by the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), according to the mayor’s office. The man and woman were not first responders, according to a City Hall spokesperson.
The announcement comes just days before the city mourns on Monday the 22nd anniversary of the attacks, in which terrorists flew two hijacked commercial airplanes into the Twin Towers, destroying the buildings and killing 2,753 people. It was part of a coordinated assault on America; another hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon that morning, while a fourth jet, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Shanksville, PA after passengers on board fought the hijackers and thwarted a potential second attack on the nation’s capitol.
“As we prepare to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11, our thoughts turn to those we lost on that terrible morning and their families who continue to live every day with the pain of missing loved ones,” Adams said in a statement. “We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner attest to the city’s unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones.”
Identifying remains of victims allows their families to give them a proper burial and perhaps get a modicum of closure after more than two decades.
The medical examiner’s office utilized “advanced” DNA testing to identify the remains after over 20 years of negative testing attempts, according to City Hall. The man was identified by testing remains recovered in 2001, while the woman’s identity was discovered through remains found that year as well as in 2006 and 2013.
“More than 20 years after the disaster, these two new identifications continue to fulfill a solemn pledge that OCME made to return the remains of World Trade Center victims to their loved ones,” Dr. Graham said in a statement. “Faced with the largest and most complex forensic investigation in the history of our country, we stand undaunted in our mission to use the latest advances in science to serve this promise.”
The two newly identified victims are the first positive IDs the medical examiner has pulled since 2021, when former Mayor Bill de Blasio was still in office. That year OCME identified a woman named Dorothy Morgan, according to a published report, and a man whose name was also withheld at the request of his family.
The city has still yet to identify roughly 40% of those who died on 9/11 — accounting for 1,104 victims, Adams’ office said.
One victim whose remains still haven’t been identified is Michael Iken, a bond broker who worked in the World Trade Center’s south tower. Iken’s wife, Monica Iken-Murphy, was instrumental in the construction of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum on the footprint of the fallen skyscrapers.
Iken-Murphy told amNewYork Metro that while she still wants to recover her husband’s remains, she has found solace in the memorial she helped build. She said she feels very close to her late husband when visiting the memorial and could even feel him when she was there on Friday.
“For those who are finding remains, it’s a blessing,” Iken-Murphy said. “So I think if he’s meant to be found, he will be found. But at the end of the day, if he’s not, I have that place (the memorial). So I feel very close to him when I go there.”
