Improved DNA testing identifies 9/11 victim 17 years later

I had not realized that an effort was still underway to identify victims of the 9/11 attacks. In my opinion, if they REALLY wanted to identify ALL of the victims, the debris from the Twin Towers would have been preserved, perhaps not on site, but somewhere where it could be scoured thoroughly for more DNA to analyze. This information must be tough for the family of the newly identified victim, but at least they now have a definitive answer regarding the demise of their loved one.

Source Article

The remains of a man killed during the Sept. 11 terror attack in New York have been identified 17 years later. The New York medical examiners' office on Wednesday identified the victim as Scott Michael Johnson, 26, who worked at an investment banking company at the World Trade Center. Johnson is the 1,642 person to be officially identified in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead. He was identified after his DNA was re-tested using a new and improved technique, Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said in a statement. "In 2001, we made a commitment to the families of victims that we would do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to identify their loved ones," Sampson said. "This identification is the result of the tireless dedication of our staff to this ongoing mission."

The medical examiner's office received about 20,000 human remains, a majority of which did not include intact bodies or torsos. It has been working to identity the remains, some as small as a finger tip, primarily through DNA testing. More than 1,100 victims remain unidentified, Sampson said. During the attack nearly two decades ago, 19 men hijacked four US commercial airplanes and crashed them in New York City, Washington and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing a total of 2,977 people. Most of the remains are hard to identify because of the effects of heat and chemicals from the jet fuel. The new DNA system helps with testing of degraded samples, Sampson said.

Another Source Article

Ann and Tom Johnson told the New York Times that they cried when they heard the news about their son's remains. "You get pulled right back into it and it also means there's a finality. Somehow I always thought he would just walk up and say, 'Here I am. I had amnesia,'" Ann Johnson told the newspaper. So far, about 40 percent of those who died have yet to have any remains identified.

a reply to: seattlerat

This is incredible! RIP to the victim and his family. Quite the tragedy, and for this news to come out 17 years later means they will be reliving the horror all over again, but hopefully it offers them some closure.

Also, a curious question (forgive my ignorance)... I'm sure this has been discussed many times but precisely what did happen to all of the debris? I know truckloads were taken somewhere, but where and what was done with it?

a reply to: seattlerat

Good i guess.
But I have never understood the fascination with returning the bodies of the dead.
My parents are both dead and knowing where their bodies are located doesn't make me feel any better.

The only way I can think it would matter to me is if they were just missing for no reason.

Soldiers that dont come back are not a mystery.
911 victims bodies are not a mystery.

A person disappears on the way home from work is a different story. A body is closure in that case.

Maybe it's just me.

a reply to: FamCore

Most was taken to Fresh Kills (coincidental name) Landfill on Staten Island.

I believe The landfill site is now a nature reserve with bike paths and things. At the time of sept 11 that landfill site was officially closed and reopened only for 9/11 debris.

I believe theres still the possibility of remains still to be uncovered, in various places and places that may need a fresh analysis again.

I also believe remains could be somehow fused in the composite materials which are either in storage or on display.

Having looked in recent months at Aftermath like footage people were allowed initially into their apartments to get basic clothes and stuff, and later when deemed structurally safe went back and cleaned their apartments. Large visually identifiable human remains were taken away by authorities however, you saw people just going nuts filling garbage bags, also not wearing appropriate PPE. Wondering if they went in regular trash or were actually taken to Fresh Kills as well by authorities. Of the latter i say its not likely so no doubt smaller human remains which were disposed of by untrained residents may still be out there.

a reply to: seattlerat

if they REALLY wanted to identify ALL of the victims, the debris from the Twin Towers would have been preserved,

They did identify all the victims.
They are just identifying the bit of meat left over.

Didn't you see the vids of people sifting through all the small debris, pulling identifiable chunks and artifacts?
You can't save everything.
Saving all the fingernails is just not reasonable.
This obsession Americans have with memorializing every roadside crash is out of hand.
We have one next to a shopping plaza where the kid died in 1979.
Get over it. Death happens.

I will be that guy....Unless they are looking for additional terrorist or people that shouldn't have been in the building. isn't this a waste of time and money. We know who was all in the building and who all died.

I'm not sure about this, but also, to get the 911 money, don't the victims have to be positively identified as dying there? I guess that would be a reason families would want this to continue.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: seattlerat

The only way I can think it would matter to me is if they were just missing for no reason.

Soldiers that dont come back are not a mystery.
911 victims bodies are not a mystery.

A person disappears on the way home from work is a different story. A body is closure in that case.

Maybe it's just me.

People do hold out hope that maybe something else happened; the soldier is actually in a POW camp, the 911 victim was hit by a car on the way to work and is a comatose John Doe in a hospital somewhere.

Until they know for certain then they may not be able to let go of that hope

Also put it this way to the above posters who are saying Who cares,waste of time and money, yadda yadda yadda.

Families care.

People have been going through their grief and funerary rituals for millennia. For some it is important to have remains for their own closure, for their own traditions and it is certainly not up to armchair naysayers to say that others should not have the right to have their traditions or beliefs upheld.

Put yourself in the shoes of a parent of offspring who have been murdered but you don't know where the body or at least some remains are. How would you feel? You'd be okay with not having that physicality? Wow, how commendable.

Most - it would be sheer agony. No matter how many years or decades past, you'd want to know where they are. You'd want that certainty.

That goes also for soldiers who fell in battle. You'd want to know where they lie, if they did die and didn't have psychological injuries and ended up living in another country or another town not knowing who they are.