Keeping a promise to 9\/11 victims\u2019 families a quarter-century later
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Mark Desire, the director of forensic biology at the city\u2019s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), has countless stories to tell from working with 9\/11 victims\u2019 families.Courtesy of the OCME<\/p>\n
While Desire has been working on 9\/11 identifications ever since the morning of the attacks, he said that he is the only one left of his original team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the team members that are working on this now, many were in diapers back in 2001. I don\u2019t think some weren\u2019t even born; they were kids,\u201d Desire told amNewYork in an interview. \u201cBut\u00a0to be able to work on this, they feel as honored and humbled as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even with all of the years that have passed and an entirely new team, Desire said his office\u2019s commitment to identifying every single victim is as great today as it was in September 2001. Oh\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat promise we made 25 years ago, that\u2019s a promise kept,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have not turned our backs on this, on those families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once they have made a positive identification, OCME turns the remains over to the victim\u2019s family, according to Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s office. Desire said that in lieu of remains, his office has at times returned personal items used for DNA testing to families, such as a firefighter\u2019s boots or helmet, for them to bury in the meantime.<\/p>\n
It has taken 25 years to identify just over half of World Trade Center victims\u2019 remains, Desire said, because of the extensive damage the human matter underwent during the attacks. The jet fuel, scorching inferno, water used to extinguish the fires, and chemicals from the buildings were among a mix of elements that severely damaged victims\u2019 DNA, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fires down there, the water to put out the fires that destroys DNA,\u201d Desire said. \u201cSunlight destroys DNA. Mold, bacteria, the chemicals in those buildings \u2014 it was all there. And every single one of those things make our job almost impossible at times because of\u00a0the limits of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles Wolf, whose wife Katherine was killed on 9\/11, said he does not believe his wife will ever be identified because she worked on a floor of the World Trade Center\u2019s North Tower that was hit by the plane.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing of my wife ever found because the first plane hit her office directly at 450 miles an hour,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody was found in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he does not think OCME will ever be able to ID his wife, he would be \u201cshattered\u201d if it somehow did.
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Charles Wolf holding a photo of his wife, Katherine Wolf, who was killed inside of the north tower of the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.Photo by Ethan Stark-Miller\n<\/p>\n
But OCME has not let the challenges of working with such badly damaged DNA samples stop it, Desire said.<\/p>\n
Instead, Desire\u2019s office has developed and sought out new scientific methods and technology that have helped it identify remains it previously could not. He said that often means his team tries to identify the same remains repeatedly over several years, sometimes as many as ten times, until it is able to push the science to a point that yields a positive result.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team, their job is to make identifications, but also when it cannot develop a better technique, push forensics, push the science in the future, whether it\u2019s through our own research and development or it\u2019s\u00a0a technique that\u2019s out there, we bring it to New York City, and we try it out on World Trade Center to see if it can make these IDs.\u201d<\/p>\n
For instance, OCME has used a variety of identification methods over the years besides DNA, including dental X-rays, photos, fingerprints, and personal effects.\n<\/p>\n
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Wearing her wedding dress to the 20th anniversary 9\/11 memorial last year, Monica Iken mourns the loss of her newlywed husband, Michael Patrick Iken, a bond trader lost on 9\/11. She remarried and has two children.File photo\/Todd Maisel\n<\/p>\n