Author, Madeline Halpert
Designation, BBC News
Published 2 minutes ago
Reading Time: 8 minutes
For the past 25 years, Juliet Scauso has had only one memento of the last day of her father's life. That is his father's badly broken and crushed firefighter helmet.
Juliet's father Dennis Scauso had been working for 12 years in the New York City Fire Department, or FDNY, a unit that handles cases related to hazardous chemicals and other substances.
Earlier on September 11, 2001, Dennis was not on duty. But to get more overtime pay, he swapped shifts with another employee that day.
Dennis, father of four children, lived in Long Island. The Scauso family was told that they were probably inside the South Tower of the World Trade Center when it collapsed. Several months later, his helmet was found, on which his badge number was written.
Juliet says, "I have spent almost my entire life believing that my father was dead. And I have also learned to live with the fact that we never found his remains."
Juliet was only four years old at the time of her father's death. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, Dennis Scauso is among more than a thousand people who died in the September 11 attacks, but their remains have not yet been identified.
About three thousand people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center that day.
Last month, New York authorities identified a person killed in these terrorist attacks, who had not been identified till now. He was the 1,654th person to be identified.
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For this, a new technique called Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy i.e. FIG was used. In this technique, a person's family and relatives are traced through DNA.
Angela Soller, director of the department of scientific examination of human remains at the New York Medical Examiner's Office, says, "This method shows a lot of promise. This may give more families answers to their questions. Hopefully in the future we will be able to examine more remains with this technique."
Since the 9/11 attacks, Soler's office has been trying to identify the remains of the 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center. So far, 60 percent of those killed have been identified.
"I think this has been one of the most difficult efforts in the world to identify people," Soler says.
DNA matching continues even after 25 years
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Identifying those killed in the attack has been difficult for many reasons. The human remains were badly damaged by the collision of the planes and the fire caused by their fuel.
According to Soler, in many cases only a small part of the body was found for DNA testing.
Scauso says that at the time of the attack, many firefighters were changing their shifts. Some of them had stopped to help even after completing their duty.
At that time, he wore whatever extra uniform or safety equipment he got for his safety.
Because of this, some firefighters found later were wearing uniforms with someone else's name written on them. This made it more difficult to identify them.
The number of deaths at the World Trade Center was also much higher than at other 9/11 attack sites.
When American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon (US Defense Headquarters), the remains of five of the 184 people killed on board could never be identified due to their similar condition.
All 40 victims of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, have been identified, according to the National Park Service. Because enough remains were found for identification, which included DNA, dental records and fingerprints.
The remains found from the World Trade Center have been kept safe by sealing them in a special packet, so that their DNA can be tested in the years to come.
People were identified through fingerprints or dental records soon after the attacks. But in cases where both these things were not found, DNA was later resorted to.
After the advent of new technology, officials were able to extract DNA from the old remains and re-examine them.
Soler says, "This is why new identifications are being made even after so many years. Whenever a new technology comes, we re-examine the same remains and make another attempt."
According to the Medical Examiner's Office, 1,495 people have been identified using DNA technology since 9/11. Some of these people were identified only through DNA, while for some more than one method was used.
Last year, the New York administration had said that with the help of DNA, three more people had been identified after 24 years.
These included 26-year-old currency trader Ryan Fitzgerald and 72-year-old Barbara Keating. Barbara was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, which was going from Boston to Los Angeles.
The third woman was also identified, but her family decided not to make her name public.
Soler explains that 'whole genome sequencing' is used in the new FIG technology. With its help, the entire genetic code of a person i.e. the complete information present in his DNA can be read.
With this, the investigating officers can also explore the possibility of getting DNA from distant relatives of the deceased person. After finding a possible connection, the New York Police assist in locating the deceased person's next of kin.
Fear of reliving old wounds
Even today, the New York Medical Examiner's office receives calls every week from families inquiring about their loved ones, whose remains have never been found.
Many people have never been able to bury a loved one, but some families do so when the remains are found, allowing them to remain in a repository at the 9/11 Memorial site in New York.
This repository is built inside the rocky foundation at the site of the World Trade Center, and is accessible only to the Medical Examiner's staff. There is also a private space nearby, called the Reflection Room, where families can mourn.
Soler says, "His close friend spent the last moments of his life at this place. So the family wants his remains to remain here as well."
Soler also works to provide identification information to families. She says that some people do not want to be informed about their new identity. Perhaps it is very painful for them to face this truth.
Juliet Scouse is also included among such people.
She knows of some families who have called in recent years to be told that one of their relatives has finally been identified.
It's scary for Juliet and her family to even think that they might get the next call. His family has worked hard to keep Dennis's memory alive.
Dennis was a jack of all trades and loved jazz music.
Juliet says, "Identification at this time will not change the truth of his death. It will not bring my father back to me."
"I don't want to relive what I've learned to live with and mourn over so many years. Especially after 25 years, it would just reopen old wounds."
Despite this, Juliet believes that this technology is important.
Soler has seen that information about identification brings both relief and grief to families.
She says, "It confirms what the family always knew to be true. They knew that their loved one died in 9/11. But I think there will be questions in the minds of many families until the remains are formally identified."
He said, "By getting a new identity, perhaps they relive that pain once again. But it also closes a chapter of their long journey that started after 9/11."
This work is very personal for Soler and some of his current colleagues. Many of these people were also present on the spot on the day of 9/11.
“As long as families continue to search for answers to their questions, we will continue to search for them,” Soler says.
We used AI to translate this article, which was originally written in English. A BBC journalist checked this translation before publication. Learn more about how we're using AI.
