Photo: Nykiah Morgan, Instagram @n2mac
Days before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the remains of two more victims were identified using advanced DNA testing technology, the NYC Chief Medical Examiner’s Office announced.
Among the newly identified victims was Dorothy Morgan of Hempstead, New York and a man whose family declined to release his name.
“Twenty years ago, we made a promise to the families of World Trade Center victims to do whatever it takes for as long as it take to identify their loved ones, and with these two new identifications, we continue to fulfill that sacred obligation,” Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson said in a statement, according to the New York Post.
“No matter how much time passes since September 11, 2001, we will never forget,” Sampson continued, “and we pledge to use all the tools at our disposal to make sure all those who were lost can be reunited with their families.”
Morgan and the unidentified man are the 1,646th and 1,647th people to be positively identified and their identifications are the first since October 2019. There are still 1,106 victims who have not been definitively identified.
Morgan’s daughter, Nykiah, described her late mother as “amazing, giving, caring [and] loving woman,” ABC 7 NY reported. Morgan worked as an insurance broker on the 94th floor of the North Tower. Her daughter told the outlet hearing the news about the positive identification was “shocking, I didn’t expect it after all this time.” Scientists made the match using Morgan’s old toothbrush.
Nykiah told CNN she's planning to attend the 9/11 memorial service for the first time since the attack, and that the process of coming to the realization of her mother's remains have been positively identified has been "an emotional roller coaster."
"What's making me deal with it is having to go through the process of obtaining the remains, which I have not begun that process because I feel like that is what makes it real," she said. Months after the attack, Nykiah held a celebratory service to honor her mother's memory, but it did not seem real.
"My mother was beautiful. My memory that pops up in my head was watching my mom get ready for work in the mornings," Nykiah said. "She was just an amazing woman. Everyone she came into contact with just loved her." Nykiah named her 18-year-old son Dorian after her late mother, who died before he was born.
Scientists continue to work to identify victims, Mark Desire, assistant director of the medical examiner's office's forensic biology department said. "The commitment today is as strong as it was in 2001."
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