In 2018, New York partnered with Bode Technology and military forensic labs to test ultra-degraded DNA, drawing on methods developed to identify soldiers from decades-old battlefields. This has led to a steady, if slow, stream of new identifications — often just a few each year.
Advocates for the families have praised the persistence. Mary Fetchet, founder of the Voices Center for Resilience, whose son Brad was killed in the South Tower, told USA Today that “every name we restore is a victory against forgetting.” But she acknowledged the heartbreak for those still waiting: “We’re 24 years on, and over a thousand families have no remains to hold.”
At the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, news of the latest identifications brought a fresh wave of flowers and handwritten notes at the victims’ engraved names. Some visitors told Gothamist they were moved by the reminder that the work continues daily, long after media attention has faded.
The technology now identifying 9/11 victims could change the way we solve cold cases worldwide. A bittersweet breakthrough. #911Anniversary— Justice Watch (@JusticeWatchNow) August 9, 2025
Forensic experts believe that similar advances could help resolve thousands of unsolved cases beyond 9/11. The same techniques are already being applied to mass disaster sites, missing persons cases, and war crime investigations. “The ripple effect of this technology is enormous,” said Dr. Ellen Greytak, a genetic genealogy researcher who spoke to Scientific American. “It means no case is ever truly cold.”
Yet for the families, the science is always personal. In one case, a Brooklyn mother who lost her son in the North Tower told ABC News she cried for hours after receiving the call this week. “I thought maybe this day would never come,” she said. “Now I can bring him home.”
The city’s medical examiner’s office has vowed to continue testing indefinitely, saying that as long as there is hope, the effort will go on. For now, the announcement stands as both progress and a sobering measure of how much is left undone — over 1,100 victims, each with a family still waiting for the phone to ring.
