Dorothy Morgan: The 9/11 Victim Whose Remains Weren’t Identified Until 2021
Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty ImagesNykiah Morgan holds a photo of her mother, Dorothy Morgan, who died on 9/11.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, many victims’ families were left in an agonizing limbo. They didn’t know if their loved ones were alive or dead. And some, like Dorothy Morgan’s family, didn’t find out for sure for two decades.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Morgan, an insurance broker with the firm Marsh & McLennan, went to work on the 94th floor of the North Tower. At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the tower. But though it hit floors 93 through 99, Morgan’s family held out hope for her survival.
“Maybe (she) had amnesia, and was released from the hospital,” her daughter Nykiah told CNN, noting that she looked for Dorothy after the attacks. “I had a whole story in my head and she was out there living life, happy.”
In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty ImagesPosters of missing people following the 9/11 attacks in New York City.
For two decades, Dorothy Morgan’s family waited for a definitive answer. Though an effort to identify all of the 9/11 victims’ remains began shortly after the attacks, it was a difficult job, and technicians often had to extract DNA from small bone fragments — some that were the size of a Tic Tac.
But in August 2021, Dorothy Morgan’s family got the call they’d long hoped for — and dreaded. Using DNA, officials had finally identified Dorothy Morgan’s remains. She, and one other man whose family asked to stay anonymous in the press, were the 1,646th and 1,647th 9/11 victims identified that way.
For her family, the news is bittersweet. “You suddenly have to decide what to do with a loved one who died 20 years ago,” Nykiah told The New York Times.
“It’s almost like reopening old wounds. Over time, you feel like you’re getting better and then this happens 20 years later and you’re dealing with it all over again.”
