Remains of 9/11 victim identified more than 22 years after deadly terrorist attack

More than two decades after the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, New York City officials have positively identified the remains of another victim.

On Thursday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham released a joint statement announcing that advancements in DNA testing involving "next-generation sequencing technology" have allowed officials to identify the remains of John Ballantine Niven.

Niven, a husband and father of an 18-month-old boy, John Jr., was 44 years old when he went to work that fateful Tuesday morning. He was the senior vice president in mergers and acquisitions at AON Risk Services, an insurance company located on the 105th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

At 8:46 a.m. that morning, American Airlines Flight 11, originating in Boston and heading for Los Angeles when it was hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists, crashed into the North Tower. Seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175, another flight from Boston originally destined for L.A., crashed into the South Tower between floors 77 and 85.

Just four people in the South Tower at or above the crash site survived. All the others, including Niven, who was 20 floors above it, perished.

Niven was raised in Oyster Bay, a city of about 300,000 residents located on Long Island. After he married his wife, Ellen, he and his family split their time between Oyster Bay and Manhattan.

"He carried his son everywhere, taking him along to wash the car or go for a dip in the pool. He would even hunker down with his son’s toy cars," Niven's obituary at the time read in part. "In quieter moments, he liked to read about history and philosophy."

Now, 22 years after his death, Ellen Niven gave a moving statement in response to the announcement about her late husband. "It is certainly emotional for me, and I'm sure many others, to hear many years later that DNA has been found," she wrote in an email, according to the AP.

"It's a real tribute to the City of New York and the teams working behind the scenes all these years to honor that mantra 'Never Forget.' My son and I are so appreciative of this tremendous endeavor."

The mayor and medical examiner also issued statements honoring Niven and the city officials whose hard work and dedication made Niven's identification possible.

"While the pain from the enormous losses on September 11th never leaves us, the possibility of new identifications can offer solace to the families of victims," Mayor Adams said. "I'm grateful for the ongoing work from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner that honors the memory of John Ballantine Niven and all those we lost."

"Our solemn promise to find answers for families using the latest advances in science stands as strong today as in the immediate days after the World Trade Center attacks," added Dr. Graham. "This new identification attests to our agency’s unwavering commitment and the determination of our scientists."

Because very few bodies were recovered after the attack, only about 40% of the remains of the 2,977 victims who died in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and United flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, have been identified. Two other victims were identified as recently as last September, but their names were not released upon the request of their families.

Newsweek reached out to AON Risk Services for comment.

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