A Carnegie Mellon University graduate on Thursday became the 1,640th person positively identified as a victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
Matthew David Yarnell, 26, of New Jersey was identified through the retesting of DNA samples of remains recovered during efforts in 2001 and 2002, according to Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Yarnell was a 1997 graduate of CMU's Heinz College. At the time of his death, he lived in Jersey City, N.J. He was the vice president of technology at Fiduciary Trust International on the 97th floor.
Before Yarnell, the medical examiner last made a new identification of a 9/11 victim in September, Bolcer said.
“There were tens of thousands (of remains), given the disaster,” she said. “We make many identifications each month that are … from remains that belong to people previously identified.”
Of the 2,753 people reported missing during the attacks in Manhattan, 40 percent remain officially unidentified. Death certificates were issued for all.
According to a report from the medical examiner's office, 89 percent of those identified since the attacks have been through DNA testing.
Work to identify all remains recovered from the disaster site has been ongoing since 2001.
Megan Guza is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
