WEBVTT - Season 09 Episode 17: Unsettled Dust 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.800 Hello, there's Richard McLain smith here to let you know 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.120 that I now have a substack page if you enjoy 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:07.120 Unexplained and want to go deeper into the world of 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.360 the show, I've created a new space for all the 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.240 bits that don't quite fit into the podcast, including the 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:16.000 Unexplained Dedendum, a weekly companion piece to each new episode. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:22.119 Expect essays that lean more academic and analytical explorations of folklore, psychology, 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:25.200 and the shadowy corners of history that have shaped the 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:27.639 stories you hear on the show. But it's also a 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.800 home for something more personal, my fiction, my strange amusings, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.240 and the odd fragments that don't belong anywhere else. Search 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.360 for Richard McClain smith on substack, or go to Richard 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:42.559 mcclainsmith dot substack dot com to find out more and subscribe. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:44.720 If you'd like a little bit more of me and 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:47.840 Unexplained in your week, join me on substack and let's 0:00:47.920 --> 0:01:04.600 keep exploring the unknown together. New writing most Tuesdays. It 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.480 was a crystal clear autumn morning in Manhattan, the sunlight 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.280 glistening off the waters of New York Harbor. The previous 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:15.959 day had been foggy and oppressively humid, the culmination of 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.800 a day's long heat wave. Thunderstorms had raged throughout the 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:24.080 evening and into the night, with heavy rainfall pelting the city. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.480 But on that morning of September eleventh, two thousand and one, 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:31.400 New Yorkers woke up to cobalt blue skies and a 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.840 forecast promising sunshine all day. It felt like a fever breaking, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.880 not that doctor Ron Lieberman took much notice. It was 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.600 still bleary eyed when his alarm went off and had 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.120 to use every ounce of willpower not to hit the 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.760 snooze button. Last night, he'd met up with friends after 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.640 a twelve hour shift of the emergency room and didn't 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:54.840 get home until after midnight night. As Ron rolled over, 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.200 he could immediately feel that the other side of the 0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:01.680 bed was empty. His wife, Sneehart, I hadn't come home last. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.240 Ron wasn't surprised when he'd arrived home to find the 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.679 apartment empty. Sneehart had had a few days off from 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.720 work and had planned to go out that evening. She 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.520 was free spirited, spontaneous, and had a lot of family 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.920 and friends nearby who she could crash with after a 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.360 night out, So Ron wasn't especially concerned. If anything, he 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.639 was a little annoyed. He'd asked Sniehar a few times 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.160 now to always call if she was going to stay 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:32.160 somewhere else, and she promised that she would. In any case, 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.400 Ron didn't have time to dwell on it, since he 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:36.440 was due back at the hospital at eight a m. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.040 For a morning meeting. As an intern fresh out of 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:44.600 medical school, his schedule was relentless, and so he quickly showered, 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:48.160 got changed, and fed the kittens. He had just enough 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:51.200 time to pour some coffee into his thermos before heading 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.360 out the door. As he rode the elevator down to 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.400 the lobby of his building, he was still half asleep, 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.120 and then he was outside, feeling the revitalizing effects of 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.359 the crisp autum Ayre. Ron and Sneehart lived in Battery 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.560 Park City, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan. Living so 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.120 close to the water and being able to look out 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.480 at the Statue of Liberty on a clear day was 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.160 one of the things they loved most about the neighborhood. 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.560 As he walked briskly over to the subway to catch 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.400 an uptown train, Ron had no idea just how often 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.639 he would end up looking back on this morning, all 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.000 the small details he'd recall, the face of the street 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.520 vendor selling sweeps and magazines, the whistling sound of a 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:40.080 train pulling in below ground, the impossible Cobalt sky, the 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:45.640 last moments of normalcy before everything fell apart. You're listening 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:56.160 to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. On the morning 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.240 of September tenth, two thousand and one, sneehar and Philip 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.480 had the day to herself as a medical inter This 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.160 was a rare luxury, and she planned to make the 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.520 most of it. With her husband Ron having left for work, 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.760 she made herself a leisurely breakfast and spent a while 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.080 playing with the new kittens they'd just adopted. She dug 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.479 into all of the long overdue chores on her to 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:22.039 do list. She tidied and deep cleaned the entire apartment, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.560 put on a load of laundry, and repotted the orchid 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.640 which sat in the living room window. In the early afternoon, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.280 she sent a message to her mother and Sue to 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:35.520 see if she fancied a video call. Her mother lived 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.919 a couple of hours north of the city in upstate 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.000 New York. The family had moved there in the early 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.760 seventies from Kerala in India. Sneehart and her mother were 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.040 close and talked most days. Once they started chatting, it 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.320 was hard for them to stop, and that afternoon was 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:58.919 no exception. Sneehart told her mother about her upcoming plans 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:01.760 and reassured bared her that all was well at work. 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.400 Her cousin Annu was coming to stay with her later 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.680 in the week, and she was excited to show her 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.839 the city. They had a table booked at Windows on 0:05:10.880 --> 0:05:13.600 the World, the famous restaurant at the top of the 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.520 North tower of the World Trade Center, offering jaw dropping 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:22.599 three hundred and sixty degree panoramic views of the entire city. Finally, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.839 at around four pm, Sniehar told her mother that she 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:29.039 had to go and run some errands. She waved goodbye 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.920 and then signed off. Some time later, after finishing his 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.440 shift at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, Ron 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.400 went out for drinks with an old school friend. Though 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:42.640 it was great to catch up, he ended up staying 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.080 a bit later than he'd planned. At just after ten pm, 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:49.039 with his eyelids starting to feel heavy, he called it 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.839 a night. As he settled into a seat on the 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.560 fore train. Ron wondered, not for the first time, if 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.839 they should reconsider living so far downtown. Battery Park City 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.440 made sense for them when they'd first moved there, but 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:04.520 now he worked all the way north in the Bronx, 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.800 it meant having to commute the full length of Manhattan 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:11.400 every day. Even if the trains were running well, it 0:06:11.560 --> 0:06:14.440 was an hour and a half each way. By the 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.600 time run finally arrived home, it was close to midnight. 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:21.400 Almost falling asleep on his feet, he said a quick 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.640 good night to the dorman at the front desk and 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.240 rode the elevator to the ninth floor. He opened the 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.560 door to a dark, silent apartment. When he turned on 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.880 the light, he heard the kittens mew, followed by the 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.599 soft pad of their paws as they came rushing out 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:47.560 to greet him. But Sneehar wasn't home. Ron checked the 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:52.320 answering machine, but there were no messages. It wasn't entirely surprising. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.279 It was still relatively early in going out terms. It 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.200 could be some time before Sneehar finally got back in. 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.720 Even then, she might end up crashing at her friends. 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:06.600 If anything, At that point, he'd rather she didn't call 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.400 and wake him in the middle of the night. Thinking 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.040 little more of it, he fed the kittens, brushed his teeth, 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:17.880 then climbed into bed. He was asleep within minutes. The 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.280 next morning, he woke to find that Sneehart hadn't come 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:25.320 home at all. Ron, still a little irt that she 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.560 hadn't been in touch, arrived at work just in time 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.520 for his eight a m. Meeting. It was a morning 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.840 report where one of the medical interns presents a stand 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.000 out case from the previous night's admissions. Ron was silently 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.120 thankful it wasn't his turn to present. He still felt exhausted, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.080 and he made a mental note to avoid Monday night 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.800 drinks in future. When the meeting ended at nine, he 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:52.120 headed straight for the break room to get a coffee, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:55.240 but something in the corner of his eye made him pause. 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.200 An unusually large crowd of people were gathered in the 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.480 waiting room, all staring up in silence at the TV 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:07.640 in the corner. Ron walked over, curious. On the screen 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.400 was a skyscraper on fire, its upper floors engulfed in flames. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:15.760 It took him a moment to recognize it as the 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.400 North Tower of the World Trade Center, and then, after 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.560 a moment, he finally tuned in to what the newsreader 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:27.120 was saying. A passenger jet had flown directly into the tower. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.800 Is this real? He asked a colleague, struggling to process 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.600 it all, But every one else was just as stunned 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:35.720 and clueless. 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:35.840 As he was. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:41.120 Before long, everyone was speculating about what had happened. The 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.880 pilot must have lost control of the plane, some thought, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.040 or maybe he'd been trying to make an emergency landing 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:52.000 into the Hudson and miscalculated. Then Ron heard someone crying. 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.400 It was a woman standing behind him. Her husband worked 0:08:56.400 --> 0:09:00.240 at Canter Fitzgerald. She said, the financial services firm with 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.160 offices on the top floor of the World Trade Center. 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:06.680 She was trying to call his mobile, but the call 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:11.080 wouldn't connect. Ron felt nausea creeping up from the pit 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.880 of his stomach. He in Snehar's apartment, was just a 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.960 couple of blocks from the World Trade Center. This was 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.240 happening on their doorstep. Walking a little away from the crowd, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:26.240 he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Sneehar didn't 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.120 have a mobile, so he pressed speed dial one to 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.000 call home. He felt a rush of relief as the 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.559 call connected and started to ring as normal, But the 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:41.480 ringing just continued, and his relief quickly curdled. Wherever Sneeha was, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:54.920 it seemed she still hadn't made it home. Just as 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.600 Ron was in the middle of leaving a voicemail, he 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.040 heard a collective cry from the waiting room. He spun 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.040 round just in time to see the slow motion replay 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:08.360 on the TV a second plane flying directly into the 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:15.480 south tower. Ron stared, uncomprehending. Black smoke corrupted from both towers, 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.719 now enveloping their upper floors. The room around him was 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.680 now eerily silent, shock settling over every one like a 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.640 smothering blanket. Alongside the horror of the sight. Everybody was 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.920 quickly coming to the same realization. This was no accident, 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.280 but Ron couldn't think about the wider implications right then. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:41.520 All he could think about was Sneehart. With the incongruous 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.559 disaster playing out right in front of him. His mind 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.720 suddenly began to race. Had she set out for home 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.520 and got caught in the fall out down town? What 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.640 if she'd stopped round there to get a coffee or 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.920 something and been hurt. He hadn't even tried to find 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.720 her that morning, He called home again and again, willing 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.360 snel hard to pick up. He left message after message, 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.760 as if the sheer volume of them would somehow make 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.160 a difference. He called Sneha's mother and Sue, trying to 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:12.960 keep his voice calm, he asked if she'd heard anything 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.000 from her daughter. No, she said, explaining that she'd last 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.520 spoken to her the day before. Then it hit Ron 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.720 that he hadn't actually spoken to his wife in twenty 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:29.040 four hours. He felt paralyzed by indecision. His immediate instinct 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.120 was to get back downtown by any means necessary, to 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.560 get closer to the last place he knew she'd been. 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:37.960 But the rational part of his brain said stay in place. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.520 For one thing. The city was now on knockdown. Subway 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.000 services were suspended, and roads would likely be closed too. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.959 Ron was also a doctor at work during a mass 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.760 casualty event. Even though Jacoby was a long way from 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:57.080 the Twin Towers, casualty numbers were estimated to be in 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.880 the thousands, and every hospital in New York was on 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.760 stand by to help handle the demand. So Ron had 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.400 little choice but to just stay where he was and 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.080 pray that Sneehart would get in contact with him soon. 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.560 It was just over an hour and a half later 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.960 that he and by now millions across the globe watched 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:20.600 in horror as the twin towers collapsed in a humongous 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:24.280 cloud of debris. He tried in vain to imagine the 0:12:24.360 --> 0:12:27.560 damage downtown and how many more people must have been 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:32.360 hurt or killed by falling glass, steel, and masonry. He 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.480 kept calling home, but still no one picked up. Soon 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:41.760 his calls stopped going through altogether. The mobile network went down, 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:47.160 maybe overwhelmed by calls or damaged in the attacks. Either way, 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:58.040 he was now completely cut off. By mid afternoon, Ron 0:12:58.080 --> 0:13:02.319 couldn't take it anymore. No casualties had showed up at Jacobyette, 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:04.720 and when he told his boss what was going on, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:08.280 she immediately told him to go home. There was no 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:10.480 knowing how long it would even take him to get 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.320 down there. Thankfully, he was able to hitch a ride 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.400 with an ambulance headed downtown from the hospital. It was 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.840 a surreal journey going against the tide as thousands of 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:25.160 people fled northwards on foot. Meanwhile, all of the bridges 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.280 and tunnels from the island were closed to traffic, leaving 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:33.520 the roads completely gridlocked. As they crawled slowly southwards, Ron 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.720 saw what looked like storm clouds gathering on the horizon. 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.240 Then he realized they were in fact smoldering plumes of 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:45.040 smoke and ash so thick they completely obscured the skyline. 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.880 After more than six hours of travel, he finally made 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.000 it as far as Tribeca, where the ambulance was stocked 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.720 by a police blockade. Ron was still wearing his scrubs, 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.160 so when he told the police he was there to help, 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.960 they quickly ushered him through, and then he was running. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:06.120 By now, night had descended all around. The streets were 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.040 pitch black, plunged into darkness by a massive power cut. 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.480 The only lights to guide his way were the lights 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:18.360 of emergency vehicles and the flames of burning cars. It 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.120 took him a while to find his bearings, but finally 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.400 he made it home to two two five Rector Place. 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:29.000 Without electricity, the front doors to the building wouldn't open. 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.440 He pushed and pulled at the brass handles, banging on 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.360 the glass in the hope that somebody inside might hear him, 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:41.680 but the lobby was dark and silent. Thankfully, a friend 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.480 nearby was home, and Ron was able to spend the 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.280 night on his sofa, but there would be no sleep. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.240 As his mind raised, he tried to focus on best 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.920 case scenarios. The phone lines were down and the whole 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.320 area had been evacuated. In all likelihood Sneehar would be 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.920 absolutely fine. She'd probably just been swept up in the 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.920 mayhem and was now camped out somewhere for the night, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:10.040 just like him. But seeing his neighborhood transformed into what 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.880 looked like a post apocalyptic movie, it was impossible not 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:18.280 to imagine the worst. The next morning, Ron returned to 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.400 his apartment building. By then the electricity had been restored 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.760 and he was able to get inside and take the 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:29.160 elevator up to his apartment. He opened the door and 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:34.160 blinked in confusion. Everything had turned gray. After a moment, 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.000 he realized that a thick layer of dust and soot 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.200 was covering the walls, floor, and furniture. He'd left the 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.920 window open at the back of the flat. Looking down, 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.520 he saw little paw prints in the soot. He followed 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.320 them into the bedroom and with great relief, found the 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.440 two kittens still alive and well, but there were no 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:58.520 human footprints to be found and no other sign of Sneehart. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.720 By the following day, there was still no word from Sniha. 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.000 It had now been three days since Ron had last 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:15.120 heard from her. Like many people in the city at 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:18.960 that time, Ron began to search local hospitals and call 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:21.920 every colleague and friend of Sneehar's that he could think of, 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.680 but no one admitted to seeing her the night she disappeared. 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:30.040 He filed a missing person's report, He had flyers made 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.960 with Sneehar's face and name on them, and he even 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.920 tried to get the story of her disappearance into the news, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.920 but with the previous day's attacks understandably dominating the news cycle, 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.400 producers and reporters had their hands full. Once they learned 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.480 that Sneeha had technically gone missing on the tenth, they 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:53.720 lost interest altogether. Then Sneeha's brother, John dropped a bombshell, 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:58.080 as he told a local news channel, Sneehar had called 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:01.040 him on the morning of September Leon seven from the 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:05.600 World Trade Center after the first plane had hit. He said, 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.840 he urged her to get out of there, but she 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.159 told him she couldn't. As a doctor, she had to 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:15.000 stay and assist the injured. According to John. The last 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.439 words he heard from his sister were I'm sorry, I 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.200 have to help this person, and then she hung up. 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.600 But the story wasn't true. John had made it up 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.399 out of desperation. It didn't mean any harm. He just 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.160 hoped that by creating a hero story he could get 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.359 Sneehar's face out in the media, and for a few 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.640 days it seemed to do the trick, but nothing came 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.520 of it. It was around this time that Ron checked 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.200 his credit card statement and noticed a few unfamiliar payments 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:48.760 that Sneehar must have made in the early evening of 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:53.040 September tenth, the day before she disappeared. Finally, he was 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:56.320 able to piece together more of her last known movements. 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.920 The payments came from a shop called Century twenty one, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.879 a discount department store across from the World Trade Center. 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.880 Ron immediately headed to the shop and handed fliers out 0:18:07.880 --> 0:18:11.520 to the staff and anyone else willing to take one. 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.240 A short time later, he got a phone call from 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:18.120 a clerk. She confirmed that she recognized Sneehart and had 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.600 seen her on the tenth in the shoe department with 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.479 a female friend. When store CCTV footage was eventually checked, 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:30.159 Sneehart was quickly spotted, but shopping alone. It appeared that 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.720 she spent an hour browsing and trying on various clothes. 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:38.200 In the end, she bought a dress, some lingerie and tights, 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.400 three pairs of shoes, and a new set of bed linens. 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:47.439 Shortly after seven pm, cameras captured Sneehart leaving the store alone, 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.960 laden down with shopping bags. She exited through the revolving 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:55.240 door and disappeared into the crowds on Courtland Street. Ron 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.240 didn't recognize anyone else in the footage, and nor did 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.480 she seem to be engaging with anyone. A plausible scenario 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:06.639 was taking shape. Sneehar had gone to run errands alone 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.280 and had arranged to meet the mystery friend the store 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.120 clerk had seen her with Afterwards. Perhaps, then thought Ron, 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.000 she and the friend went straight out for dinner and drinks, 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:20.000 and Sneehar had ended up crashing at her place The 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.439 next morning. As Sneehar was returning home, she could have 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:26.560 been caught up in the terrorist attack. She might even 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.919 have rushed to the scene to help, just like her 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.720 brother John had misguidedly claimed and been injured or killed 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.280 in the process. All of that could have happened, but 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.520 there was no evidence to prove any of it. Despite 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.520 his best efforts, Ron was never able to track down 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.000 the mysterious friend that Sneehar apparently met on the tenth 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.480 after leaving Century twenty one, and there was no more 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.320 evidence to confirm any of her possible whereabouts or was there. 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.440 The last officially confirmed footage of Sniehar is the CCTV 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.720 footage from Century twenty one. But during the course of 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.679 Ron's investigation, another piece of video footage emerged, one that 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.760 potentially changed the entire narrative. This one was from the 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.720 security cameras inside the lobby of two two five Wrector Place, 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.640 Sneehar and Ron's apartment building. Here's what it showed. At 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.080 eight forty three a m. On September eleventh, a woman 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:38.880 resembling Sneehar enters the lobby. She seems to hesitate, standing 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.560 near the elevators for a couple of moments, but not 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:45.800 pressing any buttons. Then she turns around and exits back 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:49.560 onto the street. Less than three minutes later, the first 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:53.639 plane struck the North Tower. The footage is blurry and 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.120 low resolution, and the woman's face is impossible to make 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.679 out thanks to the harsh sunlight that bleaches the image, 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.800 but her silhouette, haircut and clothing was said to all 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:08.679 match Sneehart's, and if Sneehart really did return home that 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.560 morning only to walk back onto the street just moments 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.399 before the first plane hit, then her dying in the 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:19.480 attacks becomes a lot more plausible. But that footage wasn't 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.679 the only new piece of information that emerged during the 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:28.639 course of the missing person's investigation. Sneehar's grieving family understandably 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.960 wanted to remember her as a happy, successful young woman 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:35.920 who died a hero, but the reality was a lot 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:41.199 more complicated. But one thing, Sneehar wasn't technically employed as 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.760 a doctor at the time of her disappearance. She'd been 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:49.200 fired from her medical internship at Manhattan's Cabrini Medical Center 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.800 in the spring of two thousand and one. According to 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.120 the official report, the reasons for her contract not being 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:02.159 renewed were alcohol related issues and consistent timeliness. Around this 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:05.679 same time, Sneehar claimed that a fellow in turn at 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.639 Cabrini had sexually assaulted her in a bar. After her 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:14.440 allegation was investigated, the DA's office concluded that she'd fabricated 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.360 the story, so Sneehar was arrested and charged with filing 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.960 a false police report. To give her her due, it 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:26.359 should be said that, considering the shocking historical inability for 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:30.240 law enforcement to get justice for survivors of sexual assault, 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:35.400 this doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen. More recently, Sneehar 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:38.600 secured a new position at a hospital on Staten Island, 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:42.040 but she'd been suspended from there too for failing to 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:48.000 attend mandated substance use counseling. Court records also indicate that 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.720 Sneehar and Ron had been having marital trouble, and that 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.840 she may have been unfaithful to him, often staying out 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:58.800 all night at bars with strangers. What exactly happened to 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:02.320 the clothes she bought is another mystery. Perhaps she simply 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:05.119 left them in a bar, or maybe she really was 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:08.719 seeing someone else who, for whatever reason, decided not to 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.720 come forward, and she left them at theirs before later disappearing. 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:24.600 All the additional contexts concerning Sneeha's life suggested to some 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:27.560 that she'd been spiraling out of control in the months 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:31.080 leading up to her disappearance. This, in turn led many 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.720 to speculate that she wasn't a victim at all. Rather, 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:38.639 she vanished because she wanted to the fact she potentially 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:41.160 just happened to do this during one of the worst 0:23:41.160 --> 0:23:46.199 atrocities in modern American history only clouded the issue, and 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:50.439 there was one more revelation to come. On the morning 0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:54.560 of the tenth, the day she disappeared, Sneehart hadn't just 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:57.480 completed a few chores at home before calling her mother. 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:01.760 She had appeared in court to plead not guilty to 0:24:01.840 --> 0:24:06.440 the charge of filing a false report. According to police records, 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:09.280 she and Ron got into a huge fight at the 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:14.840 courthouse afterwards. So September tenth, two thousand and one, wasn't 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:18.760 just a leisurely day off for her. In fact, it 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:21.800 may have felt like everything in her life was falling apart. 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:26.119 She and Ron had met as medical students, and until 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:31.280 that year they'd been on parallel upward trajectories. But that day, 0:24:31.640 --> 0:24:34.520 after their huge blow up, Ron headed off to his 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:39.840 respectable hospital job, while Sneeha, still suspended, went home to 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:44.000 an empty apartment and a blank schedule. What happened next 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:48.280 is anyone's guess. Some think she may have ended her 0:24:48.359 --> 0:24:51.760 own life, Some that she really did run to help 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:54.760 when she saw the first tower on fire and died 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:58.720 in the process. Others have suggested the possibility that she 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:02.320 actually ran away and started a new life, using the 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:06.480 nine to eleven attack as the perfect foil, while others 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:10.480 still have speculated that she was actually murdered the night before, 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:13.560 perhaps by someone she met while out at a bar. 0:25:14.520 --> 0:25:19.520 All of it is possible. Snihar's family fought a year's 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:23.000 long battle to have her officially recognized as a victim 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:25.920 of nine to eleven, choosing to believe that she died 0:25:25.920 --> 0:25:29.919 a hero at the scene since there was no conclusive 0:25:30.000 --> 0:25:33.000