NEW YORK — Mark Desire estimates his team had tried to identify the bone half a dozen times over the past 17 years — ever since it was recovered amid the rubble of the World Trade Center. Each time, they came up short.

As part of New York City’s effort to identify the remains of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, Desire, the assistant director of forensic biology for the city’s Medical Examiner’s office, and his colleagues had been unable to extract enough DNA to make a positive identification.

But thanks to advances in DNA testing, the team was able to make a breakthrough and on Wednesday the city announced that the remains belonged to Scott Michael Johnson, 26, a financial worker. He is the 1,642nd person to be identified of the 2,753 people who were killed in the attack on New York.

new york times