9/11 mystery solved 13 years on as people in wedding photograph identified

EVERY year since 9/11, Elizabeth Keefe has tried to track down the people in this photograph found at Ground Zero and learn of their fate. This is her remarkable story.

EVERY year since the 9/11 attacks, Elizabeth Stringer Keefe continued her bid to solve a lingering mystery.

Ms Keefe, a staff member of Lesley University in Boston, was determined to track down the owner of a wedding photograph found at ground zero. She wanted to learn their fate and reunite them with the precious memory — if they were still alive.

The image, which shows a bride and groom alongside four guests, had been given to her by a friend who had found it at Ground Zero weeks after the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

Keefe has been searching ever since, but hadn’t had any luck. She never could have expected the reaction she received when she Tweeted the image on Friday, asking for help from the Twitterverse.

“It just didn’t catch on,” she recalled of her previous attempts. “I was a little more persistent this year, for whatever reason.”

Her Tweet received a phenomenal amount of interest and more than 60000 shares.

Every year on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found at #groundzero #WTC in 2001. Pls RT pic.twitter.com/mZ9LdQqE7x

— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014

The hunt was well and truly on!

@ProfKeefe @reddit please message me. I know someone in the photo. Thank you.

— Jason (@gramercy17) September 12, 2014

To her great joy, Fred Mahe, a Colorado resident who used to live in Manhattan, spotted the photo and contacted her.

It was his.

“It was an overwhelming conversation,” Ms. Keefe told the Boston Globe of the conversation with Mahe.

In very happy news, she learnt that all in photo are still alive, and the couple now live in California.

Attention wonderful world: ALL SIX PEOPLE ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND I HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! #Happyending #911photo

— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014

Dear Everyone: introducing the very much alive & well @FredWMahe!! #FARLEFT #weallknowyou #911photo #AMAZING #NYC Thank you to ALL

— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 13, 2014

Lucky 13. 🍀 #911photo

— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 13, 2014

Mahe took to Twitter to confirm he owned the photo, posting:

@TakinADigg It is my picture that was at my desk on the 77th Fl of WTC Tower 2. The picture has been kept safe by @ProfKeefe for last 13yrs

— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 13, 2014

Thanks @blakeshelton 4 retweeting the 9/11 people pic. We r all alive. The REAL STORY is @ProfKeefe, she is 100% 9/12 @MlynnrabbMonica #9/12

— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 13, 2014

She will return the photo to Mahe.