3 Sept. 11 victims' remains are newly identified, nearly 24 years later

Three 9/11 victims’ remains have newly been identified, officials said this week, as evolving DNA technology keeps making gradual gains in the nearly quarter-century-long effort to return the remains of the dead to their loved ones.

New York City officials announced Thursday they had identified remains of Ryan D. Fitzgerald, a 26-year-old currency trader; Barbara A. Keating, a 72-year-old retired nonprofit executive; and another woman whose name authorities kept private at her family's request.

They were identified through now-improved DNA testing of minute remains found more than 20 years ago amid the wreckage of the World Trade Center after the al-Qaida hijacked-plane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 , the city medical examiner's office said.

“Each new identification testifies to the