Medical officials have identified the first victims from the World Trade Center attacks based solely on DNA matches, a process that has involved toothbrushes, hairbrushes and other belongings of those lost in the wreckage.
Eight people were identified after DNA evidence was compared with samples gathered from victims' families after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Tuesday.
Marion DeBlase, 44, whose husband James DeBlase, 45, was lost in the attack, gave officials his hairbrush and toothbrush.
The family also submitted cheek swabs from their three sons, and from James DeBlase's parents.
"You have to come to some kind of closure somehow as each day goes by, but it's very difficult to come to terms with it when you have nothing to hold on to," Marion DeBlase said.
She last spoke to her husband just after a hijacked airliner smashed into Tower One of the trade center, where he had worked on the 105th floor as a bond broker for Cantor Fitzgerald. The company lost nearly 700 employees in the attack.
DeBlase said her recent visit to the smoldering pile of debris did not give her hope that her husband's remains would be found.
"I assume that this is a very tedious and lengthy job, because especially if they're not finding whole persons," she said. "I would love to think that I would have something, but it's horrible to think that's the point we have come to."
City officials said Tuesday the number of missing stands at 4,339. Of the 478 people whose remains have been recovered, 425 have been identified.
Giuliani urged more relatives to submit DNA samples -- which city officials say eventually will dominate the identification process -- a 24-hour operation coordinated by the city medical examiner's office.
Hundreds of remains arrive at the office daily, each in a separate bag with its own number.
DNA is only used when no matches are made from other methods, such as fingerprints, dental records and surgical scars.
"We've gotten 2,600 samples, but we know that the numbers of people missing are closer to 5,000, so there are many more people that could submit DNA samples, if that's what they wanted to do," Giuliani said.
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