Wisconsin family notified as NYC medical examiner continues to identify 9/11 victim remains

KEWASKUM, Wis, (CBS 58) — A Wisconsin family is getting answers after their daughter was killed during 9/11, as the New York medical examiner continues to identify human remains.

"I needed to know; how could I not do that? Whatever we've done, compared to the horror she must have experienced that morning, is nothing, so I consider it an obligation to keep being notified of pieces of her being found," said Gordan Haberman, father of Andrea Haberman.

Families continue to get notified when pieces of their loved ones are discovered.

"It's owed to those families, those people who were killed," said Fuzz Martin, president, Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial Board of Directors.

For some, that pain is close to home.

"That feeling of loss, it's hard to describe to other people because you're flooded with things that happened but also mourning what could have been," said Haberman.

Gordon Haberman comes to the Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial in Kewaskum often to remember his daughter, Andrea.

She was on the 92nd floor of the North Tower. When they didn't hear from her, they drove 16 hours to New York City.

"We were the third car through the Holland Tunnel to get into Manhattan, they had just reopened it by the time we got out there and we looked for her," said Haberman.

It wasn't until May of 2022 that the family was notified that the New York Medical Examiner's Office discovered the first piece of Andrea, and those identifications have continued for years.

"Today they found 13 pieces of Andrea. When they found five pieces of Andrea cremated out in New York, and we went out to pick them up and actually had a memorial Mass on ground zero, a funeral on ground zero for Andrea," said Haberman.

Haberman says having and knowing they continue to find pieces of Andrea helps him grieve.

"Every time something happens; an artifact is recovered or a piece of her is recovered. it's part of the story," said Haberman.

A story never out of mind.

"It's a process that I've committed myself at least to go through. and she deserves that," said Haberman.

The Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial has identified 18 people who died during 9/11 had ties to Wisconsin. They will be memorialized in their new monument this spring.