During a road trip with a friend to New York City in 2001, Elizabeth Strenger Keefe made an unlikely discovery when she happened across a wedding photo in the Ground Zero rubble.
It was just one day after 9/11.
Behind the framed cracked glass was a memory that encapsulated beauty, joy, love and friendship—elements that certainly seemed far removed from the devastation that surrounded it.
Seeing it as a “symbol of hope and happiness in this unbelievable destruction,” the Boston College professor decided to hunt down the owners.
Little did she know, her hunt for the six strangers in the photo was an unsolved mystery that would be 13 years in the making.
Every year on 9/11, she posted the photo on social media in hopes of reuniting it with the owner—but for over a decade, her efforts proved fruitless.
Every yr on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found @ #groundzero#WTC in 2001 -Pls RT pic.twitter.com/mZ9LdQqE7x@universalhub
In years past, Elizabeth received a small amount of retweets and mentions on Twitter, but 2014 was different.
She finally found the glimmer of hope she’d been waiting for.
“I KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE! I was at the wedding,” tweeted Fred Mahe.
@ProfKeefe I KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE! I was at the wedding.
— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 12, 2014
Mahe (the man featured far left in the photo) last saw the picture on his desk on the 77th floor of the second World Trade Center on 9/11.
