NY NY - Sneha Ann Philip, 31, New York City, 10 Sep 2001

[branmuffin]

I was not able to get the police files. I did get court transcripts.

Why wouldn't the police files be unavailable? Is it still considered an active case?

 

[GatorFL]

Why wouldn't the police files be unavailable? Is it still considered an active case?

Until she's found, yes.

 

[Hausos]

Personally I’ve always held the opinion that she was murdered and disposed of, most likely by someone from her family or someone close to her. The random lies from her family right after her disappearance are jarring.

<modsnip -opinion stated as fact>

Disappearing to start a new life or suicide as well as the infamous “helping out during 9/11”/“being on top of the WTC” as put out by her own family are all extremely improbable if you look at the case closely.

 

[shesfixingherhair]

Until she's found, yes.

But if she is declared to have died in the attacks, there would no longer be an open case. The ruling that she died on 9/11 means the police would not be actively looking.

 

[Hausos]

But if she is declared to have died in the attacks, there would no longer be an open case. The ruling that she died on 9/11 means the police would not be actively looking.

It's really odd that the family kept insisting that she be put down as a victim of 9/11, to go as far as hiring someone expensive to declare her as so.

If there was no solid evidence or irredeemable proof that she did, then why hinder the case by doing so?

 

[Copper]

It's really odd that the family kept insisting that she be put down as a victim of 9/11, to go as far as hiring someone expensive to declare her as so.

If there was no solid evidence or irredeemable proof that she did, then why hinder the case by doing so?

She died a hero in the WTC.
vs
She was murdered as a result of risky lifestyle choices.

 

[GatorFL]

But if she is declared to have died in the attacks, there would no longer be an open case. The ruling that she died on 9/11 means the police would not be actively looking.

The OCME is still looking at bone fragments and identifying people with DNA, they get a couple ID's a year now.

 

[DD Byrd]

In a case with these circumstances, she'd need to be declared legally dead to officially (albeit rhetorically) deem her not alive - thereby freeing her assets, starting probate and other legal situations where her estate is in limbo. Her family trying to declare her a 9/11 victim isn't suspicious on its own as the surrounding details certainly make it likely she is dead (medically).

 

[shesfixingherhair]

The OCME is still looking at bone fragments and identifying people with DNA, they get a couple ID's a year now.

Yes, but the people were already declared to have died on 9/11 at the World Trade Center and the cases are closed years before the positive ID. They weren’t considered missing until remains were confirmed to be them and only then was the case closed.

 

[Tower]

The OCME is still looking at bone fragments and identifying people with DNA, they get a couple ID's a year now.

Agree, but if you look at where she could have been versus where the people who are still being identified were, it is nearly impossibke for her to be in that group. The poor souls who are only fragments were high up in the towers and all of the restaurant patrons were accounted for, so she was not there either.

It is still very odd to me a judge ruled she died in the Towers. If you read up on options for where a non-worker would be, she would have no business being in there. IMO, I have read and listened to basically everything about this case, but I’m not pulling MSM at the moment. MOO

 

[Hausos]

In a case with these circumstances, she'd need to be declared legally dead to officially (albeit rhetorically) deem her not alive - thereby freeing her assets, starting probate and other legal situations where her estate is in limbo. Her family trying to declare her a 9/11 victim isn't suspicious on its own as the surrounding details certainly make it likely she is dead (medically).

She has been though.

Missing doctor who lived near Twin Towers officially died on 9/11, but sleuths suspect she was killed earlier

The true-crime community digs in to a decades-old NYC mystery, reigniting debate on the disappearance of a presumed 9/11 victim whose remains have never been found.

www.foxnews.com

Dr Sneha Anne Philip (1969-2001) - Find a Grave...

Daughter of Philip and Ansu Philip. She was a resident doctor at Staten Island, NY Hospital. Her name was removed from the list of the dead at the WTC in 2004 and restored in 2008 by a NY State Judge.

www.findagrave.com

The family fought to have her listed as a victim of 9/11. A court overruled this and her name was taken off the memorial. Then, the family hired people and fought in court again to have her declared as a victim so her name could be on the memorial (which it now is). There is still no evidence she has died as a result of the 9/11 attacks.

I mean, my own opinion of course, but if I was a mother and my daughter randomly went missing with no indication she was near the WTC during 9/11, and no body or evidence was recovered, I would not want to declare her officially dead as I would like to find out the official truth, seek justice if she was murdered, or have hope she is still living. I certainly wouldn't fight to have her be declared a victim/dead. JMO ofc.

In fact this reminds me of a trending case. Skye Budnick, who perhaps had depression or suicidal thoughts, went missing when she booked a one-way trip to Japan. Her family is still looking for her (no trace of her has been found) but they have never declared her officially dead. In fact, they had to pay off her student loans and car payments as they refused to have her declared dead. There's actually more reason to believe that Skye is dead than Sneha being a victim of 9/11, because Skye said at one point she "wanted to die in Japan". Sneha's family is considerably more wealthy than Skye's family. Just a contrast b/w families.

 

[GatorFL]

Agree, but if you look at where she could have been versus where the people who are still being identified were, it is nearly impossibke for her to be in that group. The poor souls who are only fragments were high up in the towers and all of the restaurant patrons were accounted for, so she was not there either.

It is still very odd to me a judge ruled she died in the Towers. If you read up on options for where a non-worker would be, she would have no business being in there. IMO, I have read and listened to basically everything about this case, but I’m not pulling MSM at the moment. MOO

Fact is, there is just about equal evidence for all the scenarios. I'll list them in order of the amount of evidence available:

1. She died in the Towers.
2. She died before the attacks.
3. She pulled a gone girl.

Kristin Thorne of ABC7 did a great show a couple of years ago on Sneha, lots of good stuff in there. I paid for the court transcripts and reviewed them. I concur with the appellate court's ruling.

 

[shesfixingherhair]

Fact is, there is just about equal evidence for all the scenarios.

SBM. Is there any evidence after the Century 21 footage? Is the lobby CCTV confirmed to be her?

The poor souls who are only fragments were high up in the towers and all of the restaurant patrons were accounted for, so she was not there either.

I really don’t understand why anyone disregards the recorded observations from restaurant employees who were actually there in favor of hearsay from a grieving mother who could just be grasping at straws.

If her brother hadn’t made up the story about her calling him to say she was headed over there, I really think she would still be considered missing as of 9/10. That lie put all the conjecture in motion.

 

[Tower]

Fact is, there is just about equal evidence for all the scenarios. I'll list them in order of the amount of evidence available:

1. She died in the Towers.
2. She died before the attacks.
3. She pulled a gone girl.

Kristin Thorne of ABC7 did a great show a couple of years ago on Sneha, lots of good stuff in there. I paid for the court transcripts and reviewed them. I concur with the appellate court's ruling.

We will agree to disagree. I have read extensively, listened to podcasts and watched several news reports and I believe there is little chance she would be in the Towers area and no one saw her. Bodies at the periphery where she may have been “helping” were identified and people saw those helpers before they died.

It’s a strange coincidence that she is gone and the Towers fell around the same time. But without proof, who knows?

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Since SP went missing on or around 9/11 & since she hasn't been found since that time, IMHO there's an extremely good chance that she was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. It means nothing that there is no proof she was in the Towers when the attacks occurred. There are still a lot of people that are suspected to have died during the attacks whose remains have not been located. And - due to all of the extreme damage/heat/etc., I think it's reasonable to believe that a lot of the remains may never be found/identified.

IIRC she told her mother she was thinking about going to the Towers on 9/11. I don't see why it's so difficult to believe that she was in the towers when the attacks occurred & unfortunately perished as a result.

I don't believe that she was on the ground near the towers & perished due to falling debris - because she probably would have eventually been found.

I also don't believe she ran towards the towers to offer assistance. IMHO this is unlikely, given that all civilians (i.e., everyone other than LE) were running away from the towers after the attacks. This was either due to self-preservation (there was a dust cloud that was engulfing everything surrounding the base of the towers at one point; some on-scene videos depict this), and/or because they weren't allowed near the towers due to the danger, etc.

I also really don't believe she skipped town the night before (or sometime after) the attacks and:
-Started a new life for herself somewhere else;
-Hasn't been in contact with her family since that time; and
-Hasn't turned up on someone's radar due to needing to look for a job, place to live, etc.

 

[ekardh]

Personally I’ve always held the opinion that she was murdered and disposed of, most likely by someone from her family or someone close to her. The random lies from her family right after her disappearance are jarring.

<modsnip -opinion stated as fact>

Disappearing to start a new life or suicide as well as the infamous “helping out during 9/11”/“being on top of the WTC” as put out by her own family are all extremely improbable if you look at the case closely.

Personally, that's not an opinion that I share.

Is it possible that Sneha's murder coincided with the worst terrorist attack on American soil? It cannot be ruled out. But I favour Occam's Razor on this. Sneha lived in the vicinity of the attack. Whether she died trying to help victims or she was caught in the towers, I still believe that is the likeliest outcome, and I'm not surprised that the family found closure in accepting that she died that way.

Although I agree that the idea of her using 9/11 as a subterfuge to start a new life is preposterous. Sneha was too chaotic and disorganised to have planned something like that to a tee, and there were restrictions and heightened security when it came to travel.

 

[GatorFL]

Agree, but if you look at where she could have been versus where the people who are still being identified were, it is nearly impossibke for her to be in that group. The poor souls who are only fragments were high up in the towers and all of the restaurant patrons were accounted for, so she was not there either.

It is still very odd to me a judge ruled she died in the Towers. If you read up on options for where a non-worker would be, she would have no business being in there. IMO, I have read and listened to basically everything about this case, but I’m not pulling MSM at the moment. MOO

Nobody knows where she could have been since the last confirmed sighting of her was the Century 21 video from 9/10 that Ron and his PI obtained. But the testimony made before the appellate court is convincing that she didn't run off and that she wasn't killed before the attacks. This included testimony from her PI and NYPD.

I don't agree with your statement that all of the restaurant patrons were accounted for. Nor were the restaurant workers. Rather, they are all assumed to have perished.

There was a guest list for the Risk Waters conference. There is at least one person (Juan Lafuente) who was not on the registered guest list who is widely thought to have been there, but like Sneha, no trace of him has ever been found. While Christine Olender a manager on the WOTW staff did place a call to the Port Authority Police, she did not give a name-by-name accounting of who was there with her.

Also, it wasn't a judge, it was a panel of judges.

 

[branmuffin]

Since SP went missing on or around 9/11 & since she hasn't been found since that time, IMHO there's an extremely good chance that she was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. It means nothing that there is no proof she was in the Towers when the attacks occurred. There are still a lot of people that are suspected to have died during the attacks whose remains have not been located. And - due to all of the extreme damage/heat/etc., I think it's reasonable to believe that a lot of the remains may never be found/identified.

IIRC she told her mother she was thinking about going to the Towers on 9/11. I don't see why it's so difficult to believe that she was in the towers when the attacks occurred & unfortunately perished as a result.

I don't believe that she was on the ground near the towers & perished due to falling debris - because she probably would have eventually been found.

I also don't believe she ran towards the towers to offer assistance. IMHO this is unlikely, given that all civilians (i.e., everyone other than LE) were running away from the towers after the attacks. This was either due to self-preservation (there was a dust cloud that was engulfing everything surrounding the base of the towers at one point; some on-scene videos depict this), and/or because they weren't allowed near the towers due to the danger, etc.

I also really don't believe she skipped town the night before (or sometime after) the attacks and:
-Started a new life for herself somewhere else;
-Hasn't been in contact with her family since that time; and
-Hasn't turned up on someone's radar due to needing to look for a job, place to live, etc.

I think she's dead. I have a healthy skepticism of her whereabouts on 9/11. I really don't believe her mother that she called to say she was going to the Towers. I have my doubts regarding the narrative the brother and the husband provided. There's several reasons I believe what I believe, none of which I'm able to print because of WS policy.

 

[GatorFL]

Personally, that's not an opinion that I share.

Is it possible that Sneha's murder coincided with the worst terrorist attack on American soil? It cannot be ruled out. But I favour Occam's Razor on this. Sneha lived in the vicinity of the attack. Whether she died trying to help victims or she was caught in the towers, I still believe that is the likeliest outcome, and I'm not surprised that the family found closure in accepting that she died that way.

Although I agree that the idea of her using 9/11 as a subterfuge to start a new life is preposterous. Sneha was too chaotic and disorganised to have planned something like that to a tee, and there were restrictions and heightened security when it came to travel.

The detective who worked her case is adamant had she been killed on 9/10 her body would have been found.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

There is at least one person (Juan Lafuente) who was not on the registered guest list who is widely thought to have been there, but like Sneha, no trace of him has ever been found.

Didn't want to start a new thread for JL (there is no existing thread). However, this 9/11 MP case is worth noting in & of itself and in relation to the SP case. I.e., it is strongly suspected that JL also perished in the 9/11 attacks, even though he hasn't been found either.

It seems evident that the reason the JL case got the coverage that it did was due to his being married to the then-Mayor of Poughkeepsie, NY. Conversely, almost all other 9/11 MP cases received little to no media attention.

I don't believe he used the horrific events of 9/11 as an opportunity to "skip town" and start a new life for himself, either.

Here's an old article, but since his unknown status is unchanged it's still relevant:

9/11, a Man Went to Work. His Fate Is a Mystery. (Published 2002)

Juan Lafuente, Cuban immigrant who lived with his wife in Poughkeepsie, where his wife served as Mayor, vanished without trace on morning of Sept 11, and his fate is a mystery; although he worked about eight blocks from World Trade Center, neither his wife nor his colleagues at Citibank, where...

www.nytimes.com