WHAT HAPPENED TO SNEHA PHILIP, THE LAST OFFICIAL VICTIM OF 9/11?

 

In July of 2008 the last name was added to the official list of September 11^th victims perishing at the World Trade Center. To this day, however, there is no evidence that Sneha Philip was anywhere near the Twin Towers on that day and the case remains among the most baffling mysteries surrounding the attacks.

As in most emotive cases, inconsistencies have fueled resentment among the most intimately involved. After nearly seven years of investigation, both by Ken Gallant, a private investigator hired by Philip’s husband Ron Lieberman, and, later, the NYPD, Philip’s family found solace in her name being listed among the casualties of the attack. This was the story they were hoping for, that Philip died when the towers collapsed while trying to assist the injured. This was a stark contradiction to the findings of the NYPD who uncovered a sordid secret life of substance abuse and professional misconduct in the months leading up to her disappearance. In this scenario, Sneha Philip either met with foul paly in the hours before the attack or willfully disappeared, the timing of the attacks providing an opportune cover.

Neither scenario has been proven conclusively (if she died at the World Trade Center, her remains were never identified), but neither has been entirely disproven either. On deeper examination elements of truth emerge in support of both, but in either case there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

As always, it is helpful to start with the known facts. Sneha Anne Philip was born in India in 1969. In her youth, the family immigrated to Upstate New York. In 1991, Philip graduated from John Hopkins University and in 1995 began her medical studies in the Chicago School of Medicine where she met her future husband, Ron Lieberman. Both graduated in 1999 and were married in May of the following year. After landing interns in the City (Ron at Jacobi Medical Center and Sneha at Cabrini Medical Center), the couple moved into an apartment in Battery Park some two blocks away from the World Trade Center.

By all accounts there were happy moments in the couple’s private life, but trouble began in the spring of 2001 when Cabrini informed Philip that her contract would not be renewed citing tardiness and evidence of alcohol abuse. After being effectively terminated, Philip went out to drink with some of her ex-colleagues. What happened at the bar remains hazy. An altercation between Philip and a male co-worker resulted in Philip spending the night in jail. She claimed that her colleague groped her while at the bar. The Manhattan D.A. Office investigated the case and found no evidence supporting Philip’s claim and instead charged her with filing a false report.

From here a downward spiral seems to have begun. Philip began spending nights away from home at bars, particularly those frequented by gay and lesbian clientele, and would often leave the bars with strangers. Although managing to land a new job at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Staten Island, her habits once again began to affect her performance. Eventually St. Vincent’s would suspend her when she refused to meet with a substance-abuse counselor. Here is the fundamental point of contention between the NYPD’s findings and the family’s account. Lieberman maintains that while it is true that his wife frequented gay and lesbian clubs her motivation was to enjoy the club scene without worrying about being harassed by men. Rather than indicating confusion of sexuality, Lieberman said that his wife was simply in search of friendship with like-minded individuals. In addition, the family insists that her alcoholism was on the mend after finding a new job.

On the morning of September 10, Ron accompanied his wife to court for her arraignment where she plead not guilty to filing a false police report. Here the police report differs from Liberman’s account. According to the police, the couple got into a heated argument while leaving the courthouse regarding Philip’s behavior, causing Philip to storm out, leaving her husband behind. Lieberman claims that while in the past he had expressed to his wife his displeasure with her night habits, no argument occurred at the courthouse.

Be that as it may, from the courthouse Ron went to work and Sneha returned to the apartment. From two to four, Philip chatted with her mother online, mentioning that she was planning to visit the Windows of the World restaurant atop the North Tower where a friend was going to be married the following year. At four, Philip signed off the chat and went to a nearby Century 21 store where, as itemized in the couple’s shared American Express card, she purchased lingerie, three pairs of shoes and bedsheets. Security cameras captured her browsing through the clothing racks and then leaving the store with shopping bags.

Later, while Lieberman and Gallant were conducting their own investigation, the store employee who had been working that day came forward stating that she remembered seeing Philip (who she recognized as a regular customer) in the store that day accompanied by another woman. Her companion was of about the same age and also of Indian ethnicity. This woman was never identified and her appearance on camera is inconclusive. This would be the last confirmed record of Philip’s activity. Days later the desk clerk at the apartment complex where she lived claimed to have seen her returning home that evening. The security cameras do show a woman entering the lobby and taking the elevator up, but the image is so sun bleached as to be practically useless for positive identification, though the silhouette matches Philip’s body type and dress, minus the shopping bags she would have had returning from the store.

Lieberman arrived home around midnight to find that his wife wasn’t there. He was surprised and a little annoyed that she wasn’t curbing her nightlife habits but not particularly worried. He also thought she may have been spending the night at her brother’s residence in Greenwich Village as she sometimes did. Lieberman had no reason to notice this at the time, but it was relevant that the shopping bags his wife was seen carrying out of the store were never brought home.

Having to work early the next morning, Ron went to bed without much further investigation. He woke up the next morning around 6 and found that his wife was still not home. A strange, almost eerie, discovery would be made later. At around 4am a call was made from the apartment’s landline to Lieberman’s cell. Lieberman had no recollection of this but stated the most likely explanation was that he got up briefly to check his voicemail and soon forgot about it.

Still not too concerned, Lieberman made his way to work and found his colleagues watching the news of the attacks as they unfolded. Lieberman did not leave work as he believed wounded victims would soon be transported in but spent the day calling the apartment trying to reach his wife (who did not have a cell phone).

Lieberman did not start to become especially concerned until he reached his brother-in-law who said Sneha had not been to his apartment. When patients were no longer arriving, Lieberman began making his way home. Although police had closed off all roads to Lower Manhattan for the general public, Lieberman’s medical pass got him a ride in an ambulance to his apartment complex. The building had been emptied and locked, but when Lieberman ultimately made his way to the now dust-covered apartment there was no evidence of his wife having been there.

Lieberman filed a missing person report with the police but when it became obvious that the devastation following the attacks would overwhelm the department’s resources, Lieberman hired Gallant to investigate.

Through Gallant, who interviewed clubgoers at the places she frequented and tracked her credit card activity, authorities have learned what little is known of Sneha Philip’s movements on the afternoon of September 10, 2001. Gallant and Lieberman concluded that, perhaps on her way home, she witnessed the attacks on the World Trade Center and decided to rush in using her medical skills to assist subsequently dying in the collapse.

This was the account her family was fighting for and that they were ultimately granted in 2008 when her death was officially linked to the September 11^th attacks. Sneha Philip died a hero trying to save lives.

 Her remains were never found nor was any evidence that she was at the World Trade Center that day but even the police investigation does not conclusively rule out that possibility. What the police investigation does suggest is that another account is plausible. Perhaps, Philip needed to get away from her mounting legal and professional troubles and left town without a trace. Her nightlife may have been further evidence of an unfulfilling marriage and she sought other things away from home, the terrorist attacks being an opportune cover.

Not surprisingly, Lieberman and his former in-laws have rejected the fundamentals of this investigation. A hole they allege in the police investigation is that with the exception of the American Express used at the Century 21, Philip left behind all her credit cards along with her driver’s license.

In truth, neither account can be ruled out and neither fills all the details even if true. But such is the bigger picture of 9/11, a national tragedy we have been analyzing for over two decades. Sometimes we find answers, sometimes we don’t, sometimes there are no answers and sometimes the answers don’t matter even when they are there.