For 13 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, a woman has tried to find the owner of a crumpled wedding photo discovered at Ground Zero in Manhattan.
Every year on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found at #groundzero #WTC in 2001. Pls RT
Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, an assistant professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., said she has been posting the picture online each year around the anniversary of the attacks in hopes of finding its rightful owner.
Thank you to all trying to help find the ppl in #911photo! Don't dismiss possibility they may be alive and well! :)
The picture, which was given to her by a friend who discovered it near the site of the terrorist attacks, shows a joyful couple on their wedding day surrounded by friends.
Every yr on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found @ #groundzero #WTC in 2001 -Pls RT @universalhub
"I have always said to myself about the photo that I try not to think about what the story behind it is, and that I just want to get the photo back," Keefe told Boston Magazine.
After years of getting nowhere, Keefe posted the picture on Twitter Thursday night, where it was retweeted more than 58,000 times and led to a page on Reddit where users tried to help locate the owner.
After the photo spread through the internet, Keefe said she was "shocked" and "thrilled" by the interest.
"I feel like people are giving it the exposure it needs to get the right set of eyes on it. Twitter has literally taken it up. I think that it could be the year that it gets back to the owner. I hope so," she said to Boston Magazine.
On Friday evening, she announced that she had found the owner of the picture, and that all of the people in the wedding scene are alive.
Attention wonderful world: ALL SIX PEOPLE ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND I HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! #Happyending #911photo
Dear Everyone: introducing the very much alive & well @FredWMahe!! #FARLEFT #weallknowyou #911photo #AMAZING #NYC Thank you to ALL
The mystery finally was solved when the photo made its way online to Fred Mahe.
Mahe — on the far left in the picture — used to live in New York City but has since moved to Colorado. The photo was taken during a friend's wedding in Aspen, Colorado, but was lost on 9/11:
"The picture was at my desk in the World Trade Center, Tower Two, on the 77th floor," Mahe told Boston Magazine.
Thanks @blakeshelton 4 retweeting the 9/11 people pic. We r all alive. The REAL STORY is @ProfKeefe, she is 100% 9/12 @MlynnrabbMonica #9/12
After finding that everyone in the picture was alive, Keefe tweeted that this year was "lucky 13."
Lucky 13. #911photo