Palm Springs woman among three World Trade Center victims identified 24 years later

The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner announced Thursday the identification of three World Trade Center victims, including a 72-year-old Palm Springs resident who was returning home after a trip to the East Coast.

Barbara Keating was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 and a breast cancer survivor who split her time between Cape Cod, Mass., and Palm Springs, according to her obituary. She worked as a receptionist at the parish office of St. Theresa Catholic Church, where she attended services daily.

Keating was known around Palm Springs for driving her red Sebring convertible with the top down. She had been visiting her grandchildren on the East Coast before boarding the flight that was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center.

The three new identifications mark the 1,651st, 1,652nd and 1,653rd victims positively identified through DNA analysis since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Despite nearly two and a half decades of forensic work, 40 percent of the 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center remain unidentified.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner made the new identifications using advanced DNA technology and testing of new samples provided by relatives.

“The pain of losing a loved one in the September 11th terror attacks echoes across the decades, but with these three new identifications, we take a step forward in comforting the family members still aching from that day,” said New York Mayor Eric Adams.

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