Monday 4 May 2015

What happened to Sneha Anne Philip?


Sneha Anne Philip was an Indian American physician, assumed to have died during the world trade tower terrorist attack in New York on September 11th, 2001.

The last images of her alive were caught on CCTV in lower Manhattan, outside of a department store on September 10th 2001.  When investigated by her husband, Ron Lieberman, it was revealed that she had spent a sum of $500 and purchased some lingerie, a dress, stockings, bed linen and three pairs of shoes, before dropping off some clothes at a local dry cleaners.  The footage and the credit card charges are the last known records of Sneha.

That night she failed to return to the apartment she shared with her husband.
He assumed that she had stayed out all night as she sometimes did, and went to sleep.
Sneha was said to have frequented lesbian bars in the area, and according to an investigation, was possibly living a double life. According to Ken Gallent, a former FBI agent, Philip was going through a bad patch. He was said to have discovered information detailing a possible affair with another woman, a history of drug and alcohol abuse, a termination of Philips medical internship, and a pending court case. This lead Gallent to the conclusion that Philip had simply walked away from her life, despite leaving her passport, glasses and credit cards at the apartment.

Sneha’s family disputed the claims, and petitioned for Sneha to be legally declared as a 9/11 victim. They stated that due to her medical background and her living in lower Manhattan, that she most likely died trying to help the victims of the attack. They pointed out that the lack of remains were not evidence enough to rule out their theory, seeing as many of the victims officially ruled as dead in the terrorist attack were never recovered.

There was footage from the lobby of their apartment of a woman standing near the elevator with a similar hair style and clothing as Philip, on September 11th at 8:45am. However the footage was too sun bleached to confirm 100%. On the tape, the woman presses the button to call the lift, hesitates and leaves a few minutes before the first plane crashed into the tower.

Philips brother lied to the media, saying he had spoken to her during the attacks, and she had said that she was going to help the victims inside. Philip didn’t actually have a cell phone. He later admitted that he had lied to spin a hero story that the media would be interested in, in an attempt to gain more coverage for the story and find his sister.
Sneha’s husband pasted missing flyers everywhere he could, but nobody came forward with information.

Sneha was officially listed as the 2,751st  9/11 victim. Some still speculate that she has been missing since the 10th, and propose the idea that she had succumbed to another fate of kidnapping or murder.
She hasn’t been seen since the 10th of September 2001 and her remains have never been found.

 For those who remember this "Post secret" post card, you can't help but think it's not totally impossible that Sneha could have simply walked away - somebody did.

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