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9/11 jewelry

From Mary Snow
CNN

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The NYPD has more than 600 pieces of jewelry recovered from the World Trade Center site.
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A Web site to help return personal items to 9/11 victims' families.
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Wolf Blitzer Reports
September 11 attacks

NEW YORK (CNN) -- More than three years after the September 11 attacks, the New York City Police Department is hoping technology will provide closure.

It has launched a Web site in the hopes that families will find on the Internet what they haven't been able to locate on their own.

Police are looking to match more than 600 pieces of unclaimed jewelry with victim's family members, such as Carol Ashley, who lost her 25-year-old daughter Janice at the World Trade Center.

The items were recovered from Ground Zero, from the landfill on Staten Island, where much of the rubble was taken, and from the city morgue.

Rings are the most common items. Some are described as being in good condition. Others are severely damaged.

The husband of victim Katherine Wolf is hoping his wife's ring is among the items.

"It's incomprehensible how I'd feel to get it back," he says.

To prevent fraud, the police department is not posting pictures on its Web site. Rather, it is asking people to fill out detailed questionnaires about the items they are looking for.

"This is the last link to victims," says NYPD Inspector Jack Trabitz.

The New York Police department says that to date it has returned more than 19,000 personal items. And by passing on pieces of family heritage, the department hopes to close a very painful chapter.

"It's not only closure for the family, but for the department," says New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.


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