OWASCO -- After six years, Laura Lee Morabito can finally be laid to rest.

On Wednesday, Auburn native Mark Morabito received a phone call from Cayuga County Sheriff Dave Gould that remains of his wife, who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11 -- the first hijacked plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 -- had been recovered and identified by the New York City medical examiner's office.

"It was quite a shock, to say the least," he said. "I think I dropped to my knees."

Morabito received the phone call between 4:30 and 5 p.m., not 24 hours after the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that claimed 2,974 lives. He then spent 45 minutes on the phone with the medical examiner's office, when he learned "the most shocking news of all." Laura's wedding ring was found on her person, he said.

"It brings a lot of closure to my family, to Laura's parents and brothers, the people that were close to her," he said. "I get to bring her back and put her to rest to a final resting place."

The medical examiner's office has identified about 58 percent of the victims recovered near the World Trade Center site, said office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove. DNA testing and re-testing continues in New York to identify as many people as possible, she said.

"It's kind of amazing to know that there are hard-working people down there at the medical examiner's office that are still working diligently to bring back loved ones to their familles," Morabito said.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.