Who was Falling Man? Mystery remains 25 years after September 11

By contacting Hernandez's relatives, the Esquire journalist found that not everyone agreed with that thesis, arguing that the baker would never choose to jump to death, since his religion viewed suicide as a sin. When analyzing Drew's discarded photographs, Junod noticed that the man was also wearing an orange inner sweater. Hernandez didn't have a shirt inside that color, according to his wife. Eventually, the tracks led him to Jonathan Briley, a sound engineer on Windows on the World. The description was correct with that of the family, but there was another detail: since the 43 - year - old man had asthma, smoking would have been unbearable.

In the days following the attacks, Gwendolyn Briley-Strand joined the family to post flyers with his brother's photograph, who loved to get to work early to see the sunrise from the 106th floor. The father, who was a shepherd, prayed that his son might be found. A day later, the family was informed that Briley's remains had been identified, and they were intact. The younger brother recognized the body, having the family regained a wedding ring, an ID, a pager and black sneakers. The question came up: would Briley be the “Falling Man”?

Junod's report, which was initially published in 2003, admitted that possibility. However, his biggest argument was that, in the end, “the only certainty we have is the certainty we had at the beginning.”.

“ Fifteen seconds after 9:41 in the morning, September 11, 2001, a photographer named Richard Drew took a picture of a man falling through the sky – falling both in time and space. The photograph went around the world and then disappeared, as if we had made it disappear of its own accord. One of the most famous photographs in the history of humanity has become a nameless grave, and the man buried in its framework – the ‘Falling Man’ – has become the ‘Unknown Soldier’ in a war whose end we still do not see”, wrote the journalist.

Twenty-five years old, Briley-Strand also admitted to prefer honoring the victims, no matter what choice they made that day.

“ Whether Jonathan was or not, this particular man made the decision to put his life in his own hands and throw himself into the arms of God,” he said.