The Day the World Stopped: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sneha Philip
In the chaos following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, the fate of one woman, Sneha Anne Philip, remains shrouded in mystery. Did the Indian American physician perish as a hero, assisting victims of the tragedy? Or was she the victim of foul play, her life taken away from her before the attacks even unfolded?
As investigators uncovered the details about Sneha’s life, a complex picture emerged filled with personal struggles and closely guarded secrets that may have set her down a different path.
Then, in 2005, an anonymous postcard was sent to the website PostSecret, renewing the speculation that Sneha could still be alive. Is it possible that Sneha sent the postcard and is living the life she always wanted?
Today we will be talking about the mysterious case of Sneha Anne Philip, and the day the world stopped.
This article contains descriptions of violent or distressing events – reader discretion advised
Early Life
Sneha Anne Philip was born in Kerala, India on October 7th, 1969. Three years later, the family moved to upstate New York after her father won a visa lottery for doctors.
In 1995, Sneha enrolled in medical school in Chicago, where she met Ron Lieberman, a student from Los Angeles. Ron was a musician, and Sneha had a passion for painting. She was smart and spoke five languages.
Despite being a year ahead of Ron, Sneha took a year off from school to travel around Italy and focus on her painting so that she and Ron could graduate together in 1999.
After completing their studies, Sneha and Ron moved to New York City where they were both offered internships. Ron’s was at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, and Sneha’s was at Cabrini Medical Center, close to their small apartment in the East Village. Though they worked long hours, the couple was content, with Sneha’s parents and brother living nearby.
In May 2000, they got married in Dutchess County with a ceremony that blended Jewish and Indian traditions. At the end of the ceremony, Ron placed a gold teardrop-shaped minnu with an embedded diamond around Sneha’s neck. It was a traditional Indian wedding pendant and had been a gift from Sneha’s mother.
Shortly after their marriage, Sneha and Ron relocated to a larger apartment in Battery Park City, just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center.
Before Sneha’s Disappearance
In May 2001, Cabrini Medical Center where Sneha had been interning, decided not to renew her contract. They cited repeated tardiness and alcohol-related issues as the reasons, effectively terminating her employment. Sneha was understandably upset by this decision.
The following month, shortly after being informed of her dismissal, Sneha went out to a bar with other Cabrini employees. Sneha claimed that while at the bar, a fellow doctor followed her into the bathroom, touched her inappropriately, and tried to kiss her. She filed a complaint with the NYPD. However, the police report states that on the night of the alleged assault, Sneha went to the doctor’s apartment, sat on his couch, and refused to leave. She also called the doctor’s wife multiple times despite repeated requests to stop calling. The report alleges that a few days later, Sneha was verbally abusive towards the doctor. Five days after the initial incident, Sneha recanted her allegation of sexual assault. The prosecutor investigating the case dropped the sexual abuse charge and instead charged Sneha with several misdemeanours, including criminal trespass, harassment, and falsely reporting an incident. She was arrested and spent one night in jail.
Sneha began spending nights out at gay and lesbian bars in the city, fuelling later rumours that Sneha was bisexual. According to a later police report, she would sometimes leave with women she met at these bars. Ron claimed to not know about this activity.
Additionally, Sneha’s brother reportedly walked in on Sneha and his then-girlfriend engaging in sexual activity. Although Sneha’s brother later disputed this claim, it left their relationship strained.
Sneha obtained another internship at St. Vincent’s Medical Center on Staten Island. However, she experienced similar problems there, was suspended for missing a meeting with a substance abuse counsellor and was placed on modified duty.
September 10th – Sneha is Last Seen
At 10:30 am on September 10th, 2001, Sneha was formally arraigned and pleaded not guilty to charges of assault, harassment, and falsely reporting an incident. The case was then adjourned to a future date. According to the police report filed after Sneha’s disappearance, she and Ron had a loud argument at the courthouse afterwards about her personal issues and late nights out, which ended with her walking away. However, Sneha’s attorney who was there could not recall the incident.
After returning home, Ron then left for work around 11:30 am and said Sneha intended to spend the day cleaning their apartment in preparation for a dinner party the following evening.
At about 2 pm, Sneha chatted with her mother, Ansu, via instant message for one to two hours. During this conversation, Sneha mentioned plans to visit the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, where a friend was scheduled to be married the next spring.
At about 4 pm, Sneha signed off, changed into a brown short-sleeve shirt dress and sandals, and left to complete some errands. Surveillance footage shows her exiting the lobby of her building around 5:15 pm. She dropped off some clothes at a dry cleaner and then went to Century 21, a discount department store near her apartment. At around 6 pm, she purchased lingerie, a dress, pantyhose, and bed linens before heading to the ground floor where she purchased three pairs of shoes at 7:18 pm. Between 7:20 and 7:30 pm, Sneha exited the store.
A security camera at the store recorded Sneha during this shopping trip. The taped images and credit card records are the last confirmed records of her.
That evening, a series of thunderstorms rumbled through New York City as hurricane Erin loomed off the coast hundreds of miles to the east of the city. Sneha’s whereabouts after leaving the store in a storm, with the light fading, and with two large shopping bags containing over $500 worth of items remain a mystery.
That evening, the doorman at Sneha’s building finished his shift at 11 pm without seeing Sneha return. When Ron got home around 11:15 pm, Sneha was not there, but he didn’t find this unusual, as she sometimes stayed overnight at her cousin’s or her brother’s place when he worked late because she felt uncomfortable being in the apartment alone.
September 11th – Was Sneha Still Alive?
At 4 am, on September 11th, 2001, a call was made to Ron’s cell phone from the apartment’s landline. Ron has no recollection of making the call, though he thinks he may have woken briefly and called his cell to check his voicemail in case Sneha had left a message.
Ron left for work at 6:30 am to attend an 8 am meeting. Sneha had still not returned by the time he left. According to Ron, she would usually return to the apartment between 7 am and 9 am after being out late the previous night.
At 8:43 am, security footage captured a woman resembling Sneha waiting near the lobby elevator of her apartment building, just three minutes before the first plane crashed into the North Tower. After a couple of minutes, the woman is seen exiting the building. Unfortunately, due to the glare from the sunlight in the lobby, the woman was visible only in silhouette. However, the family believed the woman exhibited similar mannerisms to Sneha, and her hair and dress matched the description of Sneha in the Century 21 tape from the previous evening, though she did not appear to be carrying any shopping bags.
At 8:46 am, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre between floors 93 and 99. This was followed by Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower at 9:03 am, hitting between floors 77 and 85. The South Tower then collapsed at 9:58 am, followed by the North Tower at 10:28 am. Over 2,700 people tragically lost their lives at the World Trade Center complex that day.
Ron was in a meeting at work when the first tower was hit. After the meeting, he noticed his co-workers gathered around a TV watching the attacks unfold. Worried about Sneha, whom he had not seen since the previous day, he tried calling their apartment but got no answer. He kept trying, but eventually, the lines went dead.
Manhattan was in chaos, with restrictions on entering Lower Manhattan. With the subways shut down and car traffic limited, Ron ended up hitching a ride in an ambulance headed downtown. The ambulance left at 3 pm but arrived six hours later at 9 pm, a journey that should have only taken twenty-five minutes.
Dressed in scrubs, Ron was able to use his medical credentials to get through the security perimeter and return to his apartment. However, the building had been evacuated and the front doors chained and padlocked, preventing him from entering. Ron then went to Ground Zero to volunteer in the relief effort before making his way to a friend’s home in the West Village around 2 am, where he spent a restless night on the couch, concerned about his wife’s whereabouts.
After Sneha’s Disappearance
The next morning, Ron returned to his apartment and was able to enter, but there was no sign of Sneha. The area was in disarray with the power shut off and debris everywhere. A piece of one of the planes had even flown into one of the neighbouring apartments. While Ron and Sneha’s apartment did not face the World Trade Center, dust from the collapsed towers had blanketed the apartment through an open window. However, the only footprints visible were those of the couple’s cats, meaning Sneha had not been back to the apartment since the towers collapsed. Her glasses, passport, driver’s license, and credit cards were still in the apartment.
Ron walked around Manhattan with flyers of his wife. He tried to generate media interest in Sneha’s case, but reporters were not interested because Sneha had gone missing on the 10th, and stories about 9/11 were the priority. In a further attempt to draw attention, Sneha’s brother John falsely claimed to the media that he had spoken to Sneha during the 9/11 attacks, and that she had told him she couldn’t leave because she was helping injured people.
“I was on the phone with her, and she told me she couldn’t leave because people were hurt. She said, ‘I have to help this person,’ and that’s the last thing I heard from her.” (7)
This was a lie. John had not spoken to Sneha in two weeks. Despite the fabrication, the media dubbed Sneha a hero in their coverage.
While investigating Sneha’s disappearance, Ron learned from American Express about her recent credit card purchases at Century 21. The store Sneha had visited was located next to the World Trade Center and had been forced to close, so Ron posted flyers at other Century 21 locations, hoping to uncover more information.
Later that week, a temporarily relocated clerk called to report a potential sighting of Sneha on September 10th. The clerk recalled seeing Sneha shopping with another young woman in her early 30s who was small and dark-skinned, possibly of Indian descent. In some sources, the clerk said Sneha was talking to the woman, while other sources indicated they just looked like they might be together. A third version had Sneha telling the clerk the woman was a friend.
Eager to corroborate this lead, Ron reviewed the store’s video footage and found footage of Sneha browsing in the coat department. However, Ron was unable to clearly identify the other woman. The footage did show a woman near Sneha when she exited the store, but it did not conclusively prove they knew each other.
Initially, Sneha’s family did not believe she died on September 11th, suspecting instead that something had happened to her the day before. Ron filed two missing persons reports. One with detectives at the 1st Precinct, and another with authorities investigating the World Trade Center disaster. However, the prevailing narrative was that Sneha died in the 9/11 attacks.
Concerned that the authorities were not exploring alternative theories about Sneha’s disappearance, Ron hired private investigator Ken Gallant. Gallant uncovered the surveillance footage of the woman resembling Sneha in the lobby, interviewed employees at nearby bars and hotels, spoke to Sneha’s friends, family, and co-workers, and oversaw a forensic examination of Sneha’s computer. Yet nothing was found to suggest Sneha was leading a double life or had planned to disappear. This led Gallant and Ron to believe that the woman in the lobby footage could have been Sneha and that she had left to help when the first tower was struck.
However, as Sneha’s family was coming to terms with the hero narrative, the NYPD was carrying out its own investigation into Sneha’s disappearance. While they ruled out Ron as a suspect, they uncovered details about Sneha’s life before September 11th suggesting she may have run away or died prior to the towers collapsing. These details included work issues, alcohol abuse, marital problems, the fight with her husband Ron outside the courthouse, her possible bisexuality, sleeping with her brother’s girlfriend, and a pending criminal charge against her.
Of course, Sneha’s husband and family disputed the NYPD’s claims, asserting she was fired from Cabrini not because of alcoholism but because she had been a ‘whistleblower’ who complained about racial and sexual bias. However, the hospital denied that Sneha made any such formal complaints, and colleagues also disputed this claim.
Ron said that Sneha’s drinking was a temporary coping mechanism to ease her depression and would stop once her life returned to normal.
Ron also disputed the allegations that his wife was bisexual and said that while she did frequent lesbian bars, this was because, after the situation with her co-worker, she felt safer in establishments where men would not hit on her. He says she never had sex with the women she went home with but would simply work on art projects, listen to music, and sleep. He recalled a specific incident where she met an artist at a bar and came home covered in paint.
Additionally, Ron denied that he and Sneha ever fought outside the courthouse, asserting that the police were fabricating stories to cover up their poor investigation.
Sneha’s brother also refuted the claim that he had caught Sneha with his girlfriend, stating that this report was completely fabricated. He further claimed that he had never even spoken with Detective Stark, who had written up this alleged incident.
Despite the family’s belief that Sneha’s profession would have compelled her to rush and assist victims, and her mother’s testimony that she had planned to visit the World Trade Center, the NYPD found little evidence tying her to the 9/11 attacks. Furthermore, the author of the NYPD report, Richard Stark, testified that he believed Sneha likely died in the attacks.
However, in January 2004, the NYPD’s overall findings led the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office to remove Sneha’s name from the official list of 9/11 victims.
Given the NYPD’s findings, Judge Renee Roth ruled in 2006 that it could not be established that Sneha died on September 11th, and set the legal date of death as September 10th, 2004, three years after she was reported missing, per state law.
These findings undermined Ron’s claim with the Victim’s Compensation Fund, which was worth an estimated $3-4 million. Ron’s claim was denied because he could not produce a death certificate stating Sneha died at the World Trade Center.
Ron appealed the decision, and on January 31st, 2008, a three-to-two vote from a panel of five judges reversed Judge Roth’s ruling, finding the simplest explanation to be the most likely, and that Sneha died trying to help people at the World Trade Center.
Sneha was officially declared the 2,751st victim of the Twin Towers collapse. At the National September 11 Memorial, Sneha Anne Philip is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-66.
However, Ron still did not receive any money from the victims’ fund as it closed in 2003.
Theories
Sneha Died at the World Trade Center
If the woman seen in the surveillance footage was Sneha and she was leaving the apartment building around the time the first tower was hit, then the most logical explanation for Sneha’s disappearance is that she perished in the World Trade Center. As a medical professional, it’s plausible that her instinct was to assist the victims.
However, not everyone believes Sneha would have rushed into the burning buildings. In an interview with podcaster Jon Walczak, one of Sneha’s Cabrini colleagues even doubted Sneha’s desire to be a doctor, which would align with Sneha’s behaviour on the job.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Sneha entered the towers to provide aid. The police were actively evacuating the area, not allowing people to enter. Even if Sneha had managed to get past the barricades, she likely would have been directed to a triage zone rather than the towers themselves. Furthermore, there would have been witnesses or photographic footage documenting her presence and efforts to assist. Additionally, if she had been on the ground helping and was killed by falling debris, her body almost certainly would have been recovered. After all, 99% of the victims located below the impact point were able to escape, meaning Sneha would have been at lower risk than those higher up in the buildings.
Even if the woman in the surveillance footage wasn’t Sneha, her mother’s claim that Sneha planned to visit the Windows on the World restaurant could still place her at the World Trade Center. Critics argue the restaurant was closed, but Sneha may not have known that or visited a different restaurant instead. This account would put her in the North Tower, above the impact point. Over a thousand victims have yet to be identified, and Sneha could be one of them.
Sneha Met with Foul Play
The central question surrounding Sneha’s disappearance is where she went on the evening of September 10th. The logical explanation for no one hearing from her is that she met with foul play. Sneha’s lifestyle of meeting random strangers was undoubtedly risky, so it’s reasonable to believe something bad happened to her.
While a random attack can’t be ruled out, it’s more likely the perpetrator was someone Sneha knew, perhaps even someone close to home. The doctor she had accused of assaulting her had pressed charges against her, and they had been in court that morning. Speculatively, Sneha may have confronted him, and the situation escalated.
John, Sneha’s brother was known to have lied to the media about speaking to Sneha on 9/11 and gave conflicting accounts of when he last saw her. This raises questions about his potential involvement, especially since he lived just minutes away from Century 21. Furthermore, John and Sneha were not on speaking terms when she disappeared. If Sneha visited John’s home that evening, it does not necessarily mean he harmed her, but it may warrant further investigation.
Ron’s account also requires scrutiny. He claims there were no human footprints when he returned to the building on the 11th after the towers collapsed, but this is his word alone. Additionally, Ron’s inability to recall making a 4 am call from the apartment is peculiar. Speculation has arisen around potential tensions in Sneha and Ron’s relationship. Perhaps Ron had grown frustrated with Sneha’s frequent absences, or they continued an argument from earlier that day, leading to an escalation.
Furthermore, Ron’s claim that Sneha was not at the apartment when he left for work on the 11th contradicts Detective Stark’s account of the surveillance footage. In an interview with Jon Walczak on the Missing on 9/11 podcast, Stark stated the footage shows Sneha leaving the building after having been in the apartment all night, which would explain her lack of bags. This contrasts with the common version which suggests Sneha was returning after a night out. While it does not necessarily implicate Ron, especially if it was Sneha in the lobby the next day, it does raise questions regarding his version of events.
Indeed, probably the biggest obstacle in the foul play theory is the lobby surveillance footage, and whether the woman is Sneha. If it were Sneha, it would undermine the notion that she met with harm on the 10th.
Ultimately, the NYPD investigated Ron, and he is not considered a suspect. He did seem genuinely frantic in his search for his wife and went to great lengths to find her. Additionally, the private detective Ron hired would have most likely uncovered any incriminating evidence against him.
Overall, any inconsistencies in witness testimonies do not necessarily indicate murder, but rather faulty memories or attempts to protect Sneha’s reputation. However, the thoroughness of the NYPD’s investigation is questionable. For instance, Ron’s computer was taken but returned to him without analysis. If the attacks had not occurred, the list of suspects and the scrutiny applied to them may have been more extensive than they were.
The woman seen with Sneha in Century 21 is a key aspect of the foul play theory. If Sneha did know this woman, it’s unclear whether they had planned to meet beforehand or if Sneha simply ran into an old friend while out shopping, which could explain why the police and private detective found no evidence of prior communication or a planned meeting.
However, people question why this woman has not come forward in the years since. The most sinister explanation is that she was involved in Sneha’s murder. But there are other possible reasons she may not have come forward – perhaps she was in a secret relationship with Sneha and didn’t want her partner to find out, or as an Indian woman, she was unable to be open about their relationship. Maybe she wanted to protect Sneha’s reputation or even helped her escape her life. It’s also possible the woman perished at the World Trade Center the next day.
The lack of a body further complicates the foul play theory. While the chaos of the 9/11 attacks could have provided cover to dispose of Sneha’s body, it’s likely her remains would have still been found.
Sneha Committed Suicide
Sneha’s life was on a downward spiral. Her once-promising medical career was on the verge of collapse, and there was speculation about her desire to continue in the field. She was facing criminal charges for falsely accusing someone of assault, and there were questions about her personal life, her sexuality, and the state of her marriage.
As a result, Sneha was depressed, consuming excessive amounts of alcohol, and meeting up with strangers, either for sex or to work on art projects and listen to music. Ron was so concerned about her mental health that he even included psychiatric hospitals in his search for her.
It seemed multiple stressors had converged, leading to Sneha’s poor and reactive decision-making. Did the looming court case that morning push her to commit suicide on September 10th? If so, where was her body? Also, why did she purchase items during the day if she planned on killing herself? Alternatively, did she view the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to die, perhaps running into one of the towers? Though this seems unlikely, given the chaos of the situation and the natural human instinct for self-preservation.
Sneha Started a New life
Sneha’s emotional and personal life was in turmoil with the stress of a criminal conviction hanging over her. She was unhappy at work, and colleagues reported she was sometimes late and intoxicated, seemingly trying to escape something. So the idea that Sneha had a secret life is compelling.
Podcaster Jon Walczak interviewed one of Sneha’s Cabrini colleagues who told him that Sneha had been sexually inappropriate with her, her husband, and other colleagues. This lends credibility to the notion that Sneha’s overnight stays with strangers were sexual, not merely for painting or music as Ron suggested. The doctor even believed the sexual assault incident was fabricated, hinting at Sneha’s mental state.
If Sneha felt trapped in her marriage and career, preferring art to medicine, it makes sense that she lived her true self with strangers, away from Ron and her family. This led some to believe she may have used the 9/11 attacks as an opportunity to start a new life under a different identity. However, she left behind personal items like her glasses, passport, and credit cards (except the American Express card which Ron kept open in case any leads developed from attempts to use it – which none ever did), and no evidence was found on her computer of plans to disappear.
Those who knew Sneha emphasized her close family ties, particularly with her mother, arguing she would never abandon them. Yet people do leave loved ones. And even if they wish to return later, they don’t for fear of how people will react.
In 2005, an anonymous, hand-drawn postcard was sent to the website PostSecret. The postcard, depicting the Twin Towers with billowing smoke, bore the cryptic message:
Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I’m dead.
Was this a cruel hoax by someone claiming to be a 9/11 victim? Or could it have been a signal from Sneha – a would-be artist who had deferred medical school to spend a year painting in Italy – that she had somehow escaped and gone on to live the life she’d always wanted?
Aftermath
It is unlikely that the truth of Sneha’s disappearance will ever come to light unless her remains or the jewellery she wore at the time – her diamond-studded wedding band, diamond engagement ring, diamond earrings, and the necklace (minnu) she always wore – can be identified. Sneha’s jewellery included diamonds that could have withstood the intense heat of the Ground Zero fires, and her family hopes these items will be recovered and matched to the photos they provided to the authorities.
Ron remains close to his former in-laws and remarried in 2010 with their encouragement. He is an emergency medicine physician in California.
Ultimately, the family’s attempt to portray an idealised heroic narrative may do more harm than good by shielding the truth about Sneha’s disappearance. While the towers’ collapse may not have killed her, they may have erased any evidence of her true fate.
Sneha was last seen wearing a brown button-down shirt dress and brown sandals. If you have any information about Sneha Philip’s disappearance or her whereabouts on September 10th and 11th, 2001, please contact the New York City Police Department at 212-334-0635.
Sources
Court Documents
- In the Matter of a Judicial Declaration of Death of Sneha Anne Philip. Ronald Lieberman, Appellant. New York State Unified Court System. Saxe, D. (January 31, 2008).
TV / Movies / Videos
- iHeart. Missing on 9/11 Podcast. Jon Walczak. 2021.
- Unsolved Mysteries. Season 12, Episode 3. 2001.
- YouTube. 9/11 Rare Footage filmed by Luc Courchesne.
Websites
- ABC7 New York. Missing’: The Mystery of Dr. Sneha Anne Philip – The Woman Who Disappeared Night Before 9/11. Kristin Thorne and Emily Hartmann. May 8, 2024.
- AccuWeather. Haunting Short Film That Captured Extreme Weather Also Chronicled World Trade Center’s Final Hours. Mark Puleo. Updated September 11, 2023.
- New York Magazine. Last Seen on September 10th. Mark Fass. June 16, 2006.
- Voices Center. 9/11 Living Memorial: Dr. Sneha Anne Philip.
