‘The Note’ by Randy Scott, written on 9/11 from the 84th floor, reaches family a decade later
“84th Floor west office 12 people trapped.”
The words were scrawled on a note by Connecticut resident Randy Scott on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was attacked.
Scott perished that fateful day, but the note withstood the collapse of the towers and was passed from hand to hand for nearly ten years before it finally reached his family, according to the Stamford Advocate.
Scott’s wife, Denise, learned about what her family refers to as “The Note” in August 2011.
She had previously believed her husband died instantly after Flight 175 flew into the tower near the offices of Euro Brokers, where he worked. The scrap of paper has robbed the family of any illusion Randy Scott died a quick and merciful death.
“I spent 10 years hoping that Randy wasn’t trapped in that building,” Denise, 57, said to the newspaper from her Stamford home, with two of her three daughters, Rebecca, 29, and Alexandra, 22, at her side. “You don’t want them to suffer. They’re trapped in a burning building. It’s just an unspeakable horror. And then you get this10 years later. It just changes everything.”
The Note not only has the final words written by Scott, it also has a trace amount of his blood, according to the Advocate. DNA testing confirmed a match and helped the New York City Medical Examiner’s office track down his family, the paper reported.
Randy had phoned Denise before writing the note at the school where she teaches first grade, but believing that the first crash was minor, he simply left a message with the main office letting her know that he was fine, Scott recounted to the Stamford newspaper. Denise Scott said she did not know about the attacks until later that morning, when daughter Rebecca called her from Ohio.
“The minute I saw it I didn’t need to see the DNA test,” she said to the paper. “I saw the handwriting. It’s Randy’s handwriting.”