Missing Building Contents

Most Contents of the Towers Were Turned to Dust

Accounts of Ground Zero agree on the thoroughness of the destruction. What remained was primarily the structural steel, other metal pieces, paper, and dust. Not only were the non-metallic parts of the building -- such as concrete and glass -- pulverized, so were the building contents, as firefighter Joe Casaliggi recalls (mpeg).

At the end of the first week, a fireman from Brooklyn recalled bluntly his frustration and awe at how little was left. He had just completed a 24-hour shift.

The levelings may have destroyed evidence of crimes beyond just plane impacts and building collapses. There were vaults of gold bullion in the basement of 4 World Trade Center, but the amount of gold recovered seems to be only a small fraction of the amount known to be stored there. Was the gold stolen? Being a dense, malleable metal, gold should not have been broken up by whatever destroyed the towers. Gold is also one of the most inert elements, and is extremely unlikely to participate in chemical reactions. Even if it were possible to pulverize and disperse the gold, its storage in the basement of WTC 4 assured that it escaped the violent forces that pulverized the towers.