Resurfaced video shows moment girls’ missing Twin Tower worker dad found wandering streets of Manhattan on 9/11
A resurfaced video shared by ABC News journalist John Quiñones shows Brenda Schonhaut and her two young daughters, Jane and Remy, searching the streets of Manhattan for their father, Steve Schonhaut, after he was left unaccounted for while working in the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. The footage, which captures the family's desperate hours-long search before their eventual reunion, has resurfaced as a poignant reminder of the personal terror endured by families of those caught up in the attacks.
The family had last spoken to Steve by phone shortly after the first plane struck the North Tower, and Brenda vowed to walk with her daughters "as far as we can go" to find him. They were filmed crying into a payphone around a mile from the Trade Center, before continuing their search with Quiñones alongside them, eventually being turned back by police amid scenes of chaos, smoke and injured survivors. The 11 September 2001 attacks, carried out by al-Qaeda hijackers using four passenger planes, killed at least 2,977 people across New York, Washington DC and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
- Resurfaced footage shows girls searching Manhattan for their missing 9/11 dad
- Family searched for hours before reuniting with father Steve Schonhaut
- Video recalls chaos and fear in the attacks that killed 2,977 people
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Steve Schonhaut worked in the World Trade Center's Twin Towers and lost contact with his family after the first plane struck on the morning of 11 September 2001. His wife, Brenda, and their two young daughters, Jane and Remy, set out on foot through Manhattan to try to find him amid the chaos, unsure whether he had survived. ABC News journalist John Quiñones was with them for part of that search, and footage of the day was filmed at the time.
The 9/11 attacks saw al-Qaeda hijackers crash four passenger planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing almost 3,000 people and leaving thousands more families waiting for news of missing loved ones in the hours afterwards. The Schonhaut family's search reflects the wider experience of countless New Yorkers that day, wandering the streets, calling from payphones and trying to reach areas cordoned off by police as the scale of the disaster became clear.
The story centres on a video of that search that has resurfaced years later, offering a personal, ground-level account of what those uncertain hours were like for one family caught up in the attacks.