1948 - 2017

On the morning of September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were commandeered by terrorists and crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Later that morning, both towers and surrounding buildings collapsed, sending a large cloud of toxic dust and smoldering debris through lower Manhattan.

Evidence Technician (ET) Melica Sanders was deployed to the Fresh Kills Landfill in New York, organizing debris in piles and conducting evidence recovery operations. She worked 14-hour days from November 25, 2001, to December 11, 2001, collecting and documenting evidence recovered by sifting through debris, wreckage, and human remains. As part of her official duties, she was exposed to all carcinogens, toxins, hazardous materials, etc., present at this recovery site.

In November 2012, Sanders was diagnosed with metastatic high grade serous carcinoma (ovarian cancer). She succumbed to the disease on May 25, 2017. Extensive research by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health established sufficient evidence that Sanders’ exposure to the air in and around the World Trade Center site either precipitated or accelerated her development of the disease.

Sanders was born in November 1948 in Pocahontas, Arkansas. She entered on duty with the FBI on February 14, 1985.