by KYW's Michelle Durham
On September 11, 2001, the United States suffered the worst terror attack ever on American soil, and the FBI responded. The response included a unit of agents who not only processed the crime scenes, but later put together all of the evidence exhibits for the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Paula Ernst (photo above) is Supervisory Visual Information Specialist in the FBI's Special Projects Unit. She spent 9/11 at the Pentagon, and says their mission there was the same as always:
"Our first order of duty is to meet with the lead investigator (and) get an overview of what happened."
And then they get out their equipment, which Paula says includes everything from 3-D laser technology -- to regular tape measurers. There's an established methodology on how to process a crime scene.
"Everything gets labeled with a number, Paula says, "that follows that piece of evidence all the way through from the scene to a laboratory to a medical examiners office."
Paula says at the Pentagon, the flight victims were found at the back of the crime scene area. (Photo at left is a model of the Pentagon building that was used at the Moussaoui trial.)
"From phone calls people were saying they were put in the back of the plane and that makes sense based on the pattern we found. The people slid through the building."
Paula says that ability detached yourself from the victims and focus on the crime takes a special kind of person.
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