For 25 years, one photograph from September 11 has remained etched in people’s memories. Richard Drew’s haunting image, known as “The Falling Man,” captured a person falling from the World Trade Center. The photograph became controversial when published, but over time it has also come to represent the unimaginable human cost of 9/11. 

The man’s identity was never officially confirmed. Journalist Tom Junod later concluded that Jonathan Briley, a 43-year-old sound engineer who worked at Windows on the World, was the most likely person pictured. But because there was no definitive proof, the question has remained unresolved. Briley’s sister, Gwen Briley-Strand, has now opened up about the grief her family has carried for decades.

Gwen remembered Jonathan as a deeply religious man who had recently been ordained a deacon. She said some years feel like 25 years ago, while others feel like yesterday. “It’s a wave of grief. Some years are better than others,” she explained. She also rejected the idea that people who fell from the towers should be judged, believing instead that they were victims trapped in an unimaginable situation. 

For Gwen, the photograph is therefore much more than a famous piece of photojournalism. It represents her brother, a son, a family and a life that existed long before that single heartbreaking image. Drew has said the photograph was never intended to reduce anyone to their final moment—it was part of a sequence documenting what was unfolding. Twenty-five years later, “The Falling Man” remains a painful reminder that behind every photograph from 9/11 was a real person whose loved ones were left behind.