Woman Rescued From 9/11 Rubble Reflects on the Life She Built After Surviving

New York, United States — September 26, 2026

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, Genelle Guzman-McMillan continues to share the story of how she survived after being trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center.

Trapped Beneath the North Tower

Guzman-McMillan was working on the 64th floor of the North Tower on September 11, 2001, when the building was struck by a hijacked airplane.

As the tower began to collapse, she was on the 13th floor. She had briefly stopped to remove her high heels when the building came down around her.

She became trapped beneath the debris, unable to move or call out. She could hear activity around her but remained buried and isolated beneath the collapsed building.

Twenty-Seven Hours Under the Rubble

Guzman-McMillan remained trapped for approximately 27 hours before rescuers located her.

She was eventually discovered by emergency workers who heard her voice beneath the wreckage. Rescuers worked to reach her and carefully pulled her from the debris.

Her rescue made her the last known survivor found alive in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

A Life After Survival

After being rescued, Guzman-McMillan spent more than a month receiving treatment for her injuries.

She later married her longtime boyfriend, Roger McMillan, and built a family with him. The couple now live on Long Island with their three children.

Guzman-McMillan also wrote about her experience in her memoir, Angel in the Rubble, published in 2011.

Her Story Returns to the Screen

Her experience has recently received renewed attention through the Lifetime film Angel in the Rubble: The Genelle Guzman Story, which portrays her experience during and after the attacks.

The film has brought Guzman-McMillan’s story to a new audience while she continues to speak publicly about the experience that changed her life.

More than two decades after she was pulled from the ruins, her story remains closely connected to the thousands of people who were affected by the attacks — and to the rescuers who searched through the wreckage for survivors.

A Survivor Looking Back

Guzman-McMillan has described the hours beneath the rubble as a period when she did not know whether anyone would find her.

Her survival became one of the most remarkable rescue stories from September 11. Today, her life is defined not only by what happened that morning, but also by the family and future she built after surviving it.

Sources

• PEOPLE — “Where Is Genelle Guzman-McMillan Now? Inside Her Life After Being the Last Person Rescued from the 9/11 Rubble,” September 2026.
• Associated Press — Archival photographs and reporting on Genelle Guzman-McMillan’s rescue.
• Genelle Guzman-McMillan — Angel in the Rubble, 2011.