Hundreds of red-tipped wooden stakes poke up from the muddy field where 68 people died.
They mark where the remains of those aboard American Eagle Flight 4184 have been found. Investigators trying to identify the bodies expect a long, tedious process. The largest body part recovered so far is a foot in a shoe.Troopers are keeping everyone about a half-mile from the soybean field where the commuter propjet slammed into the ground Monday during a driving rainstorm.
Still, many relatives and friends of the victims have made their way to the crash site in Roselawn and to nearby Remington, where a temporary morgue was set up at the National Guard Armory.
"I thought I could help identify them," said Efrain Saragovia, cousin of victim Gilda Grimberg. "We wanted to come to be sure."
These pilgrims need to know what happened and to see for themselves where it happened, said the Rev. Richard Cooley, the state police staff chaplain.
They have a multitude of questions, and at least one that has no answer: When can they take their loved ones home?
"We tell them exactly the truth: We don't know," Cooley said. "I'm sure frustration develops. This is a slow process."
At the morgue, brown wrapping paper divided into 68 squares - one for each victim - covers the wall. Slowly, investigators are filling the squares with information that could link one of the more than 1,000 body parts recovered from the site to an individual aboard the flight.
"An article of clothing, a favorite watch they always had, a ring they always wore," American Eagle spokesman Ed Martel said. "One of the descriptions indicated the person had an oval face."
Everything learned from analyzing the remains is entered into a computer and cross-referenced with information from the families, said Alden Taylor, spokesman for the state Emergency Management Agency.
"(It's like) trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle without the benefit of a picture," Taylor said.