Louis Cataldie Quotations

My heart goes out to the folks here locally,

I don't know when you will get that data, ... I'm looking at means to increase the rate. ... It's going horribly slowly.

I am hoping we won't have that (many unidentified bodies), but I think we will,

I don't want people being alarmed, ... I don't want inflated numbers. My God, it's horrible enough.

I don't think it's any reflection on that hospital. They did all the right things. They ultimately got their own helicopters to come in.

We swept both buildings several times, because we kept getting reports of more bodies there, ... But it just wasn't the case.

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm here six months from now.

I think it's important for everybody to understand that it's about the individual, ... It's about the little lady with the big brown eyes who is in the Superdome in all that filth who looks at you and you can't do anything for. And somebody hands you a limp kid. And when you come back to her, she's dead.

I say if we got a cot and air conditioning, go for it. But that's me. If I had my way we'd be able to do them in a week.

I wish I could speed up the process, ... But speeding up the process could contaminate the process, and I just can't do that. And I'm sorry we have to do that in some situations to make sure the entire process is as pure as it can be. I have to be able to stand up before somebody and say I am absolutely sure.

I won't see light at the end of the tunnel until I see the families for these people found, ... And we're not even close to seeing that.

Unfortunately, we may not know if she's here, ... Some bodies that we get may never be identified.

Unfortunately, the condition in which we're finding our individuals essentially eliminates any chance of a visual identification,

We'll look for things like identifying marks such as tattoos and personal effects. We'll get DNA. We'll do X-rays if they have prostheses and we'll do fingerprints if we can.

We discourage family members from coming here, ... They will not be allowed on the premises. This is not the place to come.

We were working for the living, and now we are working for the dead and the living. It's pretty tough, pulling out dead bodies.

There are lost people out there that will never be accounted for, ... But we can determine if they're here or not.

DNA is our weapon of last resort, ... And I'm at that point.

These deaths will have to be examined on a case-by-case basis. There are lots of variables.

Dental records are a great solution. A good dental record is akin ... to a good fingerprint.

You may not have a dental record, but you may have a photo of your momma smiling, and that's helpful,

This is going to be a long, arduous process. It's not going away.

A lot of these folks have been casketed for a long time, so we've only got bones to deal with, ... Evidently, it's not mandatory to place identification inside the casket, which was news to me. That's not helping.

It's about the individual. It's about the one. And I don't want people to lose track of that. We handle every person as the individual and with the dignity they deserve.

Each person is a worst-case scenario, ... There is nothing worse than somebody dying like this.

I'm told 400 to 500 people have come in and given DNA samples, but we've had no way of matching them,

I'm assuming we'll find some up in the backwoods, pretty far from where they belong,

Being in the water that long makes visual identification essentially an impossibility,

By the time we got these folks, the condition in which they were in made initial determination very difficult. I can just tell you there is no way to shorten the process.

I don't know how many people have died,

I don't think a visual identification will be possible. It's not about the numbers. It's about the body.

I don't think visual identification will be a possibility,

These are horrible times, and it's extremely frustrating. I wish I could speed up the process, but speeding up the process could contaminate the process. I'm sorry about that.

The collection (of bodies) has been slow because the whole focus has been on saving the living, ... I'm sorry that families have had their loved ones out there. But if there is a choice between searching for a dead body and a 6-year-old child with hypothermia, there is no choice.