"I'm Coming Undone": Mom of Pan Am Bombing Victim
By DIANA PEREZ
Updated 7:27 AM EDT, Fri, Aug 21, 2009
Patricia "Tricia" Coyle was a 20-year-old Boston College student returning home from a semester abroad when she was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. She is one of the eight people with Connecticut ties to die in the tragedy.
Her parents, Jan and Matt Coyle, say they've been able to move on under the circumstances but they were brought right back to the day they lost their daughter, Dec. 21, 1988, on Thursday when the only man convicted for the bombing was set free.
Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi, who was convicted for planting a bomb that blew up the plane, was released from prison after serving eight of his 27-year sentence. Overall, he served less than 14 days for each of the victims.
Jan is not just sad and frustrated by the decision, but she’s feeling, "like I’m coming undone."
Al-Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and granted a compassionate release. He flew home to Libya Thursday.
Tricia however never made it home. Nor did the other victims of the bombing.
"Two-hundred-seventy innocent people just returning home for Christmas never made it. He gets to go home," Matt said.
"Now it's as though all the hard work, 20 years of bringing someone to justice, is gone. They've just taken it away in a flash," Jan said.
The Coyles insist that justice was fleeting for them and now Matt is sure all hope of it is gone "now that he has been released, there will not be any additional calls for investigations."
So, the Coyles feel, the tiny steps they took toward closure were trampled on by the one decision made thousands of miles away.
First Published: Aug 20, 2009 11:25 PM EDT on NBC Connecticut
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