Mom Remembers Daughter Lost On Flight 800: 'She Was My Angel'

EAST MORICHES, NY — Saturday marks 25 years since TWA's Flight 800 crashed from the sky off the coast of East Moriches, leaving 230 lives lost, including 15 students from Pennsylvania.

The East Moriches community was rocked by the tragedy. And for those who lost loved ones, children and husbands, wives and friends, the 25 years have not erased the pain.

Luz Palaez, who now lives in Florida, was living in Moriches at the time of the crash. Her daughter and son-in-law Eric and Virginia Holst, who lived in Manorville, died in the crash.

To honor her daughter and son-in-law 25 years later, Palaez traveled back to Long Island, where she will attend a memorial organized at Smith Point County Park in Shirley to remember those who died.

"It's been 25 years, and it is still very difficult to get used to the idea that my daughter is not here anymore," Palaez told Patch.

Flight 800 was a Boeing 747-131 plane that departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and was headed to Rome, with a stop in Paris. Her daughter and son-in-law, Palaez said, were headed to Paris for Eric's brother's wedding, and to enjoy a vacation.

Remembering her daughter, Palaez's voice filled with tears. "Virginia was my angel," she said.

One of her last memories, she said, took place when they were driving in Manhattan and saw someone "asking for money," Palaez said. "I said, 'Don't open the door; there are a lot of crazy people in the world,'" she said. "Virginia said she would never do that. She told me, 'Just think about how difficult it is to be asking for something to eat. If you have a dollar, give a dollar. God will give you the dollar back.'"

Palaez said she was very close to her daughter and son-in-law, who was a doctor of dentistry. "I used to ask God, 'How am I so lucky, to have so much love in this life?'"

Of Eric, she said: "I used to call him my son-in-law. He'd say, 'No, I am your son.'"

Even 25 years later, there are still no words to express the shock that happens when you lose loved ones in a plane crash, Palaez said. "My only consolation is that they are in heaven, and they are with God. They were such good people."

Although the cause of the crash was officially listed as fuel vapors exploding in a fuel tank, for years, questions and conspiracy theories have lingered.

Newsman Drew Scott, who worked for Channel 55 and later, News 12, spent months covering the story and subsequent lengthy investigation. Today, 25 years later, he remains forever changed by what he witnessed.

"It was agonizing to see the recovery efforts and interview the grieving families," Scott said.

Scott said he interviewed James Kallstrom, the lead on the FBI investigation into the crash, as well as National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall. He made at least four trips to Washington, DC, and Baltimore to cover the hearings and investigation, Scott said.

Asked what he remembers most about July 17, 1996, Scott said: "The kids from Pennsylvania — and the few seconds it took, to tumble into the ocean."

The Moriches community also left a mark on his heart, he said. "I was most impressed by the people of Moriches who were so touched by the crash, they raised funds to erect their own monument at the cemetery," Scott said.

Scott also spent time at a reconstructed Flight 800.

The reconstruction, he said, took place at "a huge former Grumman hangar in Calverton. It was chilling to see it put back together with a gaping hole in the left side. I still get chills thinking about it."

And, he said: "Ironically, the day I interviewed James Hall at the site, he was called away in the middle — when they found JFK Jr.’s body near Martha’s Vineyard."

ABC has also aired a docuseries on the crash victims' families.