But for victims relatives like Carol Ziemkiewicz, formerly of Rutherford, who lost her daughter Jill Ann in the TWA 800 fireball, it is still a troubling story of lives cut short an open wound of the heart that never seems to heal. * Berthe, Line, Belleville, France Bedison was a coach and teacher to several of the 16 students from the towns high school French Club who perished on TWA Flight 800. * Kevorkian, Capt. He attracted an unusually eclectic, though uniformly wealthy, clientele, including Richard Gere, Mick Jagger and Yves Saint Laurent. * Simmons, Olivia, 50, schoolteacher and off-duty part-time TWA employee, Orange, N.J. to Stephanie Gaetke) Unnamed passenger flying with Elsie Ostachiewicz, * Paquet, Huguette, France Sign up now for Good Morning, Pennsylvania, and get the most important headlines delivered free to your inbox by 6 a.m. Monday-Friday. The community gathered at the school to mourn. * Olsen, Rebecca Jane, 20, junior history major at University of Georgia, of Macon, Ga. Two other men in the cockpit, Capt. Thirteen minutes after TWA flight 800 took off on an otherwise clear night, the plane was rocked by an explosion, majestic and seemingly indestructible commercial jetliner blew, WCBS interviews Mike Kelly about the 25th anniversary of TWA Flight 800, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. to Patricia Anderson) * Gasq, Clair, France * Pohlmann, Rico, 62, fashion photographer, of New York City and Berlin A soft-spoken man in a world dominated by hyperbole and high tension, he took the dismissal in typically level-headed style. PAM LYCHNER DESCRIBED HERSELF AS A ""very weak person'' before she was attacked in 1990 by a man who had already been twice convicted for sexually assaulting other women. * Lohan, Britta, Barcelona, Spain and transmitted securely. * Chanson, Ludovic, 11, exchange student returning to family, of Garancieres, France The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. The reports are being sought by the families for legal purposes. * Meade, Sandra, 42, TWA Flight 800 crew, of Camano Island, Wash. Harkness, Eric, 23, off-duty TWA employee, of Columbus, Ohio. My family will never be the same.. "She was already, even at 15 she had lists of colleges and rankings and ratings so she was really focused on her future," Jez said. This is a history lesson. Murta, Angela. Then, he spotted a body. But TWA Flight 800 on July 17, 1996 was to be her coming-out party of sorts her first international flight. "It's like a car smashing into a brick wall at 400 m.p.h.," said Suffolk County Medical Examiner Charles Wetli. The TWA flight attendants met 21 years ago when they were working a Paris-to-New York flight together, and they had flown as a team ever since. official website and that any information you provide is encrypted Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Just after the crash, FBI investigators quickly focused their attention on the plane's forward area, which contains a cargo hold where luggage and other materials are stored. * Hansen, Lars, Groenbakken, Norway * Miller, Kyle, 29, hardware store co-owner, of Andreas, Pa. (married to Amy Miller; their trip was to celebrate fifth wedding anniversary) The Montoursville group was Jessica Aikey, Daniel Baszczewski, Michelle Bohlin, Jordan Bower, Monica Cox, Deborah Dickey (chaperone), Douglas Dickey (chaperone), Carol Fry (chaperone), Claire Gallagher, Julia Grimm, Rance Hettler, Amanda Karschner, Jody Loudenslager, Cheryl Nibert, Kim Rogers, Judith Rupert (chaperone), Larissa Uzupis, Jacqueline Watson, Monica Weaver, Eleanor Wolfson (chaperone) and Wendy Wolfson. The mother opened her box of memories and the pain and darkness poured out again. * Harris, Chelsea, New York, N.Y. 2012 Apr;83(4):412-7. doi: 10.3357/asem.3155.2012. But one customer said the motives are far more complicated. Also scattered in the surf or deep below were the bodies of the 230 victims. Accessibility The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the EVEN AFTER THE MYSTERY OF what happened to TWA Flight 800 is eventually solved, images of the 230 passengers who died in the crash will endure. Later, we monitored the trail of conspiracy theories. * Gasq, Francis, Palm Harbor, Fla. After finishing her TWA training in the spring of 1996, Jill worked a few domestic flights. * Miller, Amy, 29, hardware store comptroller, of Andreas, Pa. (married to Kyle Miller) Family members left the following morning by bus to New York. Clicking on a highlighted name will take you to a short biography of that person. The flowers, given by family members of victims, were placed in the ocean by a Coast Guard rescue craft crew as part of a memorial service. O'Hara, Caitlin, 13, of Irvington, N.Y. (daughter of Janet and John O'Hara). * Gaetke, Stephanie, 33, owned landscaping business; of Kansas City, Mo. * Watson, Jill, 32, architect, of Pittsburgh; daughter of ThermoKing president James F. Watson (father was not on the flight) government site. * D'Iorio, Christine Bailey, mother of four, waitress, of Prato, Italy (married to Pietro d'Iorio) Just before he boarded the plane, he stopped to make one phone call. But theres a big hole in the family.. The 54-page transcript released Monday during the opening of federal hearings into the July 17, 1996, disaster was described by investigators as routine conversation, revealing nothing unusual leading up to the blast aboard the Paris-bound flight that killed all 230 people aboard. Time doesnt heal the wounds. Having a great time and then that happened, holy mackerel.". * Silverman, Marietta (Etta) , 53 (married to Eugene Silverman, mother of Candace and Jamie) He said the bodies will be identified through medical records and interview materials. All rights reserved (About Us). Photos: TWA Flight 800 With help from the Navy as well as contracted fishing trawlers scouring the ocean floor, investigators were able to recover more than 95% of the * Lamour, Yvon, France * Coiner, Constance, 48, associate professor of English and literature at State University of New York at Binghamton, of Binghamton, N.Y. (mother of The Charbonniers were only two of several veteran TWA employees on board Flight 800. When the NTSB moved the reconstruction to the Training Center, it did so with the stipulation that it would be used solely as a training resource and never as an exhibit or public display. Yee, Judith, 53, former personnel executive with Bristol-Myers Corp., of New York City. His co-workers and friends had hardly gotten used to the idea of his leaving when news of the disaster hit. Profiles M - Z. It is heavily damaged. CREATIVE. * Amlund, Svein, Norway A lot of people have moved on, Carol said. * Scott, Joseph, 13, of Stevenson, Ala. (son of Michael and Barbara Scott). CAPTION: On a dock in Brooklyn, a section of the 747 jumbo jet that crashed Wednesday night is hauled away as part of the investigation into the cause. WebFind Twa Flight 800 stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. * Rojany, Yon, 19, headed to Rome to try out for European basketball team, of Los Angeles Its such an overwhelming tragedy, Whitman said in a recent interview. The autopsies had not found any physical or chemical evidence on the victims' bodies that proved that a bomb brought down the jumbo jet with 230 people aboard, Wetli said. * Gallagher, Claire, student from Montoursville, Pa. The National Transportation Safety Board report of the investigation was applied to correlate individual injuries with seat location and structural damage. The medical examiner has released the names of 32 victims who have been identified. * Campbell, Richard G. , 63, TWA Flight 800 flight engineer, of Ridgefield, Conn. Five years later, Judge would perish in the 9/11 terrorist attackas he ministered to firefighters and police at New York Citys World Trade Centers twin towers. More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23, The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial, A retired New Jersey cheerleading coach has come to Montoursville every year, Sign up now for Good Morning, Pennsylvania. On board were 16 students and five chaperones from Montoursville Area High School in Lycoming County, Pa. Here are the stories of some of the victims who were struck down off the coast of New York last week: THEY STARTED GATHERING AT montoursville High School just hours after the crash. The cargo area has been the site of explosives in past bombings, including that of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. * Wolfson, Wendy, student from Montoursville, Pa. (daughter of Eleanor Wolfson) * Privette, Glenda, 46, recently resigned as personnel manager at Beaulieu Carpet Plant in Bridgeport, Ala., of Stevenson, Ala. (mother of Thomas Weatherby) Joseph A. Kirby and Tribune Staff Writer. * Maresq, Nicolas, France * Christopher, Janet, 48, TWA flight 800 crew, of Brodheadsville, Pa. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in New Jersey,please subscribe or activate your digital account today. He said most have massive injuries, adding that it would be "irresponsible and inhumane" to allow families to see the victims, or even to see photographs of their bodies. ""She just commanded respect from elected officials and from the criminal-justice system,'' says Andrew Kahan, director of Houston's Crime Victims Office. Theywere traveling to Paris with five adult chaperones. * Richter, Annelyse, Brousse, France Wendy Wolfson) (married to Christine Diiorio) Baggage and other items normally stored in the front section of the plane have been discovered in a debris field closest to John F. Kennedy International Airport, from where the Paris-bound jet departed, further buttressing investigators' belief that the explosion was in that part of the plane. We followed the video footage of fishermen and recreational boaters who rushed to the scene from docks in the Moriches Inlet in the hope that some passengers and crew might survive. FOIA Some, however, believe the plane was hit by a missile strike from a terrorist or an accidental launch by the U.S. Navy. He began his career as a protg of Andy Warhol's, honing his visual sense by working at Warhol's famed Factory studio and going antiquing with the father of pop art. * Bower, Jordan, student from Montoursville, Pa. (sister of Chrisha Siebert, cousin of Stephanie Gaetke) It was one of many moments since the crash of TWA Flight 800 when personal feelings intruded on the practiced professionalism of disaster workers. JACQUES AND CONSTANCE CHARBONNIER fell in love on an airplane. Snyder, Capt. Bogard was a former teacher at Montoursville High School during the time of the crash. * Brooks, Ruth, 79, of Edgartown, Mass. After receiving his Harvard degree in biological anthropology last month, he was returning to France on Flight 800 to train with the French national team. He acknowledged that families of the victims are extremely impatient for their loved ones to be identified; 16 have been tentatively identified and the dentist colleague has been positively identified along with his wife traveling with him on Flight 800. "That center part of the aircraft is of interest," said Francis. Benjamin, Joan Among the most valuable aids, said Wetli, is a picture of the victim smiling; the teeth in the picture could be matched against those of bodies. His grave in Totowais now a shrine for those who want him proclaimed a Roman Catholic saint. Between calendar year 2015 and 2019 the NTSB trained a combined annual average of 2,622 students including NTSB investigators and staff, and external stakeholders involved in transportation safety, advocacy, family assistance and emergency response. Background: * Torche, Melinda, 47, TWA Flight 800 crew, Mission Viejo, Calif. * Uzupis, Larissa, student from Montoursville, Pa. * Van Epps, Lois, mid-50s, English teacher at Edgemont Junior and Senior High School in Scarsdale, N.Y., of New York City * Chemtob, Monique, Los Angeles With every anniversary that comes and goes, those in Montoursville hope people will continue to remember the lives lost. Story, William R. , president and chief executive officer of National American Insurance Co. of California. Almost all the students who died were classic overachievers, the kind of model students that parents boast about to anyone who will listen. * Johnson, Jed, 47, interior designer, of New York. A former TWA flight attendant herself, Lychner was taking her daughters Shannon, 10, and Katie, 8, to France to see the gardens that inspired Claude Monet's paintings (Shannon had just begun to copy the masterpieces at home). * Romagna, Barbara, 76, of Sun City Center, Fla. * Gabor, Daniel, 27, ran middle-distances for University of Arkansas, of Fayetteville, Ark., and Walnut Creek, Calif. Bedisons son, then a high school senior, considered joining the French Club on its trip to Paris. She was a reporter on a children's television show and an accomplished pianist. 8600 Rockville Pike An official website of the United States government. TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747, bound for Paris, France with 230 people aboard, crashed July 17, 1996, minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport. The TWA family was hit unusually hard by the crash. On those days, when she peruses the boxes with photographs and letters and poems about her daughter, Ziemkiewicz is reminded once again of what might have been. The medical examiner, Dr. Charles Wetli, had to get permission from federal agencies investigating the crash before releasing it. * Loffredo, Elaine, 50, off-duty TWA employee, of Glastonbury, Conn. (married * Dupont, Guy, France The reconstruction, housed in the 30,000 square foot hangar along with other training tools at the NTSBs Training Center, has been used in the NTSBs accident investigation training courses for nearly 20 years. They flew the New York-Paris route, one of their favorites, as often as five times a month, departing on Wednesdays and returning home to Northport, N.Y., on Sundays. From ancient times, history has been pockmarked withsudden, unexpected tragedy that rips apart the lives of ordinary people. A comparison of these injuries with those of takeoff and landing crashes showed differences in injury pattern and severity. Mercurio, Giuseppe, of Palo del Colle, Italy, produce-stand worker and part-owner of jewelry store near Bari, Italy (married to Anna d'Alessandro) * Percy, Marion, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. However, advances in investigative techniques such as 3-D scanning and drone imagery, lessen the relevance of the large-scale reconstruction in teaching modern investigative techniques. Thirteen minutes after TWA flight 800 took off on an otherwise clear night, the plane was rocked by an explosion in a fuel tank near the wings. * Berthe, Maurice, Belleville, France When Jill Ziemkiewicz stepped into the fuselage of the Boeing 747 at JFK on that July night 25 years ago, she wore the TWA uniform a blue, knee-length skirt, a white blouse, a blue scarf knotted around her neck like a cowgirl. * Silverman, Candace, 22, of Los Angeles (daughter of Eugene and Marietta Silverman) * Dodge, Warren, 50, off-duty TWA employee, of Brentwood, N.H., and Ashland, Mass. (married to Jay Anderson) Whenever they turn on their televisions, the oceanfront resort of East Moriches is associated not with pleasure but with the horror of the Flight 800 crash, since it is the community closest to the crash site 10 miles south in the ocean. * Bohlin, Michelle, student from Montoursville, Pa. But for men and women untrained in dealing with trauma -- a group that includes thousands of vacationers who had come to this area for rest and restoration -- the pain of the crash is much harder to bear. * Braman-Mosberg, Rosemary, 47, off-duty TWA employee, of Hoboken, N.J. * Haurani, Dr. Ghassan, of Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. (married to Nina Haurani) family, friends or officials (ages and occupations given where * Lacailledesse, Antoine, France * Melotin, Grace, 48, TWA Flight 800 crew, of Corona, N.Y.; Jupiter, Fla. Dozens of people visited the memorial room to remember and reflect- including Maynard Bogard. It took months, but the remains of every victim were eventually found, aviation investigators said. For several years she worked in the impressionist-art department at Sotheby's, the renowned auction house. External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. * Nibert, Cheryl, student from Montoursville, Pa. Our Transportation Disaster Assistance division and I have connected with representatives of TWA Flight 800 family groups to help ensure families of those who perished on TWA Flight 800 learned of our decision directly from the NTSB before our public announcement, said Bryson. ""I told him yes.'' Tribune news services contributed to this report. A critical analysis of the fatal injuries resulting from the Continental flight 1713 airline disaster: evidence in favor of improved passenger restraint systems. All 230 people on board died including 16 students and five chaperones from the Montoursville Area High School French Club headed to Paris. The names of 210 victims identified from TWA Flight 800: Aikens-Bellamy, Sandra, New York Aikey, Jessica, Montoursville, Pa. Alex, Christian, France Allen, Otis Lamar, Marietta, Ga. Amlund, Svein, Norway Anderson, Jule, Warson Woods, Mo. 26 years after Flight 800 crash, victims' friends, family still gather TWA Flight 800 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches on July 17, 1996. Skip Pulcrano, a retired cheerleading coach from New Jersey, helps Sharon Goss place a flower in the ground in the memorial park in Montoursville for the victims of TWA Flight 800. * Carven, Paula, off-duty TWA flight attendant and part-time real-estate agent, of Bel Air, Md. The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). * Ersoz, Namik, 64, anesthesiologist, of Pittsburgh (married to Clara Ersoz, uncle of David Babb) "There were injury patterns that indicated there was an explosion from below. Example video title will go here for this video. 2017 Apr 20;25(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s13049-017-0384-y. We were staring at this massive debris field that was still on fire, Cashman recalled. The plane, which crashed off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing 230 people, is scheduled to be dismantled and moved to a at George Washington University crash reconstruction training facility in Virginia. Working with two other women, she helped establish Justice for All, a Houston-based organization that lobbies for victims' rights. Head, thoracic, and abdominal injuries were multiple and severe, contributing to the mortality of the occupants. He also decided to sue Lychner, 37, for the emotional trauma the case had caused him. * Hazelton, Sandra, of Beachwood, Ohio, a high school French teacher taking her daughter to Paris as a college graduation gift. * Luevano, Jr., Elias, 42, off-duty TWA employee, of Albuquerque, N.M. * Mazzola, Salvator, 36, of Palermo, Italy. * Krikhan, Margot, 51, a bookkeeper at the Montessori School in Washington, Conn., of Brookfield, Conn. (wife of Dan Gaetke, cousin of Chrisha and Brenna Siebert). * Miller, Elizabeth, in her 50s, of Tenafly, N.J. (married to Robert Miller) * DiLuccio, Debra Collins, 47, TWA flight 800 crew, of Agropoli, Italy; formerly of Athens, Ga. 1994 Nov;37(5):826-30. doi: 10.1097/00005373-199411000-00020. * Martin, Betty Ruth, 69, of Belleville, Ill. * Aikens-Bellamy, Sandra, 49, off-duty TWA employee, of New York City Here is a complete list of the 230 people, including four cockpit crew members and 14 flight attendants, aboard TWA Flight 800: -A- Aikens-Bellamy, Sandra, 49, of St. * Rupert, Judith, high school secretary, Montoursville, Pa. * Schuldt, Michael, 51, TWA Flight 800 Crew, Safety Harbor, Fla. (daughter of Sandra Hazelton) * Griffith, Joanne, 39, off-duty TWA employee, of Brooklyn, N.Y. HAUPPAUGE, New York (CNN) -- The Suffolk County medical examiner has released the first autopsy report on the victims from TWA Flight 800. ""She always brightened my day.''. All rights reserved. It's not Hollywood and it does not happen overnight.". Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Analysis of the data revealed no global correlation between seat position and pattern of injury. * Johnson, Eleanor, 50, retired vice president of editing firm, of Springfield, Va. (married to Leonard Johnson) He says he knew nearly all the students on board the flight. Vacationer Joanne Bechhoff canceled a birthday party she had booked for tonight on the sandy volleyball court at the water's edge because she said she simply could not bear to be in a place so closely linked to such a huge tragedy. What caused it, we don't know.". * Crandell, Pamela, 28, a first-grade teacher, of Tracy Landing, Md. *Bluestone, Nicolas, Pound Ridge, N.Y. * Notes, Gadi, 29, senior associate at investment banking division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc., Israeli citizen; New York. Investigators say the plane broke up at 13,700 feet, then burst into flames at 9,000 feet, falling into the Atlantic just east of Long Island. TWA Flight 800 did not take off until around 8:30 p.m. Just after 5 p.m., Jill phoned her mother in Rutherford. The NTSB A quarter-century later, Whitman said she is still troubled by the loss of life on TWA Flight 800. An off-duty TWA pilot, Donald Gough of Mill Valley, Calif., and his wife, Ana, a TWA flight attendant, also were passengers. Then, two more. Listen: WCBS interviews Mike Kelly about the 25th anniversary of TWA Flight 800. * Cox, Monica, student from Montoursville, Pa. He had won a scholarship to attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. WebHAUPPAUGE, New York (CNN) -- The Suffolk County medical examiner has released the first autopsy report on the victims from TWA Flight 800. * Pares, Serge, New Haven, Conn. Carven, Jay, 9, of Bel Air, Md. Silverman, Eugene, 54, a Bel-Air, Calif., tax attorney (married to Marietta Silverman, father of Candace and Jamie) I think about her all the time so it really. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. available), from The Associated Press. (married to Ghassan Haurani) "We've had marina customers afraid to come down," said co-owner Harvey Gessin. But he is still troubled by what he saw on the night the jetliner crashed. "You know they were all good kids," Bogard said. The U.S. Navy and the FBI, in conjunction with the National Safety Transportation Board, launched an extensive investigation of the incident, collecting the scattered wreckage of the aircraft out of the Atlantic and reconstructing the plane in a closely guarded hangar. * Krick, Oliver, 25, TWA Flight 800 flight engineer, of St. Louis. The TWA 800 aircraft was a 747-100 model, built and delivered in 1971. Lessons from a large trauma center: impact of blunt chest trauma in polytrauma patients-still a relevant problem. ""Change is good,'' he said in the memo he wrote to his staff. "I believe they were all totally unconscious or dead by the time they hit the water," Wetli told The Associated Press. The site is secure. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. * Ziemkiewicz, Jill, 24, TWA Flight 800 crew, of Rutherford, N.J. © Copyright 1996 The Associated Press. But no matter how many magazines featured his work, his friends -- including childhood neighbor Joan Lunden of ""Good Morning America'' -- say Johnson never lost his sweet, self-effacing shyness. . A comparison was performed against injury data from takeoff and landing incidents. But mostly they were silent, huddling together and vainly attempting to turn raw emotions into words. The trip to France was a reward to herself for a wonderful year, one that included the finishing of her second book. A tireless volunteer for several New York nonprofit programs, she was also an active member of the Connelly Foundation, a family philanthropy that made grants to education, arts and social-service organizations. At 8:31 p.m., the Boeing 747-100 exploded over East Moriches, New York, 12 miles off the coast of Long Island. A statue of an angel stands watch in a memorial for 16 Montoursville High School students and their five chaperones who were killed in 1996 when TWA Flight 800 crashed. Two Coast Guard crew members who spent two days and nights pulling bodies from the ocean were so traumatized by what they had seen and touched that they were in serious emotional distress, according to local watermen who know them. Forensic tests have not discovered traces of chemical substances that would indicate an explosive. The memorial, which also includes gardens, has flags from the 13 countries of the victims, a curved black granite memorial with the names of the victims engraved on one side and a wave releasing 230 seagulls on the other. ""In a business as tough as this one, he was truly one of the nice guys,'' says Larry Kamm, who had worked for many years with O'Hara. The report on passenger Susan Hill, a * Siebert, Chrisha, 28, taught theater at Rockhurst College, of Kansas City, Mo. JED JOHNSON, 47, WAS FAST BECOMING one of the most acclaimed interior designers in the country. Mychal Judge who comforted the grieving. I dont think thats true, said John Seaman of Albany, New York, who lost a niece aboard TWA Flight 800 and went on to lead a coalition of victims relatives who campaigned for airline safety. (mother of Katrina M. Rose) In reality, it is a very slow and tedious process. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. * Straus, Carine, Paris. (sister of Brenna Siebert, cousin of Stephanie Gaetke) Students, parents, teachers, clergymen -- there are only 5,000 people in this northern Pennsylvania hamlet, so it wasn't long before everyone knew that among the dead on Flight 800 were 16 students from the school's French Club and five adult chaperones. * Becker, Michelle, 19, a student at Georgia State University in Atlanta, of St. Petersburg, Fla. The Im going to the garden, Jill excitedly told her mother a reference to the Gardens at Versailles palace just outside of Paris that was once home to French royalty and is now a museum. What once might have seemed distant and limited to people far away has now become far more personal. -- Schuldt, Mike, 51, TWA Flight 800 Crew, Safety Harbor. Some people say time heals all wounds. J Trauma. * Gough, Analei Ralli, off-duty TWA flight attendant, of Mill Valley, Calif. (married to Donald Gough) Capital, of Greenwich, Conn. The investigation also led to a memorandum of understanding between the FBI and the NTSB regarding investigations of accidents resulting from intentional acts as well as evidence collection and preservation. Rose, Katrina M. , 26, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio. * Puichaud, Elizabeth, France. * Paquet, Ingrid, France Victim fragmentation patterns and seat location supplements crash data: American Airlines flight 587. Ralph Kevorkian, 58, of Garden Grove, Calif., and Capt. Eerie images of TWA Flight 800 in the Atlantic Ocean on July 17, 1996. We were born to be best friends.. * Krukar, Andrew, 40, an engineer at the Torrington Co. in Watertown, Conn., of Bridgewater, Conn. ""I mean, these were people you had just seen two days ago,'' said Shelby Dingler, 20. Disclaimer. * Wolfson, Eleanor, chaperone of Montoursville, Pa., school group (mother of The much-criticized Flight 800 investigation ended in late 1998, with investigators concluding that the explosion resulted from mechanical failure, not from a bomb or a missile., Wreaths and flowers float in the Atlantic Ocean Thursday, July 17, 1997, at the location where TWA Flight 800 crashed one year ago, killing all 230 people on board. Luggage and wiring and food and seats and fuel and pillows and blankets and peeled-off sections of the fuselage were scattered for miles on the ocean surface and across its sandy floor. At 8:02 p.m. on July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines Flight 800 left from John F. Kennedy International Airport bound for Paris. In this case, the victim was a Long Island dentist who had assisted forensic dentists in the medical examiner's office. As the Emmy-winning executive producer of ABC Sports, O'Hara, 39, oversaw all the network's sports broadcasts, including ""Monday Night Football'' and ""Wide World of Sports.'' Not only was TWA 800 one of the worst air disasters in U.S. history, it also raised questions about how America responds to conspiracies, how our government monitors the maintenance of aging commercial jetliners and how we treat relatives of victims. * Johnsen, Arlene E. , 60, TWA Flight 800 flight attendant, owned a bed and breakfast, of Grand Junction, Colo.