Lauren ZimaCarol King-Eckersley gave up her newborn son in 1967, when she was 19 years old, and unmarried. Now, she's 65, and after her husband died earlier this year, she started searching for that longlost son.
But her search ended with a tragic discovery. She was led to a website honoring 35 Syracuse University students. One face stood out: that of Kenneth Bissett.
He looked just like her father. She checked his birthday, and made the connection. But then she realized the website was a memorial site.
"I said, 'My God. It's him.' But I said, 'Why are they only showing a part of his life? That's not right.'
"It was right. And I just said, 'My God. My baby's dead.'"
Bissett was her longlost baby boy, and he and the other students had died in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. He had been flying home after spending a term in London.
Bissett was 21 when he died. King-Eckersley, who lives in Oregon, said it had always been her hope that one day the son she gave away would show up at her door. (Via The Independent)
NBC reports his adoptive parents also passed away, and King-Eckersley attended a memorial service for those 35 students in October, marking the 25th anniversary of the bombing.
She said it was an amazing feeling to attend the service — that she had thought of Bissett every day since having him, and that now, she's feeling the pain of loss. 259 people were killed on board Pan Am flight 103, which was heading from London to New York on Dec. 21, 1988. A BBC documentary telling more of her story airs Monday night.
