While people across the country celebrated Osama bin Laden's death, Tucsonan Maggie Dyet appreciated the feeling of "justice" that came along with it.
Dyet's brother-in-law Jeff Coombs was on Flight 11- the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center - on Sept. 11, 2001.
Almost a decade later, Dyet said she still vividly remembers the morning.
She burst into tears when one of her sisters called to say Jeff might have been on the flight, and she collapsed to the ground and bawled when she learned he was dead.
"I just lost it. Those next days were filled with unbelievable pain."
Although she said the pain persists, Sunday's "joyful" news "brought a bit of justice," she said.
"Our family is going crazy on Facebook," said Dyet, who said a mistaken text message from her daughter first tipped her off to the news. The message asked: "Is Obama dead?" She immediately flipped on the news.
People are also reading…
She said she was cynical about ever seeing this day.
" 'He's hiding in the desert, and they're never going to find him,' I thought. I never dreamed that it would be like this."
She said she spoke to her sister Christie, Jeff's wife, Sunday evening and encouraged the Boston-area resident to "scream and holler and throw things, if she needed to."
"It doesn't change things. Jeff is still gone," her sister told her through sobs.
"I said, 'Yeah, but he is probably dancing in Heaven.' "
She said her sister hates the word "closure," and although she's not too fond of it herself, she said Sunday's news is a move in the right direction.
"It's something. Maybe we'll be a little bit safer. Maybe we can hope that there will be some peace."
Contact reporter Marisa Gerber at mgerber@azstarnet.com or at 573-4142.
