Joy Turns to Anguish for Daughters of Slain American

When the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer learned that the Palestinian hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro were about to surrender Wednesday, they joyously proclaimed a welcome home party for their parents. They joked that their mother would probably be angry at them for revealing her true age to the press.

“When I first heard the news, it was an incredible feeling,” said the couple’s eldest daughter, Lisa, 34. “I just held my breath and then I screamed, ‘Let the party begin!’ It feels like a giant anvil has been lifted off our chests.”

“I feel absolutely jubilant and very ecstatic,” added her 28-year-old sister Ilsa.

But shortly before 2 p.m., the Klinghoffers emotional roller coaster suddenly crashed. A journalist called the family’s apartment with a report from Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi that Leon Klinghoffer was missing and presumed dead, perhaps thrown into the sea.

Jerry Arbittier, the couple’s son-in-law, took that phone call.

“Has this been confirmed? Has it been confirmed?” he asked. Then there was long silence before Arbittier said he wanted to check with the State Department.

Neighbors in Shock

On the sidewalk outside the Manhattan apartment building where the Klinghoffers have lived for more than 20 years, neighbors who had been congratulating each other on the good news heard the shocking report. Some began to weep. Others just stared or shook their heads.

A few recalled that even though Klinghoffer, 69, had suffered two strokes and was partially paralyzed, he would sit in his wheel chair smoking a cigar in front of the white brick building greeting friends cheerfully.

The family’s short-lived jubilation had begun when a State Department official telephoned the Klinghoffer household to announce that all the passengers were released.

“The man from the State Department called and I answered the phone,” Arbittier said. “When he told us they were safe, we all started to shout.”

But after the shocking news in the call from the reporter, the couple’s daughters and family friends with them in the Greenwich Village apartment kept an open phone line to the State Department seeking confirmation.

‘Wonderful People’

Downstairs, in front of the building, residents could hardly believe the sudden change in news. “ I listened to the news. I heard everybody is safe. I know him for 13 years in the building. I saw him the day he left. I can’t believe it. I feel very sorry. They were wonderful people,” said Elyza Neyer, a neighbor.

“Even after his stroke, he would be out here every morning in his wheel chair, greeting people and asking after their children, just being a nice guy,” said Judy Tomasho, tears in her eyes.

“He loved to talk, to find out how things were going,” said another resident.

“Oh, my God. This morning they said he was all right,” added an elderly woman, who had just returned from the supermarket. “I am shaking. I have to go.”

In the lobby of the apartment house, a single question was asked over and over: “Why him, why did it have to happen to Leon?”

“Was he singled out because he was Jewish?” asked one man.

“How could this happen?” asked another.

At 7:15 p.m., Letti Simon, a close friend of the Klinghoffers, appeared on the sidewalk to make a statement. Dozens of reporters and cameramen who had kept a vigil all day and who had expressed their own shock at the sudden turn of events, clustered around the petite woman with short red hair and glasses.

Statement From Family

“I am making a statement on behalf of the Klinghoffer family,” Simon said. “We have received confirmation from the State Department as to the death of Leon Klinghoffer. We understand that Marilyn (his wife) is alive.

“The family will not be down this evening. It is a very difficult and personal time for them.”

The Klinghoffers and a group of relatives and friends from the New York metropolitan area had been planning their Mediterranean vacation for weeks. Even though Klinghoffer and several of the other travelers were elderly and frail, friends and relatives had sent them off believing the fun of being together and the change of scene would be beneficial.

Several members of the party missed the hijacking, which took place while they were on shore in Egypt visiting the Pyramids. Relatives of Klinghoffer’s traveling companions expressed shock Wednesday at his death, adding they were also relieved the ordeal was over for their own kin.

“It was hard to believe at first that it happened and it’s hard to believe now that it’s over,” said Kenneth Meskin of Short Hills, N.J. whose parents were held hostage on the boat.

Times researcher Siobhan Flynn also contributed to this story.