Families Mourning Locally And Abroad On 30th Anniversary Of Pan Am Bombing That Killed 270 People

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MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.  (CBS) -- Memorial services were held in Lockerbie, Scotland and here at home Friday to honor the 270 people killed when a bomb brought Pan Am Flight 103 down over the Scottish town 30 years ago.

In Lockerbie, a bagpiper played as wreaths were laid at a memorial with the names of the 270 victims.

More Americans died in the bombing than in any other terrorist attack before Sept. 11, 2001.

The brother of a woman from Mount Laurel, New Jersey died in the tragedy. She told Eyewitness News the grieving process doesn't end.

Kara Weipz and her teenage son are preparing for a somber anniversary.

When Weipz was just 15, her brother, Rick Monetti, was aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when a bomb exploded, killing everyone on board.

"There's always that sense that there's someone missing," Weipz said.

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Now, three decades later, she's joining other victims' families to remember those killed in the air and on the ground when the plane exploded.

"We speak their names and that's the point," Weipz said. "It's remembering. Not only remembering these 270 people who died, but its also remembering what happened so it doesn't repeat."

The timing of the anniversary comes at a pivotal point in Weipz's life.

"As my brother was killed, he was a junior in college studying abroad, I'm about to send my oldest off to college," she said. "In about eight months, I will put him on a plane to fly five hours to go to school and start his life. I am understanding a lot about what my parents went through."

Lockerbie was the biggest mass murder on British soil in recent history -- the majority on board were American.

"It is amazing what this group of families has accomplished over the last 30 years," Weipz said. "The changes that have been made and even the things that have come about after this tragedy in the way we do police work and investigations."

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Several memorials are being held to remember the somber anniversary. A new permanent memorial to the victims was unveiled at FBI headquarters.

"When you stop asking 'why,' which is very hard, because you don't understand why," Weipz said. "Do I wish it never happened? Every single day. But it did. So what do we do with that? You have to try and make the world a better place."

The tragedy was the first time the FBI collaborated with another country for an investigation.