Karen Silkwood died in a car accident on her way to meet a reporter from the New York Times 50 years ago this week. She had worked at Crescent Nuclear Facility, been a union worker, and been a whistleblower.
People thought she was going to bring papers about safety problems and quality control at the Kerr-McGee Plutonium Plant. After she died, those papers were never found, and authorities said the crash was caused by Silkwood falling asleep at the wheel of one car.
Her strange death has been in the news for decades, and KOCO 5 looked into it for two years. A “KOCO 5 Investigates” special was the end result of the probe.
Before the show aired, KOCO 5 invited Silkwood’s family and people who knew about the case to watch it. In general, we think they were glad that people are still interested in her story.
The show “KOCO 5 Investigates: Karen Silkwood and the 50-year coverup” was watched by Silkwood’s son, nieces, family, and people who have become family.As they watched our story, you could see how they responded to things they heard or saw for the first time because of our research.
“I like it. Michael Meadows, Silkwood’s son, said, “It seems like a strange thing to say when you are looking into someone’s death.” “But it is nice for me to know there are other people still interested in what happened, getting the truth after all these years.
In our show, Silkwood’s granddaughters said they heard their grandmother’s voice for the first time. “She sounds like our aunt.” Silkwood’s granddaughter said, “That sounds like our aunt. We looked at each other and said that.”
The family said they still don’t know what happened to Silkwood and are hoping that stories like KOCO 5’s can help solve the case.
“It’s nice to see that people are still asking questions.” Meadows said, “I just worry that we are running out of time to really end the story.”
Jason Royer is helping Out Silkwood’s family. His dad, Clady “Joe” Royer, worked as a private investigator on the case. He watched the show with his family as well.
“My dad was a great person, and I want to finish his legacy in that and make him proud,” he said. He also thinks that someone knows something.
“They need to come forward and step up to do what is right and say, ‘Yes, this happened, and this is the truth,” he said. She also said, “We are all still here waiting for answers.”