Couple Watched Over Victim’s Body for 34 Hours After His Passenger Plane Was Bombed, Then They Met His Family

• In a new CNN Original Series, a Scottish couple connects with the family of Frank Ciulla, whose body they found after the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in 1988
• Frank’s daughter says meeting the Connells was as “life defining” as the crash
• The two families have stayed in touch over the decades

It’s been nearly four decades after Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, but a local couple who discovered the body of one of the 270 victims still remain friends with his widow and children.

On Dec. 21, 1988, a flight bound for New York City exploded over the quaint Scottish town less than 40 minutes after departing London’s Heathrow Airport, according to the FBI. Pieces of the Boeing 747 and the bodies of 259 passengers and crew were scattered over 845 square miles. Eleven people in the village also died.

Like other residents of Lockerbie, Hugh Connell and wife Margaret Connell went to investigate after debris fell in front of their home and across their fields that evening. That’s when they discovered Frank Ciulla’s body, face down and under his seat.

The farmers then made the decision to watch over Ciulla until his remains were recovered by authorities, which took almost 34 hours.

“We developed quite a love for ‘our boy,’ as we called him,” Hugh Connell said in a joint interview with Margaret in the new CNN Original Series, Lockerbie: The Bombing of Pan Am 103, which premieres on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. ET. on CNN.

Although the couple used that term of endearment, thinking he was quite young, Ciulla was actually a 45-year-old executive for Chase Manhattan Bank with a wife and kids.

Back in New Jersey, Frank’s wife, Mary Lou Ciulla, was at home when she first heard the news of the crash on the TV, only later realizing it was her husband’s flight.

“It was as awful as you can imagine,” Frank’s youngest child, Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, tells PEOPLE. At the time she was 17 and remembers being called home from school to wait with her mom, brother and sister for more information — and it wasn’t until 3 a.m. the following morning that Pan Am called to confirm Frank had checked into the flight.

“For that period of time, there was always hope that somehow maybe he wasn’t on the flight,” says Michelle, who was looking forward to spending Christmas together as a family after her dad came back from an extended work trip.

With most of their information coming from news stations, the family had to wait 10 days for Frank’s body to be identified — but it wouldn’t be until the summer of 1992 until they learned about the Connells’ role in discovering his remains.

The Ciullas first heard about the Connells through another American family that had traveled to Scotland in search of answers — but, as Michelle explains, they were “scared” to reach out because they weren’t sure what the Connells had to share.

Fortunately, meeting the couple was the beginning of a new wave of healing.

“It was as life defining as the crash itself,” says Michelle of going to the Connells’ farm with her mother and brother, “because we found out they found him 20 minutes after the crash.”

This meant that Frank’s body hadn’t been alone for 10 days, like they originally believed.

“They took it as their responsibility to protect him, and to make sure that they were checking on him through the night,” says Michelle. “I can’t even tell you the relief that was for all of us.”

However, even today, all the answers surrounding who was responsible for the act of terrorism remain unknown.

After a yearslong worldwide investigation, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for the murder of 270 people, but was later freed on compassionate grounds following his cancer diagnosis in 2009. Another Libyan national, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, also faced charges in the trial, but was acquitted.

This May, Abu Agila Masud, who has been accused of making the bomb, will go to trial in the U.S. He has denied the charges, according to the BBC.

While some family members believe the courts made the right decision, others featured in the series believe other actors may have been involved. Executive producer Nancy Strang hopes the show will shed light on both these larger political forces at work in the case – and the “humanity” that emerged during and after the tragedy.

“What becomes clear in these cases is that the geopolitical elements and the relationships between nation states ends up taking priority over the families and the victims – and even the truth about who is responsible,” Strang tells PEOPLE. “That’s never stopped surprising me.”

The British producer has a personal connection to the bombing. She explains that her great aunt, who was a resident of Lockerbie, also discovered a victim on the ground — and that the weight of the tragedy continues to loom large for locals.

“For Scottish farmers, it’s not a normal thing to talk about your emotions or to talk about something that’s traumatic,” Strang adds. “But it’s clear they’re still living with that trauma 35 years on.”

Towards the end of the series, the Connells welcome Frank’s widow, Mary Lou, now 81, and Michelle, now 53, into their home for a moving reunion.

“I was a different person when I came and I was a different person when I left,” Mary Lou told the couple. Her daughter, Michelle, feels the same way.

“It brought back humanity to the whole thing,” adds Michelle. “And it gave us reason to believe in kindness and love at a time where we needed that.”

Since that first visit, the Ciullas have traveled to visit the Connells nine times, and the farmers have made the trip to New Jersey, too. Mary Lou has also been pen pals with Margaret for decades, with the pair exchanging letters a couple of times a year.

Now with two adult children of her own and a career as a media literacy educator, Michelle still goes back to the Scottish countryside where her dad’s body was found.

“It’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful,” says Michelle. “It isn’t this fire and flame that you saw on the news.”

The spot is also home to a tree, which the Connells planted in Frank’s memory.

“Where we feel closest [to my dad] is that space,” says Michelle. “It’s very important for us to visit that space, but it’s even more important to know that it’s there. That tree stands as a memory to him, it’s just so special.”