Posted on 08/20/2002 7:27:34 AM PDT by syriacus
NEW YORK - A police officer who died at the World Trade Center left a wife and four children - and, says another woman, two more children she secretly bore him.
Officer Liam Callahan's wife, Joan, learned about the other woman when Kimberly Diaz applied for death benefits in the fall, newspapers reported.
Since then, Mrs. Callahan has provided Diaz with DNA evidence taken from her children that could help Diaz prove that the Port Authority officer also fathered her two sons. The DNA will be compared to DNA samples taken from Diaz's children.
"My boys are finally going to get what they deserve," Diaz told the Daily News.
Joan Callahan's lawyer, Edward Hayes, said the DNA tests should be ready this week.
The remains of the 44-year-old officer have not been found.
If the DNA matches, Diaz's sons, 2-year-old Kieran and 4-month-old Liam, would be eligible for their father's Social Security benefits and victims' assistance compensation.
Diaz, 34, who worked in the Port Authority's communications department, is on leave. She met Callahan four years ago at the Journal Square PATH station in Jersey City where they both worked, but he didn't tell her he was married until she got pregnant, according to the News and the New York Post.
"I didn't leave him because I loved him," she told the News.
She said the officer gave her $200 a week for their son. He did not know she was pregnant again when he died.
"My doctor told me I got pregnant the day before he died," she told the News.
Callahan had spent the night at her house, leaving at 6 a.m. to go to work.
"He said he would call me later and that he loved me," she told the Post.
The officer told his wife, a 43-year-old nurse, that he was spending the night at a Port Authority police station in Jersey City so he would be ready for the early-morning shift, according to the Post.
Sept. 12 was the couple's 20th wedding anniversary.
The officer played the drums as a member of the Port Authority Pipe and Drum Band. He also volunteered with a New Jersey fire squad, served as a PTA president and attended church services regularly.
But ... it's not about the money.
Talk about STUPID.
I'm feeling charitable about this one. Maybe it's about the other woman wanting her sons to know that their father was a hero. Maybe both of these women realize that all of the children will be better of with this larger family including more children.
And, the money's there. I'd rather see it go to the children (if the DNA tests confirm the claim) than to all the charities that have been grabbing it for other purposes than to support victim's survivors.
My thoughts exactly. My wife gives me ten bucks a day. :) Sometimes I get 15 or 20 if I am looking particularly handsome that day. If I wanna have a six pack with the boys I have to plan ahead and eat light lunches a few days in a row :) I'd have to eat bread and water and have the financial wizardry of a Clinton treasury official to stretch that to $800 a month!
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