Alexander Pinczowski, 29, and his longtime girlfriend had secretly married in 2013, she revealed to family while they searched for him after the bombings.
The New York man who died in last week’s terror attacks in Belgium had secretly married the love of his life nearly three years ago but the pair kept their nuptials a secret as they planned their a traditional ceremony, according to reports.
Alexander Pinczowski, 29, and his 26-year-old sister, Sascha, Dutch citizens living in New York, were among the 31 people killed in one of three coordinated bombings in Brussels on March 22.
As his wife, Cameron Cain, anxiously searched for news of her husband and sister-in-law, she revealed to her family that the pair had wed in 2013, her father told the Associated Press.
They “wanted to have all the immigration paperwork done, and Alex’s career path more stabilized, before coming to us and planning a traditional Southern Church wedding in North Carolina,” where Cain is from, her father James Cain said.
The news was “the bright spot on our otherwise anguishing week,” he said.
Pinczowski had reportedly traveled to the Netherlands to work on a business venture that he and Cameron planned to start, and was on way home to the United States with his sister when they were killed.
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Alexander was on the phone with his mother when the line went dead when the first airport explosion went off.
Loved ones searched for answers about the siblings’ whereabouts for two days before learning that they had been killed, confirming their worst fears when they saw neither Alexander nor Sascha’s name on the Belgian government’s list of survivors.
“So we knew their fate at that point. It’s of course a tragic loss for everyone. But knowing that they were together, and will now be together for eternity, in a way that brings a little bit of piece,” James Cain, a former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, told AP.
Cain told WNCN he traveled to Brussels to help the Pinczowski family make funeral arrangement for the brother and sister.
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“Sascha was just full of life, I'd say effervescent. Very outgoing, very sociable. She had a great network of friends in New York and over here in Europe,” he said of the Marymount Manhattan College graduate.
In November, Sascha reportedly took to social media to warn against demonizing Muslims, saying it only served the agenda of extremists., posting on Facebook after the November Paris attacks:
“Ignorant spreading of anti-Muslim sentiment and propaganda does nothing but benefit ISIS,” she posted on Facebook after the November Paris attacks.
Her mother reposted Sascha’s message after her death, writing: “this message of tolerance from our dear daughter Sascha.”
Cain described the siblings as very different, telling AP that, ”Alex was of course older and very much the big brother to Sascha. Alex was—and I’m proud to say—my son-in-law, which we just found out last week.”
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