Exclusive: Missionary Whose Wife Was Killed

May 23, 2001 -- The American missionary whose wife and baby daughter were killed when their plane was shot down over the Amazon says there was no warning before a Peruvian fighter jet opened fire.

Jim Bowers and his wife Veronica, known as Roni, were traveling with their two children, 6-year-old Cory and 7-month-old Charity, when they first spotted the Peruvian jet on April 20. They were on their way to get a visa for Charity, whom they had recently adopted.

"I reached back and told Roni to wake Cory up because he'd want to see it," Bowers told ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer in his first interview since the tragedy.

Peruvian officials have said its air force mistook the missionary family's plane for drug smugglers, and that the Peruvian plane shot down the small craft only after warnings. But Bowers, 38, told PrimeTime Thursday there were no warning shots.

"This plane had to be a quarter-mile behind us and I don't care how loud the gun is, we're not going to know that he's shooting at us unless they had tracers," he said. He said a Peruvian air force commander he spoke to after the shootdown "told me there were no tracers."

Bowers also said the Peruvian plane never tipped its wings, the signal for another plane to land.

Bullets, Flames and the Amazon River

About an hour into their flight, Bowers recalls, there was a loud jolt.

"It's just like popcorn," he said. "There was just like a loud popping sound and things flying … It's hard to remember exactly the sequence of events or how long it took."

The veteran pilot at the controls, Kevin Donaldson, fought desperately to hold their smoking plane on course, but was forced to crash-land on the Amazon River.

"When we hit, we hit very hard, with my back turned and no seat belt on," Bowers said.

Donaldson, his legs shattered by bullets, fought his way through the pirhana-infested river and grabbed a pontoon for Cory to cling to.

Bowers, although injured, was holding onto Roni and Charity.

"I was just swimming backward, pushing the flames out of our way," he said.

"It was obvious," Bowers said, that his wife and baby were dead.

Trying to Understand Why

Villagers in a canoe rescued the survivors, who still cannot understand what happened.

"It doesn't make any sense whatsoever," said Bowers. "Even if we were drug runners, why shoot us down? Why not guide us into where they could confiscate the evidence and try us?"

PrimeTime has learned that the Peruvian air force radioed to the little propeller plane: "You have been intercepted by the Peruvian air force. Change course and go to the airfield. Should you not obey, we will proceed to shoot you down."

But the warning was broadcast on an emergency frequency, while the missionary plane used an ordinary frequency. Donaldson and the Bowers family never heard a word of the message.

Moving Forward

Donaldson has been through multiple surgeries, skin grafts and faces a year before his leg may heal completely.

The Baptist missionary said he does not blame the Peruvians. "I would love to meet those pilots … to sit down to talk to them, to tell them I have no hard feelings whatsoever … Who am I not to forgive someone else for something minor in comparison to what Jesus Christ has done for me?"

Sometimes he finds it too painful to remember what happened. "I just don't want to think about that because it hurts so much," he said.

Baby Charity had just started to crawl, and her father thinks sometimes of the future he thought she would have.

"It's hard to think about her because every single memory I have is good of her," he said. "So many thoughts I have about our expectations and what we were planning to do and how [Roni] thought she would turn out."

While he grieves for his wife, Bowers said he tries to accept what he believes to be God's will. "No matter how much I miss her and suffer right now … I'm saying to God that He's chosen me. I don't have a choice now."