Karen Silkwood's Death

Young. Smart. Activist. Whistleblower. Dead. All of these words can be used to describe one person, Karen Silkwood. Silkwood was a young woman who was very bright, and worked for the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant. When she decided to become an advocate and an informer for better working conditions at her job, it may have cost her, her life. Karen Silkwood’s ill-timed death is a mystery to most, but the main two theories on what happened to her are that she was ran off the road by another car or her crash was just an accident. Even Though Silkwood’s life was simple and ordinary, her sudden death was extremely extraordinary. It all started when she pronounced that she was leaving Texas and traveling to Oklahoma for a fresh start. She then got her job at the Kerr-Mcgee plant near Oklahoma

There have been many people who have looked into the case of Karen Silkwood. One investigator had seen skid marks along with the incredulous dent in her back bumper. That indicated that another car had forced Silkwood into a culvert (“November 13, 1974). Considering the fact that they was evidence that there was another car many people said that is was indeed murder. Even Bill Silkwood,Karen Silkwood’s father, deducted that she was murdered exclaiming that he needed to learn who killed his daughter (Bashke 194). Union officer, Jack Tice, explained that Silkwood was shaky in the time leading up to her death.She started to believe the there was a person that had it out for her (“Karen Silkwood Biography”). Many people including Silkwood’s many relatives and an Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union representatives arraigned that her “death was the result of foul play,” seemingly by somebody “acting on Kerr-McGee’s behalf” (Newton 346). Based off of the way the car was found the car, and the clues that were found, Silkwood being murdered is still a favored theory