Fiona Pender memorial walk in Tullamore marks 30 years since disappearance
A memorial walk in Tullamore marked 30 years since Fiona Pender vanished in 1996. Gardaí renewed their appeal for information as the case remains unsolved.
Tullamore remembers Fiona Pender, 30 years on with no body found
A fresh appeal for information has been issued as a memorial walk in Tullamore, Co Offaly, marked three decades since the disappearance and suspected murder of Fiona Pender, RTÉ News reports.
Ms Pender was last seen at around 6am on Friday 23 August 1996 at her flat on Church Street in Tullamore. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant at the time. Her body has never been found, and no one has ever been charged in connection with her death.
On Saturday morning, people gathered at a memorial site surrounded by photographs of Ms Pender, along with flowers, balloons and candles. Family friend Brendan Killeavy addressed those present.
"The community in Tullamore is gathered here to remember Fiona Pender on the 30th anniversary since she sadly left us back in 1996 — a very long time now," Killeavy said. "We're gathering here to remember Fiona and her baby, and I suppose an appeal out today as well for information."
He urged anyone with knowledge of the case to come forward, regardless of how minor they consider it. "Thirty years is a long time, but we feel that there's people that have information that would resolve this. No matter how small the information is, if you think it's irrelevant, it will be very relevant to the gardaí."
Gardaí long suspected Ms Pender had been murdered and identified a chief suspect — a person from the midlands who has since emigrated from Ireland. Until last year, however, the case was formally classified as a missing persons investigation. It is believed she was murdered and her body buried, though no remains have been recovered.
Five people were arrested in connection with the case in 1997, but no charges followed. Investigators have since collated thousands of documents and reports, and taken over 300 statements of evidence. Gardaí say the investigation remains active and that inquiries continue.
Searches were conducted in May of last year at bogland in Killeigh, Co Offaly, and in the Slieve Bloom mountains near Clonaslee, Co Laois, but yielded no results.
The disappearance has taken a heavy toll on Ms Pender's family over the decades. Her father Sean died in 2000. Her brother Mark had died in a motorcycle crash just 14 months before she vanished. Her mother Josephine spent years campaigning for a breakthrough, repeatedly appealing to the public for information.
Gardaí are again urging anyone who has not yet come forward to contact the investigation team. They are also appealing to those who previously spoke to investigators but felt unable to disclose everything they knew, to make contact again.
Ms Pender's relatives and friends say that despite the passage of 30 years, hope remains that her body will one day be recovered and that justice will be delivered for her and her unborn child.
Source: RTÉ News