Gardaí investigating the disappearance and presumed murder of a couple last seen almost a decade ago have resumed a search of open lands in north Co Dublin.
William Maughan and Anastasija Varslavane were last seen in April 2015 and their case was upgraded to a murder investigation the following year. Seven people have previously been arrested by gardaí investigating the matter.
The search operation began on Friday and is set to continue over the coming days.
Mr Varslavane, who was from Latvia but was living in Ireland, was pregnant with the couple’s first child at the time.
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Gardaí believe the couple were abducted, shot dead and their bodies concealed by a Co Louth-based gang led by criminal Cornelius Price, who has since died. Detectives are working on the theory that Price feared Mr Maughan was about to go to gardaí and implicate him in the 2014 gun murder of Benny Whitehouse.
Ms Varslavane and Mr Maughan had been living in a mobile home in Gormanston, Co Meath, but were due to move in with Mr Maughan’s parents in Dublin.
Gardaí said that on the morning of Tuesday, April 14th, 2015, Mr Maughan went to Balbriggan, followed shortly afterwards by Ms Varslavane. They ran some errands and made contact with Mr Maughan’s mother to arrange for her to travel from Tallaght to Gormanston to collect them and their belongings.
Mr Maughan spoke to his mother at about 2.30pm and asked her to collect them at Gormanston. The couple got a taxi from Balbriggan to Gormanston shortly after that.
Helen Maughan arrived in Gormanston just before 3pm but could not locate her son. She drove to Stamullen to look for him but did not find him. She returned to Gormanston and called him but his phone went straight to the message minder.
An investigation then commenced with several searches carried out. The case was upgraded to a murder investigation following a review in September 2016.
A Garda spokesman said the force is keeping the families fully updated. Gardaí appealed to anyone with information about the disappearance of Mr Maughan and Ms Varslavane to come forward.
“Given the passage of time since their disappearance individuals’ personal circumstances may now have changed and people may now be in a position to either speak to investigating Gardai or to provide information now that they may not have been able to provide before,” they said.
Anyone with information should contact Ashbourne Garda station on 01 8010600, any garda station or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111. – PA
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