An Garda Síochána has decided not to upgrade any further unsolved missing persons cases to murder inquiries following the conclusion of a review that led to those of Fiona Pender and Elizabeth Clarke being revisited.
This means the force has, for now, ruled out committing more resources in several other cases where foul play is suspected including those of Philip Cairns and Trevor Deely, who vanished in Dublin in 1986 and 2000 respectively.
The news comes as a search for the remains of Annie McCarrick, whose case was in 2023 upgraded to a murder inquiry 30 years after her disappearance, continued at a house in Clondalkin, Dublin.
The decision to reclassify the cases of Ms Pender (25), who was seven months pregnant when she vanished from her home in Co Offaly in 1996, and that of Ms Clarke (24), who was last seen in Co Meath in 2013, resulted in extensive search and excavation operations taking place. These were carried out in Laois/Offaly last month in Ms Pender’s case and in Co Meath last February in Ms Clarke’s.
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In response to queries, Garda headquarters confirmed a review of a large number of missing persons cases was completed last year.
“There were no other missing persons investigations at the time that required upgrading to homicide/murder” investigations, it said. “The status of such missing person investigations is kept under regular review and can be upgraded if new information and/or evidence comes to light that justifies its upgrading.”
In the McCarrick inquiry, the search at the Clondalkin property for the New York woman’s remains, aided by a cadaver dog, has been ongoing since last Thursday.
A businessman aged in his 60s was arrested last Thursday and released without charge on Friday. That man, the only person ever arrested as part of the 32-year-old investigation, knew Ms McCarrick (26) when she lived in Dublin and was close to her at one time.
Gardaí arrested him and commenced the search after receiving new information from a witness that related to the man, who is now the chief suspect.
The family currently living at the Clondalkin property bought the house about 15 years ago and have no connection whatsoever to Ms McCarrick or the Garda investigation. However, the house was previously linked to the chief suspect and Ms McCarrick is believed to have stayed there.
