Missing (13 page)

On the weekend in August 1996 on which Fiona Pender disappeared, Emer Condron had called to the flat in Church Street a number of times but didn’t knock, because the
blinds were drawn. She assumed that Fiona was resting, and she didn’t want to disturb her. It wasn’t until just before ten o’clock on the evening of Saturday 24 August that she
realised something was terribly wrong.

Another aspect of the disappearance of Fiona Pender has intrigued detectives who worked on Operation Trace, set up in 1998 to investigate any links between the missing women in Leinster. It is
claimed that a man from the midlands visited the home of a close relative of another missing woman, and suggested that he might have been responsible for Fiona’s disappearance. It is claimed
that this man, who is known to the Gardaí investigating Fiona’s disappearance, said he might have been responsible, but had been on medication at the time and couldn’t remember
whether or not he had caused harm to Fiona.

While Mary Phelan has been to the forefront of a campaign for the establishment of a National Missing Persons Unit, in Tullamore Emer Condron has also been busy trying to keep the issue of
missing people before the public. She co-ordinated a campaign that sought to use the postal system to maintain awareness of the plight that many families suffer. She asked An Post to consider
raising awareness of the issue of missing persons by issuing stamps bearing a photograph and details of missing people, but the authority declined. Emer was disappointed, but not deterred.

Josephine Pender and Emer Condron are close. Both women lost their best friend in August 1996, and neither will rest until Fiona’s body is found and laid to rest and the
killer is brought to justice. Emer told me that they cannot rest, and will not rest.

In May 2002, Josephine Pender and her son John attended the unveiling of the Monument to Missing People by President Mary McAleese in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. Later that
day, in a private meeting, Josephine Pender and President McAleese held hands and spoke about Fiona. It was an emotional meeting for both. Josephine introduced John to the President, who remarked
that he was a fine young man. ‘He’s had to grow up too fast,’ replied Josephine, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Gerry Murray retired as superintendent at Tullamore Garda Station in April 1999. He had been a garda for thirty-nine years and had served in all four provinces, including his
final service in Tullamore, where he served for twenty-three years. He knew the area, and he knew the people. When he retired he was replaced by Superintendent Peter Wheeler, who had worked on
Fiona Pender’s case from the beginning as an inspector in Tullamore. A team of detectives led by Superintendent Wheeler continues to search for the clue that will unlock the mystery of Fiona
Pender’s disappearance. Superintendent Murray says the one regret of his four decades as a garda was that Fiona’s disappearance was not solved.

John Thompson declined to be formally interviewed for this book, but he told me he believes the Gardaí made many mistakes early on in the investigation. He believes
certain leads were not followed up or were not followed up quickly enough.

When Josephine Pender and her son John are not together they keep in close contact by mobile phone. John works as a salesman for an underfloor heating company in Cappancur,
Tullamore. Just like his father, John is interested in art. He may pursue this in the future, just not right now. Josephine and John have travelled on holidays to Portugal and to Medjugorje in
Bosnia. Both trips were gifts from well-wishers, bringing some semblance of normality to a family that has suffered unimaginable pain.

Josephine Pender told me she always wanted a large family. She had two miscarriages before John was born, and two afterwards. She looked at photographs of her dead children, Fiona and Mark, and
sighed.

C
iara Breen is commonly referred to as one of Ireland’s missing women, but technically she was a child, being not yet eighteen when she was
murdered in the early hours of 13 February 1997. She was probably murdered by a man she had arranged to meet close to her home in Dundalk, Co. Louth. A local man remains a prime suspect. Two years
after her disappearance he was arrested on suspicion of murder, but the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that no charges should be brought. This man is one of a number of men questioned
about Ciara’s disappearance. Two cousins who live a nomadic life and who were living near Co. Louth at the time of Ciara’s disappearance were also investigated, and were also questioned
about their movements at the time of the abduction and murder of Jo Jo Dullard fifteen months before. The prime suspect denies he ever had a relationship with Ciara Breen, despite a number of
Ciara’s friends coming forward with claims to the contrary.

Ciara Breen’s disappearance has caused untold anguish for her mother, Bernadette Breen, who has lost her only child. Bernadette is aware of the identity of the prime suspect for her
daughter’s disappearance. He is a Dundalk man who she once chased away from her front door when he was trying to strike up a conversation with Ciara.

Ciara Breen was abducted and murdered a month before her eighteenth birthday. She would never know that her mother had organised a surprise trip to Disneyland in Florida for her birthday. Ciara
and Bernadette had been to Florida the previous October, and Ciara had often said she would love to go back.

Twelve hours after Bernadette Breen’s only child vanished from her home in February 1997, a doctor at the Blackrock Clinic in Co. Dublin told Bernadette she had cancer.
She had kept her appointment, hoping that by the time she returned home Ciara would be back before her. All Bernadette knew was that Ciara had sneaked out of her bedroom window in the early hours
of the morning. She hadn’t taken any money from her bedroom, and all the indications were that she had left with the intention of returning before her mother woke.

It was only a few hours after they had said goodnight that Bernadette had discovered that Ciara was missing. In the early hours of the morning Bernadette had woken up and had looked in on Ciara.
She wasn’t there. The bed was empty, and the bedroom window was ajar. This was the first time Bernadette had discovered Ciara sneaking out of the house during the night. She had once run away
for a few days, but that was nearly a year and a half before. Besides, she was more mature now.

For hours Bernadette sat in the darkness waiting to catch her daughter when she came back in the window. But she never came.

At her home in St Mary’s Road, Dundalk, Bernadette Breen told me there are many reminders for her of what she has lost.

Ciara Breen had many things on her mind the night she disappeared. She was worried about her mother’s hospital appointment the next day: Bernadette had already been to
hospital to undergo cancer tests and was about to get the results. Earlier that day, at the Ógra Dhún Dealgan FÁS course Ciara was on, she had told her tutor, Rosaleen Bishop,
that she was going to go home and make the house tidy and warm for her mother, who had an important hospital appointment the next day. Ciara was also worried about her looks. Like most teenagers,
she was very conscious of her appearance. A difficulty with her gums meant she would need the upper row of her teeth re-set. And then there are the other things that were concerning her that we
don’t know about, and never will. We will never know for certain what made her sneak out of her bedroom that night, though we can speculate. It is most probable that she went to meet a man,
perhaps a man much older than her. Was this to be the start of their relationship? Or was she trying to end one? If so, why? Why was she keeping the relationship hidden?

Bernadette Breen recounted with clarity her memories of the night Ciara disappeared. The cancer with which she was diagnosed just after Ciara’s disappearance did not get the better of her,
though it may return.

Ciara Breen was a good child who at one time fell in with a bad crowd. It started when she was about sixteen-and-a-half. Certain girls her own age began to lead her astray. In
October 1995 she ran away with a friend; they travelled across the border and hid in a house in Jonesborough, Co. Armagh, owned by an aunt of Ciara’s friend. Bernadette had no idea where
Ciara was, and she called the Gardaí immediately. A national appeal for information was issued. Bernadette told me that Ciara looked like a wreck when she decided to come home.