Detective to renew probe for missing Offaly woman
The 25-year-old hairdresser and model was seven months pregnant when she disappeared from her flat at Church St in Tullamore on Aug 22, 1996.
Her heartbroken mother Josephine Pender, 63, has suffered ill-health, insomnia, and incessant anguish since Fiona’s disappearance.
Her grief prompted her to write to Commissioner Callinan seeking his help.
“He wrote me back a nice letter and said he would put a detective superintendent who actually worked with my brother in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation years ago,” she said yesterday.
The detective has made contact with Josephine. “He has been in touch with me already by phone and we have to meet up.”
Josephine also spoke about losing her husband Seán and two of their three children in tragic circumstances.
“It was like a domino effect on the whole family. It has destroyed the family.
“I don’t sleep at night, everyone knows it. It has destroyed me.”
Fiona disappeared a year after her 22-year-old brother Mark died in a motorcycle accident.
“Fiona was very likeable and giving person. She loved her bit of fun but I’m afraid she changed after her brother Mark died on June 12 in 1995, the sparkle went out of her,” her mother said.
“The last time I saw her we left her at her flat, myself and my son John. We left around seven o’clock and we gave her a kiss and a hug and she waved goodbye.”
The three had spent the day buying baby clothes.
Josephine said she realised her daughter was dead very quickly. “I came to that conclusion very early... Fiona would never, ever worry me. We were in daily contact.”
As the months turned into years, the pain failed to ease. “My husband took his own life in 2000 because of the loss of his children. That’s the domino effect.”
* Anyone with information on Fiona’s disappearance can contact gardaí in Tullamore on 057 9327600 or the Garda confidential line on 1800 666111.
