Man arrested over Annie McCarrick murder was nominated to Garda as suspect in 1993
The man arrested for questioning on suspicion of the murder of
Annie McCarrick
was flagged to gardaí as a possible suspect in the case in the immediate aftermath of the New Yorker vanishing from
Sandymount
, South Dublin, in 1993.
Friends of Ms McCarrick were concerned about the man, and the nature of his contacts with the 26-year-old in Dublin.
They outlined those concerns, and the specific reasons for them, in fax messages to the Garda investigation team. However, they have always believed the information they supplied was not properly handled and was not factored into the initial inquiry in any meaningful way.
The suspect, who is in his 60s and originally from Dublin, was arrested on Thursday morning and remained in Garda custody early on Friday. He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, on suspicion of murder, and can be questioned for up to 24 hours, though questioning has been paused to allow breaks for rest.
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Gardaí yesterday extended his period of detention to the maximum 24 hours of interviews permitted under law and must either release him without charge, or charge him with an offence, later on Friday.
The man has become a successful businessman over the last three decades and now lives outside Dublin. As well as being arrested on Thursday morning, his home in the east of the country was searched. And a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin, that he was linked to in 1993 was sealed off for searching and excavation, in an operation continuing on Friday morning.
The Clondalkin property has been renovated by the current occupants, who bought the house over a decade ago. Gardaí have stressed the current occupants are completely unconnected to Ms McCarrick or the murder inquiry now under way.
Some of Ms McCarrick's friends in the United States had remained in close and frequent contact with her when she moved back to Ireland in January, 1993, after first studying here. They said she felt pressured and harassed by an Irishman in her social circle in Dublin and that she told them the man struck her when he had been drinking. They flagged those concerns with gardaí in the initial stages of the investigation when she vanished.
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Annie McCarrick: Gardaí made first arrest in 32-year investigation after receiving new information
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However, at the time Ms McCarrick (26) went missing, there was a series of reported sightings of her getting on a bus bound for Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, and also sightings of her in the village. Other reports placed her 6km away in Johnnie Fox's Pub, Glencullen, Co Dublin.
Those sightings, since discounted, all related to Friday, March 26th, the day of the last confirmed sighting of the murdered woman at her flat in Sandymount, South Dublin. Much of the Garda's attention in the first phased of investigation focused on pursuing those sightings in Enniskerry and Glencullen.
Ms McCarrick knew the man arrested on Thursday, and was very close to him for a period. However, while her friends told gardaí about that man in 1993 – including Ms McCarrick saying he had harassed her and struck her – they felt their information was not actioned by detectives at the time.
When none of the claimed sightings of Ms McCarrick in 1993 led to any breakaway, and her remains were never found, the case remained an unsolved missing person's inquiry until it was upgraded to a murder investigation two years ago.
In recent years, after a cold case review and fresh investigation, detectives have come to focus on the arrested man as the main suspect in the case.
They also have a particular interest in a close associate of his, who they went abroad to interview earlier this year. They believe the suspect and his close associate were together on the weekend Ms McCarrick vanished and detectives have sought to recheck their accounts of their movements, comparing statements taken in recent years.
In March 1993 Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was living in rented accommodation at St Cathryn's Court, Sandymount, with two friends. They last spoke to her at the property on the morning of Friday, March 26th.
.
Amid rising concerns for her safety, Ms McCarrick was reported missing to gardaí that Sunday, more than 48 hours after the last confirmed sighting of her.
Meanwhile, the US lawyer hired by the father of Annie McCarrick to represent the family in the period after her disappearance has said he is 'delighted' there has been arrest and remains hopeful the case will eventually be resolved with a conviction.
Michael Griffith has criticised An Garda Síochána over its reluctance to engage with him and others working for the family in the aftermath of her disappearance in March 1993.
He suggested then Director of Public Prosecutions Eamonn Barnes had been helpful to the team Mr Griffith had assembled to work on the case on behalf of the McCarrick family but that the Garda was reluctant to share information or engage.
'We met with the Garda. We tried to follow up leads at that time but nothing came of it,' he told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme on Friday.
'In the States here, attorneys tend to share evidence with investigations, with the police, but even though Eamonn Barnes wanted the Garda to open up the file to us, the Garda was quite reclusive about it, and we weren't able to get into the file, although there were a couple of persons of interest, one of whom I'm told may now be in custody.'
He said had a meeting with Jean Kennedy Smith, then US ambassador to Ireland, who assured him the Department of State would do everything it could to assist but said this had no impact on the level of co-operation provided by An Garda Síochána.
Mr Griffith said the disappearance of their daughter took a very considerable toll on her parents, John, now deceased, and Nancy.
'Obviously there was a lot of stress that came out of this and the McCarricks got divorced.'
He said he would like to know what prompted an arrest in the case after so long but he remains hopeful the case will be resolved for the family.
An Garda Síochána said they did not respond on individual cases but have a policy of appointing family liaison officers in major cases.
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