Latest news with #SlieveBloom
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Fiona Pender: Search ends for missing pregnant woman
Gardaí (Irish police) investigating the disappearance and murder of a pregnant Irish woman have concluded the search operation in the Slieve Bloom mountains in County Laois.A new search had been under way to try to find the remains of Fiona Pender, 25, who went missing in County was last seen at about 06:00 local time, on 23 August 1996 at her flat on Church Street, results of the searches are not being released for operational reasons. On Monday gardaí said they had reclassified their missing person investigation to a murder completed a search of land near Killeigh in County Offaly on Tuesday, the search moved to the Slieve Bloom mountains close to Clonaslee in County Laois on Wednesday. Killeigh and Clonaslee are about a 10-minute drive apart across the county Pender was 5'5" in height, had long blonde hair and was said to be looking forward to the birth of her was wearing white leggings and bright coloured clothing when she went missing. Who was Fiona Pender? Fiona Pender grew up in Tullamore, County Offaly, in a family that has suffered a number of had two brothers, but just over a year before Fiona went missing her brother Mark died in motorcycle the time of her disappearance in August 1996, Fiona was working as a hairdresser and living with her boyfriend in a flat in Church Street in her had spent the previous day "shopping for baby clothes with her mother in Tullamore," according to her missing person profile, external."She was in good form and was looking forward to the birth of her baby," the garda website soon as she went missing, the Pender family began a long campaign seeking the public's help to find Fiona, led by her mother 2000, almost four years after Fiona went missing, her 50-year-old father Sean Pender was found dead in the family widow believes he took his own life, telling a Tullamore reporter: "He couldn't live without his children.", externalThe investigation into Fiona's disappearance continued for 28 years without success, despite a number of searches and digs in different May 2008, a hillwalker came across a makeshift cross which had been recently put up in Monicknew Woods in the Slieve Bloom planks of wood had been hammered together and written on the cross were the words: "Fiona Pender. Buried here, August 22nd, 1996."Gardaí began a search of a two-acre site in the area, assisted by soldiers and cadaver dogs, but there was no sign of Ms Pender's mother Josephine died aged 68 in 2017, external, having never discovered the fate of her only daughter and her unborn Irish Times reported that a "candle of hope" was placed on the altar during her funeral "in memory of all missing people".In tribute to her daughter, a section of walkway along the Grand Canal outside Tullamore is known as the Fiona Pender Way.
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Fiona Pender: Second dig to begin in search for missing woman
Detectives investigating the disappearance of a woman who went missing in the Republic of Ireland almost 30 years ago have begun a search at a second Fiona Pender was seven months pregnant when she disappeared in Tullamore, County Offaly in this week, gardaí (Irish police) said they had reclassified their missing person investigation to a murder inquiry. Having completed a search of land in County Offaly on Tuesday, the search moved to the Slieve Bloom mountains in County Laois on Wednesday. The new site is a piece of open ground which will be "subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations," a garda statement said. Ms Pender was last seen at about 06:00 local time 23 August 1996 at her flat on Church Street, was 5'5" in height, had long blonde hair and was said to be looking forward to the birth of her child. She was wearing white leggings and bright coloured clothing when she went missing. The previous search, on open ground about 5km (3 miles) from Tullamore, began on Monday and ended on Tuesday evening. Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported that the operation was concentrated on bogland at Graigue, near the village of Killeigh. Gardaí said the results of the searches were "not being released for operational reasons" but added that they had kept Ms Pender's family updated. They repeated their appeal to "any person who may have previously come forward who felt they could not provide gardaí with all the information they had in relation to this matter, to contact the investigation team again". To date there have been no convictions in relation to Ms Pender's disappearance nor her suspected murder. However, over the course of the 28-year missing person investigation, five people have previously been arrested and investigation team have also taken more than 300 statements and "discovered and collated thousands of documents".
Irish Times
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Gardaí begin second search in Fiona Pender murder investigation
Gardaí investigating the murder of Fiona Pender in Co Offaly in 1996 have started a second search and excavation operation, in a bid to find her remains, in Co Laois. It is the second such operation of the week after a two-day search at another location, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, was concluded on Tuesday afternoon. Detectives have always believed Ms Pender, a 25-year-old who was seven months pregnant when she vanished, was murdered on the day she was last seen alive in August, 1996. They believe her remains were concealed in the region to cover up the killing. The Garda announced on Monday the case had been upgraded from a missing person's inquiry to a murder investigation and that a search and excavation operation was underway at Graigue near Killeigh village, Co Offaly. READ MORE After that operation was concluded on Tuesday, a second search was begun on Wednesday morning close to Clonaslee, Co Laois, in the Slieve Bloom mountains. A search was conducted in that general area in 2008, though nothing of evidential value was found. 'This area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations,' the Garda said in a statement on Wednesday morning. 'This search forms part of a sustained investigation carried out by Gardaí in Laois-Offaly Garda Division over the last 28-years to establish Fiona's whereabouts and to investigate the circumstances in which Fiona disappeared.' Gardaí have also encouraged anyone with information about Ms Pender's disappearance, especially those who may have felt unable to come forward since 1996, to contact the investigation team in Tullamore Garda station. Ms Pender, a hairdresser, was last seen at her flat on Church Street early in the morning of Friday, August 23rd, 1996. She had spent the previous day shopping with her mother and had bought clothes for her baby. Gardaí do not believe she had any plans to leave the area and suspected foul play from the outset. In 1996, vast tracts of land were searched and sections of Grand Canal were drained during the first wave of investigation in Co Offaly. However, no trace of Ms Pender has been found and nobody has been charged despite five arrests taking place in 1997. In 2008, another search operation was carried out in woods near Mountrath, Co Laois, when a cross with Ms Pender's name was found there. Six years later another search took place in the Slieve Bloom mountains, Co Laois, after a woman known to the suspect nominated it as potentially Ms Pender's burial site, though nothing was found.
