Ireland IRE - Imelda Keenan, 22, Waterford City, 3 Jan 1994

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MsMiniSleuth

MsMiniSleuth

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Gardaí have reissued their appeal for information on the disappearance of a young woman from Waterford city 28 years ago.

Imelda Keenan was 22 years old when she went missing after leaving the apartment she shared with her boyfriend on William Street, on January 3rd, 1994.

Originally from Mountmellick, Co. Laois, she had just completed a computer course at the Central Institute in Waterford and moved into a flat with her boyfriend shortly before her disappearance.

At 1.30pm that day, Imelda left the apartment and told her partner that she was going to the post office.

She was last seen crossing the road by the Tower Hotel on the corner of Lombard Street by a doctor’s secretary who knew her.

She was wearing a white jumper, leopard print ski pants, a blue denim jacket, and black shoes at the time.

2018-12-08_lif_46303047_I2.JPG


Despite extensive searches and garda investigations, no sightings of Imelda have been reported since.

Imelda Keenan: Appeal for info on missing Irish woman on 28th anniversary
 
I see that there's a river close to her home - I wonder if it was searched to see if she'd fallen in.
 
The heartbroken brother of missing Imelda Keenan has revealed how he visits a plaque in her honour as he has no grave to visit.

Gerry Keenan, 63, whose sister was reported missing on January 3, 1994, believes she didn’t leave of her own accord and rather met a sinister end.

The father-of-six said he is not out for revenge but just wants to end his pain and know where her remains are so he can give her a proper burial.

[...]

He said: “I just hope that I get an answer myself before I go to my own grave.

“We have had a lovely plaque on the bridge on William street since 2009. The family gathers there each year on the anniversary.

“I go for a walk there every day and I sit down and have a little cry to myself when nobody is looking.

“I say a little prayer. It’s the nearest thing I'm going to get to a grave..."

[...]

Gerry said his mother Elizabeth was so devastated by her daughter's disappearance that the religious woman turned her back on god.

He said: “My mother died in 2009 heartbroken not knowing what happened to her.

“She was a very religious woman and used to pray that one day Imelda would come home.

“Before she died she told me that she didn’t believe in God anymore. I told her it wasn’t like her and she said back to me ‘No I don’t believe in a god anymore because I haven’t got an answer to what happened.'

“It was like a dagger to my heart hearing her say that.”

And he said two of his brothers also sadly passed away heartbroken not knowing what had happened to the young woman.

[...]

He went on: “I just want closure.

“I believe that there are two or three people in Waterford holding back vital information, who know what may have happened to her.

“They are walking around Waterford with this information and all I can do is hope that at some stage in their life they come forward and give my family a little bit of peace.

“It’s never too late to come forward with information.

“I wouldn’t care if someone even rang anonymously to tell me what they knew. Is there a grave, a bag of bones, I just want to know so I can bring her home and bury her with my parents.

“I’m not looking for revenge, the case is closed as far as I am concerned.”

Brother of missing Irishwoman says 'two or three people' have vital information
 
1684067310731.png
lengthy article

Imelda Keenan | Missing Ireland

www.irelandsvanishingtriangle.com www.irelandsvanishingtriangle.com
May 14 2023 rbbm
by Seoirse Mulgrew
www.independent.ie

RTÉ documentary to focus on the disappearance of young women during the 1990s

A true crime documentary will focus on attempts by gardaí to establish if a serial killer may have been at large in Ireland during the 1990s.
www.independent.ie www.independent.ie
''A true crime documentary will focus on attempts by gardaí to establish if a serial killer may have been at large in Ireland during the 1990s.
The second and concluding episode of Missing: Beyond the Vanishing Triangle, follows the disappearance of a number of young women – two years after Annie McCarrick went missing in 1993.
In response to a public outcry, then Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne announced the establishment of Operation Trace in 1998 to review six initial cases: Annie McCarrick, Fiona Pender, Fiona Sinnott, Deirdre Jacob, Jo Jo Dullard and Ciara Breen.
The episode, which will air on Monday night on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, will hear from Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey, who was recruited to lead the operation.
He selected a small team of experienced investigators to review the cases and for the first time examine potential links between the disappearances.
“Alibis, they’re as good as the weakest link. We tried to learn from what was being done in other countries,” Mr Hickey said.''

''His colleague and fellow Operation Trace team member Alan Bailey said: “With Operation Trace in many respects we didn’t even have proof that a crime had been committed.”

The Trace team expanded its search to take in other cases, including the 1993 disappearance of 22-year-old Imelda Keenan from Waterford city.

Mr Bailey revealed in the programme that he was surprised to hear the case was categorised as a possible suicide.''
“Now that left the door open that it may not have been, but I’d be afraid that a category like that or categorising something like that could colour the approach to it,” he said.

For Imelda’s brother, Gerry Keenan, the revelation that his sister’s case was classified in this way makes no sense.

“Imelda would never ever think of suicide. I don’t think Imelda would ever consider that,” he said.

“Deep down, in my own heart I think that Imelda was murdered in Waterford. I think Imelda knew her murderer.”

Mr Keenan has called for the case to be upgraded to a murder investigation and has written to the gardai seeking answers.''

"Is this a missing or a murder case? After 29 years, this has to be a murder case. We want the gardaí to look into it more for us and give us peace,” he said.

“I always believed that there is two or three people here in Waterford City holding back vital information. We want someone to come forward please and just take us out of this pain.”

An Garda Síochána has confirmed that the disappearance of Imelda Keenan remains listed as a missing person case.''
 
elframo said:
Imelda is the subject of this week's The Missing podcast, featuring an interview with her niece.
Click to expand...
I had a listen to the podcast. It was suggested in it that Imelda may have gone missing a couple of weeks before 3rd January, due to undelivered Christmas presents.

I wonder when the last confirmed sighting of Imelda was (assuming the sighting of 3rd Jan. 1994 was mistaken identity), or when anyone last spoke to her ?

The podcast strongly hints that someone close to her was responsible for her disappearance.
 
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