Fresh appeal over woman who vanished from Waterford flat 30 years ago
Keenan Missing Imelda Been Has 1994 Since
Gardaí are appealing for fresh information on the case of a woman missing from her Waterford home for 30 years. The appeal comes ahead of a meeting with her family next month.
Imelda Keenan from Mountmellick in Laois had been living for a number of years in Waterford by the time she disappeared in January 1994. Last year, members of her family met with gardaí in Waterford and asked them to upgrade their investigation into her disappearance to a murder probe.
The last reported sighting of the 22-year-old was on Lombard Street in Waterford city at around 1.30pm on January 3 that year. She was unemployed and had been doing a computer course at the then Central Technical Institute at the time of her disappearance. She had been living in a flat on William Street with her boyfriend, Mark Wall.
She took no belongings with her when she left the flat and her credit union account was left untouched. Among the items she left behind were her glasses and her cigarettes, and unopened Christmas presents.
After she disappeared, searches of the river and local areas were conducted but there is still no indication of what happened to Imelda.
However, her family believes that a circle of friends which Imelda had at the time of her disappearance have not been spoken to by gardaí as part of the investigation.
They brought fresh information to gardaí late last year.
Her niece Gina Kerry said the family has been told that "a lot of the new enquiries" have been completed but that others yet have to be "finalised".
Gardai are to update the family on any progress at a meeting on October 3.
Ms Kerry said: “We are hoping to hear what we want to hear.”
Although the last reported sighting of Imelda was on January 3, 1994, her family wonder why unopened Christmas presents remained in the flat early in the new year, particularly as some were for nephews who lived in Waterford city, sons of her brother, Ned.
A plaque in honour of Imelda has been installed on a bridge over John’s River, near where she was last seen. In 2009, the family offered a €10,000 reward for new information on the disappearance.
Last January, the family marked the 30th anniversary of her disappearance with a vigil in Waterford.
A garda spokesman said the case remains an “open and active Missing Persons” investigation.
He added: “An Garda Síochána continues to appeal to any person with information on the disappearance of Imelda Keenan, who has not previously spoken with the investigation team, or who may have spoken but not provided all of the information that they possess for any particular reason, or who may, with the passage of time, now be in a position to provide information to An Garda Síochána to contact the investigation team at Waterford Garda Station, the Garda Confidential Line or any Garda Station.”