The system has let us down, says brother of missing woman Imelda Keenan

The brother of Imelda Keenan, who has been missing for more than three decades, says the family are “completely devastated” by a Garda decision not to upgrade its missing person investigation to a murder inquiry.

Ms Keenan, originally from Mountmellick in Co Laois, was last seen in Waterford City at 1.30pm on January 3, 1994. The 22-year-old was living in Waterford at the time.

Several appeals for information since then have yielded no clue as to how and why she disappeared.

Following a full review by the Garda serious crime review team this year, gardaí met the Keenan family in Waterford last week.

Imelda’s brother Gerry Keenan said gardaí informed the family that, given the level of evidence available, they could not progress the case to a murder investigation and it would remain a missing person case.

A distraught Mr Keenan told WLR’s Déise Today programme the family found the news “so hurtful” after 32 years of anguish and amidst hopes that the case — like others in recent times — would be upgraded to a murder inquiry. Describing how Imelda’s parents had died without ever discovering what had happened to their daughter, he said he now feared what toll this news might take on the rest of the family, including himself.

“The system has let us down, and we are completely and utterly lost”, he said.

Mr Keenan, in his 60s, told the programme that the gardaí had “slipped up” during the initial investigation into Imelda’s disappearance by failing to conduct a forensic test at her apartment.

Imelda left her apartment on January 3, 1994, to go to the GPO on the Waterford quays, although the post office was closed for a bank holiday. 

She brought no belongings with her and left behind her glasses, cigarettes, and unopened Christmas presents that had been intended for her nephews. She was last seen on Lombard St at about 1.30pm.

Gardaí are asking that anyone with information contact the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.