Families’ hope as 4 quizzed on missing couple
Raids over ‘horror killings’ of Ana and Willie in 2015
FAMILIES of a couple feared killed and cut up by a drug gang are praying for a breakthrough as gardai quizzed four people about their disappearance.
Three men in their 20s, 50s and 60s and a woman in her 40s were arrested in a swoop yesterday while searches were carried out.
They were being questioned last night in relation to the murder of Willie Maughan, 35, and 21-year-old Anastasija Varslavanne.
Willie and Ana – a Latvian – went missing from their home in Laytown, Co Meath, on April 14, 2015.
In September 2016, the case was upgraded to a murder investigation.
It is believed they were killed and buried in a shallow grave to stop them passing information to gardai over a separate gangland murder.
There have been several searches of properties in Co Meath in the hunt for their remains.
The gang behind the gruesome double murder is led by a violent criminal who has links to the ongoing Drogheda feud.
In April, an Englishman in his 50s was arrested and quizzed about the cold case.
Willie’s father Joe Maughan has campaigned for five years to find his son.
He has told how he believes the couple – who were expecting their first child at the time – were butchered by the gang and possibly dumped in the Wicklow Mountains.
COWARDLY
The cowardly killers feared Willie had information linking them to serious organised crime including the gangland murder of Benny Whitehouse in Balbriggan in 2014.
Joe previously said: “I am of the firm belief William and Ana were beaten to death and then dismembered to prevent anyone from establishing what happened to them.
“All we have ever wanted over the last five years is to find them and if people have specific information about where they are then we are pleading with them to come forward.
“It’s absolutely horrendous to think of the terrible death William and Ana experienced and no one deserves to be treated like this.
“All I am asking for is for someone to finally stand up and tell me where they are before God calls me. My family have experienced five years of hell and we just want them home.”
The Maughan family have also been subjected to a campaign of terror by the gang including social media threats and pipe bombs being thrown at relatives’ homes.
A Garda spokesman said: “Gardai investigating the disappearance and murder of William Maughan and Anastasija Varslavanne have today arrested four persons.
“[We] are continuing to appeal to anyone with information relating to this investigation to contact them at Ashbourne Garda station on 01 801 0600 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.”
ON PAIR’S DISAPPEARANCE