‘We can give my son a Christian burial’ – Gussie will be buried next to his mum
THE remains of Aengus “Gussie” Shanahan will be laid to rest alongside his late mother.
Bob Shanahan – Gussie’s father – said news of his son’s fate struck him and his family “like a thunderbolt”.
The skeletal remains, consisting of foot bone fragments, were found by members of Bunratty Search and Rescue Service, at Quay Island, Bunratty, on October 28, 2001 over a year and half after Mr Shanahan’s disappearance.
Gussie was 20 when he was last seen exiting Coopers Bar, St Joseph Street, Limerick before he walked onto Old School House Lane, around 10.30pm, on February 11, 2000.
His family made public appeals for information every year since. His mother Nancy passed away two years ago without knowing what happened to her son.
It was only this week they were told the remains found 17 years ago belonged to their loved one.
Superintendent Eamon O’Neill, of Roxboro Garda Station, praised Forensic Science Ireland for tirelessly seeking ways to positively identify the 17-year-old remains.
“They were tested on a number of occasions, but due to various reasons which are of a scientific nature, DNA could not [previously] be extracted from the remains. That difficulty has been overcome.”
Mr Shanahan said he learned of the news from gardaí on Monday. “I’m struggling through it. It’s a mixture of joy and sadness,” he said.
“Sadness, because it means Aengus is dead; and joy, because we now have some closure.”
Closure is “something we have wanted all along.”
Mr Shanahan said he understood that his son’s remains would be “handed over to us shortly” for burial.
“It’s surreal. Nancy was always of the view that he was dead,” he said.
“She also used to say to me, ‘You’d think our dead [relatives] would tell us somehow where he was’. When she passed away, I said to her, ‘It’s you’re turn now Nancy’, and she has delivered.”
Mr Shanahan said he was “delighted” his grandchildren would not carry the same burden he has had for so long: “We always wanted to find his body, and now we can give him a Christian burial.”
He acknowledged gardaí were “keeping an open mind” in their investigation into Gussie’s last known movements. However, he said he remained convinced his son was murdered: “That’s still my belief.”
He renewed his by now annual appeal for information about what happened to his son.
“It will give us rest,” he added.
Supt O’Neill has issued an appeal for information, asking people to re-examine their memory of the night in question.
“Anything at all with regard any small minutiae that may of insignificance to any other person, may be of huge benefit to the investigation.”
“We would ask anybody that has that information to contact us at Roxboro Garda Station on 061-214340, or the Garda Confidential Line 1800666-111 or indeed any garda station.”
“Any information that is received by the investigation team will be treated with the upmost confidentiality,” he added.