US lawyer and ex-FBI agent aim to crack cold case

A CRACK team from the US will travel to Ireland later this year in a bid to solve the mystery 1993 disappearance of American tourist Annie McCarrick.

Ms McCarrick was 26 when she was last seen taking a bus to Enniskerry. Her father John, who spent years trying to find out what happened to her, died in 2009 with no answers.

Now, a lawyer he hired in 1993 to help with the investigation into her disappearance has joined forces with a former FBI agent and Ms McCarrick’s uncle, John Covell, to try to finally solve the mystery. The men have identified a prime suspect and are hoping to obtain access to the cold case file on the initial investigation.

The men are being assisted by Brian McCarthy, an Irish private investigator who was initially hired by the McCarricks when their daughter went missing.

Mr McCarthy recently became aware of a witness statement allegedly given to gardaí back in 1993, which puts a woman matching Ms McCarrick’s description at a café in Enniskerry.

The private investigator believes the statement could put an entirely new timeline on the investigation. At the time gardaí investigating her disappearance collected information to say Ms McCarrick visited Johnnie Fox’s Pub, in the village of Glencullen. Mr McCarthy and the US-based team do not believe that information to be true.

“She wasn’t in Johnnie Fox’s,” said Mr McCarthy.

“It’s not particularly well known, but the gardaí were given a statement from a woman who worked in a small coffee shop out there called Poppies, in the village. The lady was in her 50s at the time, I think. She was adamant Annie was in there in the afternoon with a man who fits the description of a suspect.

“The female, if it was Annie, was hesitant about buying something and he said to her, ‘Do you want a cake, a slice of cake?’ He paid for whatever snack she got, and they left.

“The woman has since passed away, but she gave an initial statement to police. She was not asked to help with an e-fit. We think this sighting is more crucial than initially thought.”

Lawyer Michael Griffith was due to come here in March to meet an Irish lawyer. He said: “We plan to come later in the year and I’m confident that we can solve this.”