Family of murdered Marie believe gardai closer to finding killer
Marie Tierney’s family have never come to terms with her death but they hope a resolution is near, writes Wayne O’Connor
THE body of Marie Tierney was discovered in a ditch on Christmas week, two months after she was last seen alive in 1984.
The then-State Pathologist Dr John Harbison provided evidence at her inquest. His inescapable conclusion was that the mother of two died at the hands of someone else. She had been strangled. She was 34 years old.
Despite evidence that Marie had been murdered, nobody has ever been arrested or charged in relation to her killing.
Last week, after more than a year of painstaking police work, gardai were in a position to exhume her body and enter a new phase of their investigation.
Exhumation is a complex process and happens rarely. It involves a ministerial order being signed off on and gardai must request a special licence from the local authority.
Marie Tierney’s body was exhumed last Wednesday and brought to Waterford for examination. She was buried again that evening.
Gardai have been working closely and sensitively with Marie’s family since the cold case was reopened more than a year ago. They, along with specialist gardai, hope scientific advances and new forensic methods will help finally to prosecute her killer.
Her brother, John Bourke, and sister, Breeda Fay, said it brought them a sense of relief that progress had been made, but crucially, not justice for the sister they called ‘Malie’.
“With it being so long since Malie was killed, you find yourself asking if you will be gone before something happens, before we know the truth,” John told the Sunday Independent.
He is now 67 years old, not an elderly man but after waiting 34 years for answers, he has often feared he could die before gardai prosecute her killer. Last week, for the first time, that cloud partially lifted.
Breeda (70) also believed gardai were closer to helping them achieve justice.
“I think since Wednesday when she was re-interred, I found more peace,” she said.
“I think Malie has had a hand in this but I trust the guards because I know they didn’t do this lightly. I trust that they will solve this.”
She said Marie’s killing haunted the family.
“Both my parents struggled afterwards. Dad just wanted justice. My mother accepted she wasn’t coming back and then waited to join her.
“Malie was lovely. Her children and her nieces and nephews were the centre of her life and they all loved her. We all did.”
John added: “She liked her style and she always liked to have her nails painted and had nice clothes. She washed her hair before going to bed every night so when they found her there was still shampoo in her hair.”
Marie was last seen on the night of Sunday, October 21, 1984. She was reported missing the following day by her husband, Jim. The pair ran a small shop together near Jenkinstown.
He told an inquest into her death that the previous evening had been like any other. The pair had brought their 13-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son swimming in Kilkenny. The family made the 12km trip home in time to watch Glenroe before the children went to bed.
Mr Tierney said his wife left the house after 10pm in the family car, a blue Renault 18 estate with a distinctive number plate: 35 HIP. The car was discovered later with the keys still in the ignition. It was abandoned at Newpark Fenn on the outskirts of the city. New housing estates and an urban sprawl mean the area is not as rural now as it once was.
Two months later, Marie’s body was found on Bleach Road by a man who saw a swan strike an electric cable. When he went looking for the injured bird, he saw what appeared to be a blue mattress. On closer inspection it turned out to be Marie’s body.
“Thank God that man was there,” said Breeda. “He never got the recognition he deserved.
“My father always said only for that man, we may never have got her back.”
The chance discovery sparked a massive probe. All reports were followed up, including a tip-off that two men had been seen behaving suspiciously beside an open car boot in the area where Marie’s body was discovered.
Appeals for information were made from pulpits at mass and gardai quizzed regular patrons of a disco in Newpark, close to where Marie’s car was discovered, as they worked to piece her final movements together.
The inquest into her death took place almost a year and a half later.
Jim Tierney said he had no idea where Marie was going but roughly £200 was missing from the shop’s takings. He said the pair were on good terms at the time but she had previously been ill and attending a psychiatrist.
Since the inquest, there has been little progress in the case.
“Out of the blue last year, we got a call saying the case was being reopened,” Breeda said.
“I was shocked because I thought they were calling to say someone had been arrested. We were told then an exhumation was possible.”
Marie’s case featured on Crimecall last year and since then witnesses have provided gardai with numerous lines of inquiry. More than 200 statements have been provided to gardai. They believe there are multiple people who can assist them further by providing key information.
“Time may have given context to something they felt was unimportant at the time but may be of assistance to the investigation,” said Superintendent Derek Hughes, the garda leading the investigation.
He added that people may be in a position now that they were not in previously that enables them to come forward, highlighting that people’s relationships and circumstances change over time. They also hope the exhumation of her remains last Wednesday will provide answers.
“I never imagined it,” said Breeda. “There is no nightmare that can prepare you for this. It took its toll on us and our family, what was stolen from us.
“I always tried to hide the hurt, but they [my family] tell me I thought I was hiding it.
“There are people out there who know who killed Marie.”