NEW SEARCH FOR MISSING FIONA
TECHNOLOGY COULD UNEARTH EVIDENCE NOT DETECTABLE 19 YEARS AGO
GARDAÍ are carrying out a fresh forensic investigation of the home Fiona Sinnott lived in before she went missing, using new techniques which could uncover evidence that was impossible to detect 19 years ago when she disappeared.
The RTE television programme CrimeCall revealed last night (Monday) that gardaí are re-examining the case and are also appealing for help from members of the public who may have information.
It is now possible to compare unknown crime stains with profiles on the DNA database that was set up in 2015. ‘With recent advances in technology, we are able to locate and generate DNA profiles from stains that were not possible in 1998,’ said Dr. Dorothy Ramsbottom of Forensic Science Ireland (formerly the Garda Forensic Science Laboratory).
Fiona, who was 19 years old when she vanished after a night out on February 8, 1998, lived in a rented house at Ballyhitt, Broadway with her then 11-month old daughter Emma.
Fiona’s mother, Mary and her sister, Diane, told Crimecall that Fiona’s father died from a ‘ broken heart’.
‘He died never finding his daughter,’ said Diane. ‘It gets harder as the years go by, knowing that she’s still out there.’
‘It’s just not right, so we’re just pleading for anyone with information to come forward, to let us bury her and let our family be whole again.’
‘Somebody missing is a very big gap in your life. At times you try not to think about it, you know. It always lingers there, do you know what I mean. Just like as if she vanished into thin air really,’ said Mary.
Fiona was last seen socialising with friends at Butler’s pub in Broadway. Her disappearance was initilly treated as a missing person case but following a review it was upgraded to a full murder inquiry in 2005.
She left the premises at approximately midnight. This was the last confirmed sighting of her. One route she could have taken home was via Kisha Cross. Four individuals were seen there by a passing motorist between midnight and 12.30 that night.
A male and a female were involved in an argument while two males in their late teens or early twenties were seen a couple of metres away. None of the individuals have ever come forward since Fiona’s disappearance and gardaí are anxious to trace them or anyone who was in the vicinity and did not, or could not come forward at the time.
Gardaí investigating Fiona’s disappearance have conducted 459 enquiries and taken 355 statements.
Anyone who can assist the investigation is asked to contact Wexford Garda Station on 053 9165200, the Garda Confidential Telephone Line on 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.