Probe into disappearance of American Annie McCarrick

A TEAM of investigators from the United States will come to Ireland later this year, to take another look at the 1993 disappearance of American tourist Annie McCarrick.

Ms McCarrick, who was 26, was last seen taking a number 44 bus from Ranelagh towards Enniskerry on March 26, 1993.

The investigators believe that she was in Poppies that afternoon, rather than in Johnny Fox’s. Her father John died in 2009 without finding out what happened to Annie. Michael Griffith , A lawyer hired in 1993 by John McCarrick, as well as a former FBI agent Kenneth Strange, and Annie’s uncle John Covell, are coming to Ireland to try to solve the case. They will work with Irish private investigator Brian McCarthy. They have identified a prime subject and hope to obtain access to the cold case files.

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.’