Body found in Cavan lake is believed to be that of vanished father of three
A BODY discovered in Lough Ramor, in Virginia, Co. Cavan yesterday afternoon is believed to be that of missing man Joe Whelan, from Ashbourne, Co. Meath.
The father of three, 37, went missing in Virginia in the early hours of Easter Saturday after travelling from his home to deliver two laptops to a friend in nearby Ballyjamesduff.
The remains of a man were found by a Polish fisherman shortly before 5pm yesterday evening.
Speaking exclusively to the Irish Mail On Sunday, Mr Whelan’s wife Sonya, who is nearly six months’ pregnant, said: ‘Gardaí have just told me what’s happened. Appar- ently this guy was fishing the lake and came across the body. I may not be able to formally identify the body until Sunday, but in my heart I know it is him. I have been told that the body only had one trainer on its foot, and earlier in the week we had found one of Joe’s trainers near enough to that area.’
The couple were childhood sweethearts. ‘I fell in love with him when I first laid eyes on him. We went out for a year when I was 16, split up and got together again a decade later,’ Ms Whelan said yesterday.
‘He left late on Good Friday night to deliver two laptops he had been repairing to a friend in Ballyjamesduff. When I rang him an hour later he seemed disorientated, and a while after that he rang the guy he was meant to meet to tell him he was being chased across fields.
‘I knew within 24 hours he was gone, as never in a million years would he have stayed away from his kids for a few days without getting in touch. I’m just so devastated.’
‘In my heart I know
that it is him’