Gardaí begin second search in Fiona Pender murder investigation
Gardaí investigating the murder of Fiona Pender in Co Offaly in 1996 have started a second search and excavation operation, in a bid to find her remains, in Co Laois.
It is the second such operation of the week after a two-day search at another location, near Tullamore, Co Offaly, was concluded on Tuesday afternoon.
Detectives have always believed Ms Pender, a 25-year-old who was seven months pregnant when she vanished, was murdered on the day she was last seen alive in August, 1996. They believe her remains were concealed in the region to cover up the killing.
The Garda announced on Monday the case had been upgraded from a missing person's inquiry to a murder investigation and that a search and excavation operation was underway at Graigue near Killeigh village, Co Offaly.
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After that operation was concluded on Tuesday, a second search was begun on Wednesday morning close to Clonaslee, Co Laois, in the Slieve Bloom mountains. A search was conducted in that general area in 2008, though nothing of evidential value was found.
'This area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations,' the Garda said in a statement on Wednesday morning.
'This search forms part of a sustained investigation carried out by Gardaí in Laois-Offaly Garda Division over the last 28-years to establish Fiona's whereabouts and to investigate the circumstances in which Fiona disappeared.'
Gardaí have also encouraged anyone with information about Ms Pender's disappearance, especially those who may have felt unable to come forward since 1996, to contact the investigation team in Tullamore Garda station.
Ms Pender, a hairdresser, was last seen at her flat on Church Street early in the morning of Friday, August 23rd, 1996. She had spent the previous day shopping with her mother and had bought clothes for her baby. Gardaí do not believe she had any plans to leave the area and suspected foul play from the outset.
In 1996, vast tracts of land were searched and sections of Grand Canal were drained during the first wave of investigation in Co Offaly. However, no trace of Ms Pender has been found and nobody has been charged despite five arrests taking place in 1997.
In 2008, another search operation was carried out in woods near Mountrath, Co Laois, when a cross with Ms Pender's name was found there.
Six years later another search took place in the Slieve Bloom mountains, Co Laois, after a woman known to the suspect nominated it as potentially Ms Pender's burial site, though nothing was found.
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