THE heartbroken mother of Annie McCarrick says she doesn’t “know what to say anymore” after the search for her daughter’s remains ended without a breakthrough.
It comes as a former FBI agent and private investigator believes it’s “now or never” if gardai are to crack the 32-year murder mystery.
Superintendent Tim Burke and Detective Superintendent Eddie Carroll upgraded Annie’s case to a murder investigation two years ago[/caption]
A fresh dig at a Dublin house in the hunt for answers has now concluded[/caption]
New Yorker Annie, 26, was last seen alive on March 26, 1993, in Sandymount in south Dublin.
Over three decades on, her devastated mum Nancy reiterated that she does not want justice, but wants answers.
After learning of the news that the search had ended, she told Irish Sun: “We were very hopeful actually.
“I would just like to know what happened. I truly don’t know what to say anymore. I really don’t.”
And top investigator Kenneth Strange warned “time is the investigators’ worst enemy” as a major dig for Annie’s remains at a Dublin house concluded after 12 days.
The suspect in the case, a 62-year-old businessman, was arrested at his plush rural Co Meath home on June 12 and brought to Irishtown Garda Station in south Dublin where he was quizzed on suspicion of murder.
On the same day, gardai drafted in heavy machinery to a house in Clondalkin, southwest Dublin.
But a garda spokesman said today: “The search at a domestic residence in Clondalkin has concluded this afternoon. An Garda Siochana will remain on site in order to return the site to the current residents.
“We have updated the family of Annie McCarrick of today’s developments.
“An Garda Siochana appeals to anyone with any information, no matter how small or insignificant they might believe it to be, to contact the Garda Investigation team.”
Gardai suspect 26-year-old Annie had stayed at the property for a short period prior to her disappearance.
Its current owners and occupiers are in no way linked to the case.
Mr Strange became involved in Annie’s case in 2003.
He says it is time for answers in the mystery as the passing of time will only create further complications in the case.
Strange also insisted that the suspect in the case will be “feeling a great deal of stress”.
Mr Strange told the Irish Sun: “It could be a now or never type of situation.
“I’ve said before – time is the investigators’ worst enemy.
“Witnesses and people pass away. Memories fade, evidence can be mishandled, all of that stuff works against investigators.
“So I believe it’s got to be now.”
The suspect in the case was released after 24 hours in custody, where he denied any involvement in the murder and made no admissions.
MURDER UPGRADE
While he is a free man, Mr Strange insists that the suspect will be feeling the pressure as investigations progress.
He explained: “That’s my experience from my 21 year law enforcement career, as an investigator, as a person that has been involved with criminals and the criminal mind.
“So I’m sure that he’s feeling a great deal of stress.”
Annie’s case was upgraded to murder two years ago and the suspect became the focus of investigations.
The suspect knew Annie prior to her disappearance in March 1993.
ENCOURAGING PROGRESS
Gardai also investigated claims that the suspect assaulted Annie while he was drunk in an incident prior to her vanishing.
Mr Strange admits that he is as “frustrated as anybody else” that it took so long to make the first arrest and progress in the case.
But he told us: “These cases sometimes take on a life of its own. It depends on so many circumstances.
“But I’m encouraged by the progress that I’m seeing now.
“This new team of investigators, I just get the sense that they’re dedicated and that they’re really intent on bringing justice to this case.”
NO DEFINITE ANSWERS
Cold case cops are reinterviewing witnesses in the case while also examining electronic devices seized from the murder suspect’s home.
Despite extensive investigations, Annie’s body has never been found, nor have any definitive answers.
She was an only child of Nancy and John, who died in 2009 without any answers, who lived on Long Island in New York.
Annie’s aunt Maureen in recent days hit out at the previous Garda investigation into her niece’s disappearance and murder and declared: “They botched it.”
She said: “They botched it. They admitted it.
“They didn’t listen to the family and did not investigate who we thought was guilty in the very beginning.
“They didn’t follow up on things they should have.
“That’s no secret. It is all documented. I don’t know.
“They didn’t do anything for the first 24 hours, because she was of age.
“And no matter how many times we said there is something wrong, it was: Oh, she is off on an adventure and she will turn up.”
CLOSURE FOR FAMILY
Nancy added: “But it was the time, too. It was a different country.
“And we were so much more accustomed to every crime going over here.”
US lawyer Michael Griffith, who represented Annie’s later father John, told of his hopes she can be found, adding: “I continue to hope that this latest strand of the investigation by the Irish authorities can lead to some closure for Annie’s family.
CONCERNS RAISED
“They have been waiting far too long to bring her home and to secure justice.
“They have done fantastic work over the years in keeping her case in the public eye.”
Former colleagues and pals of the suspect, who are due to be reinterviewed by gardai, have raised concerns about his alibis at the time the US woman went missing.
One source said: “A plan is in place to establish the whereabouts of the suspect’s former colleagues at the time of Annie’s disappearance and reinterview them.
“It’s possible that through the passage of time that they might recall something that they might have forgotten about at the time.
“There are concerns over the suspect’s alibis but any evidence at the moment is just circumstantial.
“One strand is that one of the suspect’s former colleagues had concerns about his lack of empathy after Annie’s disappearance.
“This person made it clear that the suspect didn’t appear to be too grief stricken considering how much he was obsessed with Annie.”
The source added: “The suspect was obsessed with Annie and there is a feeling that his belief was that if he couldn’t have her then no-one could.
“He had been violent in the past and at the time Annie just wanted to get on with her life.”
A major search involving heavy machinery at a Clondalkin property has now ended[/caption]
Former FBI agent Strange said the time is now or never to crack the case[/caption]
