"I'll never see my sister alive again" - Imelda Keenan's family seek case upgrade | WLRFM.com

The family of missing Waterford woman Imelda Keenan hope that the case will be upgraded to a murder inquiry this afternoon.

Imelda was 22 years old when she was reported missing in Waterford City on January 3rd, 1994.

Her brother Gerry has searched tirelessly for answers in the last three decades and will today meet with Gardai in Waterford at 2:30pm.

Over 11 thousand days have passed since Gerry last saw his sister - but he believes that today could well be one of the most important.

"We want the case of our missing sister, Imelda, who went missing here in 1994 in Waterford - to be pushed over the line for a murder inquiry once and for all. This meeting with An Garda Síochána in Waterford is a very, very important meeting, probably one of the most important meetings in the last 30 years. Our family have suffered mentally and physically down through the years. We've never given up hope of information. We think there are people here in Waterford holding back that vital bit of information that the Keenan family need. We'll keep on trying and keep on hoping that something is going to come out of this meeting."

New information continues to come to light 30 years on from Imelda Keenan's initial disappearance. Gerry has come to the unfortunate concession that the likelihood of seeing his sister alive again is slim to none.

"A lot of information is still coming in. This is an ongoing case - and the Garda Síochána in Ballybricken, we're hoping that this is our final meeting with them, that it will be pushed eventually over the line for a murder case. We have a lot of information coming to the table. The Keenan family back in 1994, I was only a young lad myself, we knew ourselves that after the first three or four days that Imelda was classed as a missing girl here in Waterford - the Keenan family knew deep down our sister would never go missing. We knew that this was actually a murder case and we still, up to this day, think it is a murder case. I don't think we will ever see our sister alive again. I couldn't imagine what Imelda would look like now at 52 years of age. Deep down, I don't think I'll ever see my sister alive again."

Many say that time is a healer - but for the Keenan family, this isn't quite the case. If anything, it gets worse. Gerry told WLR that Imelda Keenan was a 22-year-old girl with hopes and dreams of a lifetime of happiness in Waterford. That sadly never came to fruition.

"The hurt never goes away. The pain just never goes away. It gets worse, actually, I think as I get older. Most of the Keenan family will admit that the pain is a little bit deeper. I wouldn't wish it on anybody - nor even your worst enemy. 30 years have passed, but we're still not going to give up. I brought Imelda down here to Waterford in the late '80s. Imelda fell in love with Waterford, as I did, as a young lad. She always promised me that someday when she got a little bit older, that she would come and work in Waterford and live in Waterford and get married in Waterford and raise a family. It just wasn't to be, and I would give anything just to have her here beside me."

Revenge is not on the minds of the Keenan family. They simply seek closure and believe that a murder inquiry would help to accelerate that process.

"We always say deep down that it's never too late to come forward, ever. There may be one, two, probably three people here in Waterford holding back that vital information. It is never too late to come forward. I don't care if it's 20 years, 30 years - if I'm around in 40 years, our sister's missing, it's still never too late. We don't think our sister is alive at this stage, but we still never give up hope that someone may know where the body is buried. That's all we're looking for, to bring our sister home to bury her. We're not looking for revenge. We never look for revenge. Let us know exactly where our sister is buried in a shallow grave. This would be great for the family to think that her body could be exhumed and buried with my brother here in Waterford or with my family in County Laois."

With hope, comes false hope. So many false dawns, wrong leads and untruths have reared their head since 1994 - but it doesn't deter Gerry and his family in their fight for justice. However, they do believe that there is one particular narrative on Imelda's disappearance that must be questioned.

"Some people will pick up the phone and ring us and give us completely false information, send us in the wrong direction. We know ourselves that back in 1994, that our sister Imelda didn't go missing on that date. The Gardaí told us the 3rd of January, 1994. We think that Imelda went missing sometime around Christmas 1993. It could've been St. Stephen's Day or the day after it. So it was around the 26th, 27th of December. This was a hallmark of someone saying that Imelda went to the post office on that Monday morning on the 3rd of January, which was a bank holiday. That was really false information. I don't know where that information came out of, but whoever put that out there didn't think twice."

Gerry feels his family have earned the right to see their sister's case upgraded to a murder inquiry.

"I've attended a lot of meetings throughout the years for missing people and I've seen the likes of Jo Jo Dollard in Kilkenny and Annie McCarrick and all these girls that went missing around the same time as our sister did in the '90s, all these cases were pushed up to a murder case. That was great for their families and I think that the Keenan family shouldn't be left behind. Our pain is as much pain as these families that I've mentioned."