Gone without a trace, never to be seen again - today marks 30 years since the disappearance of Imelda Keenan.
30 Years On
"Today is the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of our loved one, our youngest, and our dearest little sister - Imelda", her brother Gerry outlined to WLR.
"She was 22 years old when she went missing here in Waterford City in 1994. Today is a very, very emotional day for the Keenan family and for Imelda's friends and people here in Waterford who may have known her."
Originally from the Mountmellick area of County Laois, Imelda came to Waterford to join her brother Gerry. She was quiet, loyal, and full of life - as Gerry fondly recalls.
"Imelda was, or still is, in our little hearts and minds, a very quiet young shy girl from Mountmellick in County Laois, who came down here in the late 1980s. Imelda was very shy and she had very few friends. If you got to know Imelda, she was a dainty little young and innocent girl. She kept to herself and her friends and, you know, kind of went about her business in her own way. She didn't have many friends, but, the friends that she had - she kept them close to her. They were regarded as family as far as Imelda was concerned. Once you got to know Imelda - what a beautiful young girl she was."
Loved Ones Lost
The Keenan family have always been a close-knit unit, ever before life presented them with this unimaginable trouble. For some of the Keenan family, the answer to the decade-old question will never arrive.
"I had four brothers and four sisters - we came from a family of nine. Two of my brothers have unfortunately passed on in the last two years - and they probably went to their graves with broken hearts, not knowing what happened to our sister Imelda - but still, our family remains intact, I have two more brothers left and three sisters."
"We're a very close-knit family. We're in contact regularly", he explained. "Our Dad passed in 1988 before Imelda went missing - and my mother passed away in 2008. She never knew what happened Imelda, but she always believed that someday we could get an answer - that there would be a word. That she would be found, safe and well. It never happened. Our Mam went to her grave, not knowing what happened to her daughter."
As time goes on, one would imagine that hope becomes smaller - and perhaps there would be an inclination to admit defeat in the search for justice. Not for Gerry Keenan, who is determined to carry on the fight, as long as time will allow.
"I have fought tooth and nail for the last 30 years", said Gerry. "I've done hundreds of interviews and now, I have my niece who lives in Portarlington, Gina Kerry. Gina is brilliant in terms of what she does on social media to get the word out there - but as far as we're concerned as a family, we are never going to give up. We're going to keep going - we will keep at it until we get closure."
False Hope
Many false dawns and dead ends have materialised since that day in 1994, but for Gerry - he concedes that it simply comes with the territory of searching for a missing loved one.
"We have got a lot of information down the years. Most of this information is false. We have to take the good with the bad. Any information that anybody has, it has been looked at, it has been scrutinised. We're hoping that someone out there will come forward with the truth. We just have to take everything on board."
Waterford in 1994 was not quite the city it is today. Gerry knows that things could have been very different were this to happen today or tomorrow, but believes you can't get caught up in such thoughts.
"Waterford was a different place 30 years ago", recalls Gerry. "The population wasn't as big. Traffic wasn't as heavy - when you roll back 30 years, could you even imagine it? There was no internet, little to no CCTV, and no mobile phones - look at all the resources that people have at their fingertips today. If Imelda went missing last week here in Waterford, I don't think that we would be having this conversation - I think someone would have seen something, said something. It would be all over social media. It was a different time."
Solidarity
Rather than wallowing in sorrow, Gerry has used his experience to help others, becoming a champion of National Missing Persons Day - which is held annually on the first Wednesday of December.
"I have met a lot of people over the years at National Missing Persons Day", he explained. "Plus there's the fact that I attend a lot of meetings in Dublin during the year called family support meetings, and we meet families who will come on board and have their loved ones missing three months, six months, one year, whatever - and we sit down in a room in a hotel and we join hands."
In 2023, 315 people were reported missing in County Waterford alone - and for many families, their worst nightmare thankfully doesn't materialise. The Keenan family and other families know there is a community they can turn to on the darkest of days.
"We're like one big family. We let it out. We have a little bit of steam. We cry. We do everything that you expect people would do for their loved ones to try and get answers. We are there in solidarity with everyone who is going through the same pain as the Keenan family. We can understand exactly how the families of all the people that are missing in Ireland feel. There are over 900 people considered long-term missing on the island of Ireland, since records began in the 1950s."
"We are one of those unfortunate families that have someone missing that has never come home. 30 years to us is so raw - it's just like last week when our loved one went missing. We pray every day - that we will get some form of closure."
Chasing Closure
That closure, while welcome - could also potentially spell the horror of Imelda no longer being alive. Even still, knowing that would be better than never knowing what happened to Gerry's beloved sister.
"By all means", admits Gerry. "I've said it for years, Waterford is a beautiful place to live. Waterford has beautiful people. This year, above all years, on the 30th anniversary, we are calling upon the people of Waterford to come forward with some kind of information. We know in our own hearts that there are people here in Waterford who are holding back vital information to the Keenan family."
"The Keenan family aren't looking for revenge", emphasised Gerry. "We're not looking for anything like that. It was never mentioned once among our family at any point in the last 30 years. The Keenan family are depending upon information from Waterford people. Now that we have them talking and on social media, we think that there is someone here in Waterford, as I said, holding back vital information. This information has to come forward to us."
"The last thirty years have been like a dagger in our hearts. The pain that we are going through, is just unreal."
An Appeal
A reality exists that the last person to have seen Imelda, dead or alive, has gone about their lives for the past thirty years - but they have never come forward with the much-sought information that would bring an end to one of Ireland's longest cold case investigations. Gerry made this plea to whoever that person may be.
"I would say, please come forward with that information. I have, and every other family has suspicions of what happened to their loved one. The last person to see Imelda alive, or to see Imelda on that day, all these people - they have been very, very shy of coming forward."
"As the years roll by, it gets worse for that person in a way. We want that person to please come forward - please come and talk to us. Send an email to An Garda Síochána. You don't have to give us your name - please leave any kind of information there that will lead us to finding either Imelda's body, or anything at all to help the case roll on."
Ongoing Investigations
The Garda investigation into the disappearance of Imelda Keenan continues at pace, thirty years on. Gerry and the Keenan family have expressed their confidence that An Garda Síochána will find out what happened on January 3rd, 1994.
"The Keenan family had a meeting with Gardai in October 2023, with the help of Cllr. John Hearne, who came on board this year to help us out, and the work that John has done for us and for Waterford has to be appreciated. We had two meetings - and new information has come to the table in the last few days. An Garda Síochána have assured us that no stone will go unturned - that they will look into the future - and that every kind of information will be explored and that investigations will continue. If anything comes from this, the Keenan family will be the first to know about it, and we're happy with that."
For many families across the country, cases have been closed without answers - and they have been left with the pain of never knowing where their loved one may be, or the fate they may have suffered. Gerry believes that by means of pure determination, that will never happen in the case of Imelda.
"There are some cases like that, I can understand that", agreed Gerry. "I can understand the pain of other families coming forward for years and years and getting nowhere. All of a sudden, it comes to a stop. However, it's not the answer as far as the Keenan family is concerned. We have put so much work and effort and time into this. It's just like an everyday chore."
"When we get up out of bed in the morning - we hope that today might be a little bit better than yesterday. We hope that someone will come along tomorrow and give us information. It's the hope that keeps us going - I hope this conversation will lead to someone in Waterford coming forward with information of any kind. Please help us, and help to ease our pain."
An Empty Seat
Christmas has come and gone, marking yet another year without a much-loved sibling at the table. Many people struggle with loss and grief over the festive period - and Gerry says each year gets harder.
"Our thirtieth year sitting at a table with an empty seat on Christmas Day has just passed - and we sit there and ask, "Where is our sister?", "Where is she?", "Can someone just bring her home?" - even if it's only bones in a shallow grave, wouldn't it be wonderful for the Keenan family to think that we finally have her, after all these years."
"The pain just continues on", he conceded. "Christmas will come, Christmas will go - Imelda's birthday will come, but it'll go. We'll keep knocking on the door, banging on the table - hoping and praying for an answer."
When asked to consider the likelihood that his sister may now be deceased, Gerry acknowledged that it is the most likely scenario - hence why the Keenan family have called for their sister's case to be upgraded to a murder inquiry.
"That would be great for the family", admitted Gerry. "At the moment, I'm a regular visitor to William Street Bridge, where the plaque was erected in 2009 - and that's the nearest that I can get to a graveyard. I class that as a headstone, and I go there every day and I say a little prayer."
A Legacy Lives On
A gathering will take place today at 3pm at Imelda's plaque on William Street Bridge, where the people of Waterford will flock to show solidarity with the Keenan family, 30 years on from that awful day.
"All these people in Waterford today will gather at the plaque and I know there will be a lot of people there, and I appreciate people coming out - the 3rd of January - it's not the best day of the year but people still come, they light a candle, say a prayer, shake hands with our family, and that is such a help to us. We appreciate every single gesture."
Keeping up the fight is not easy, but the Keenan family remain determined and thankful that Waterford has never forgotten about Imelda.
"We depend on the local media - they have done so much for us since 1994. It's unreal, and it's great to get publicity out there and to let people know that we haven't forgotten about Imelda. Some people might have forgotten about her. We want to let people know here in Waterford that we have never, ever forgotten about our sister."
An Eternal Wish
If Gerry dies himself, he will die, looking for his sister.
"As long as I have a breath in my body, I'll keep on fighting. On my dying bed, if I don't get an answer. I'll just keep on fighting and fighting and that's what I'm built to do as a sibling", said an emotional Gerry.
"We love our sister, we never forget our sister. She was 22 when she went missing - I remember that dark brown hair, and the beautiful smile. If you asked me today what will Imelda look like at 52, I couldn't answer you."
As time has gone on, Gerry can not even entertain the thoughts of a woman who is no longer 22, full of hope, a picture of beauty and promise.
"I can only remember the way she was in 1994. We always looked out for each other. That's what families are for - especially coming down from Mountmellick in County Laois to a little small city. We always still look out for each other as a family, trying to get on with life. I pray 2024 will be the year that we get an answer."
Closing our conversation, I told Gerry that everyone in Waterford wishes him well in his venture to seek justice for his sister, that Waterford as a county will always be supporting of his admirable quest for justice on what is undoubtedly a profoundly difficult day for the Keenan family.
We hope that 2024 is the year that the Keenan family get the answer their efforts have deserved.
Waterford Garda Station - (051) 305 300
Garda Confidential Line - (1800) 666 111
National Missing Persons Helpline -(1800) 442 552
