The brother of missing woman Imelda Keenan says he will keep campaigning to find her “as long as I have breath in my body”.
Gerry Keenan’s then 22-year-old sister was last seen on Lombard Street in Waterford City at about 1.30pm on January 3, 1994. The Co Laois native was unemployed and had been doing a computer course at the then Central Technical Institute in Waterford at the time of her disappearance.
She had been living in a flat on William Street in the city with her boyfriend. She left her apartment on January 3 to go the GPO on the quays in Waterford, but it was a bank holiday so it is not known why she was going to the post office as it would have been closed.
She was spotted on the mall in the city around that time, the last reported sighting of her.
Earlier this year, a review of the case was undertaken by gardaí after years of campaigning by Imelda’s family to have the probe upgraded from that of a missing person to a murder investigation. However, in September, the family was informed by gardaí that there was not enough evidence to upgrade their investigation.
Her brother Gerry told the Irish Examiner it “was like somebody had stuck a knife in my heart”.
As long as I have breath in my body, I am not giving up.
Imelda took no belongings with her when she left the flat, and her credit union account was left untouched. Among the items she left behind were her glasses and her cigarettes, and unopened Christmas presents.
Her family wonders why unopened Christmas presents remained in the flat early in the new year, particularly as some were for nephews who lived in Waterford City, sons of her brother, Ned.
Gerry said he was the first of the family to move to Waterford from the family’s home in Mountmellick and he had pledged to look after them.
He believes there are “two or three people who are keeping back the information” on what happened to his sister. “We have carried this pain for 32 years and it is time to let it go,” he said.
A plaque in honour of Imelda has been installed on a bridge over John’s River, near where she was last seen. The family will gather at the plaque on Saturday afternoon to pray for Imelda.
Gerry said: “Family will be coming down from the Midlands and we will meet at the plaque. We will be there praying and reminiscing about Imelda. A musician called Joe Tobin will be there as well playing some songs.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí at Waterford Garda Station on 051 305 300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.