Gardaí continue their search efforts as the chief suspect arrested on suspicion of murdering Annie McCarrick 32 years ago was released without charge on Friday.
The man in his 60s was detained by gardaí investigating the disappearance of the young American more than 30 years ago.
Ms McCarrick was last seen alive on March 26, 1993, with her missing person’s case being upgraded to a murder investigation in 2023 on the 30th anniversary of her death.
A house in Clondalkin, Dublin, remains sealed off by gardaí and the search for Ms McCarrick’s remains is ongoing, gardaí said. A specialist cadaver dog was brought into the property yesterday afternoon to assist gardaí with searches.
The current owners of the house have nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing investigation. The arrested man had always been one of the chief suspects in this case.
Friends of Ms McCarrick had flagged his behaviour with gardaí in the immediate aftermath of her disappearance in 1993. Now a businessman in his 60s, the man’s behaviour had been cited as ‘obsessive’ by concerned friends, sources told the Irish Daily Mail.
Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
‘Friends of Annie’s had told gardaí they believed he was involved in her disappearance, immediately after she vanished. This man had raised a hand to her before, during a night out socialising. He also had an infatuation with her and Annie’s friends believe he was obsessed with her.
‘We don’t know exactly what gardaí did with this information back in 1993 but it’s obviously being taken very seriously now. The man was kept for the full 24 hours of questioning, including breaks and rest periods, but there was not enough evidence to charge him with anything linked to Annie’s disappearance.
'Just because he was released without charge does not mean that he’s no longer a suspect. Gardaí suspect he had something to do with her death and that’s why they brought him in in the first place,’ they said.
Originally from Long Island in New York, Ms McCarrick had moved to Ireland permanently in January 1993 and was staying in rental accommodation at St Catherine’s Court in Sandymount, Dublin, with two other tenants when she went missing two months later.
Her family said that after visiting on a school trip as a teen, she ‘fell in love with Ireland and the way of life’. She studied at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, and at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, in the late 1980s before returning to New York for a time.
Ms McCarrick worked two jobs at restaurants in Dublin city and was making plans to show her mother around the area before her disappearance. On the day she went missing, Ms McCarrick spoke to both her flatmates before they left separately to travel home for the weekend.
She had made arrangements with friends to have dinner in her apartment the following day and was making plans for her mother Nancy’s visit.
Ms McCarrick was not at home on March 27 when her friends called for dinner as invited, and she had not turned up for work on Saturday or Sunday morning. A friend called to her apartment that Sunday evening and spoke with her two flatmates. Groceries that Ms McCarrick had purchased on the morning of Friday, March 26 in Quinnsworth at Sandymount Road had been left in shopping bags.
Gardaí confirmed searches will continue. A Garda spokesman said: ‘The searches in relation to this investigation remain ongoing and are being supported by a cadaver dog from an external agency. Searches will continue over the weekend.’
