Man (60s) arrested on suspicion of murder of Annie McCarrick

Ellen O'Donoghue

A man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Annie McCarrick in 1993.

The man, in his 60s, was arrested on Thursday morning by an investigation team from the Serious Crime Unit based in Irishtown Garda Station.

He is being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at a garda station in Dublin.

This is the first arrest in the case.

Ms McCarrick was born in New York in 1967 and was 26 years old at the time of her disappearance.

Gardaí are also commencing a search operation at a residence in Clondalkin, Dublin 22, on Thursday morning as part of the investigation.

Elements of the house and garden will be searched and subject of both technical and forensic examinations, a garda statement said.

Gardaí stressed, however, that the current residents of the home are not connected in any way with Ms MsCarrick or her disappearance.

The search is being carried out by the Dublin Metropolitan Region's South Central divisional search team, ed by the Garda National Technical Bureau.

This search operation has the of other state and external expertise, if required, the garda statement said.

It added that An Garda Síochána has and will continue to keep Ms McCarrick's family fully updated in relation to the investigation, and that they have been fully apprised of Thursday's developments.

Ms McCarrick lived in rental accommodation in Sandymount, Dublin 4, with two other tenants at the time of her disappearance on March 26th, 1993.

Both her flatmates spoke to her on that day before leaving separately to travel home for the weekend, but by Sunday, March 28th, her friends became concerned for her welfare as Ms McCarrick was not at home on Saturday, March 27th, when they called for a dinner she had invited them to.

She did not show up for work on March 27th or 28th either.

Groceries that had been purchased by Ms McCarrick on Friday morning, March 26th in Quinnsworth on Sandymount road had been left unpacked in shopping bags, and a receipt in the shopping bags confirmed the date and time of purchase as 11.02am on the Friday.

That was her last confirmed activity.

Ms McCarrick was reported missing by a friend at Irishtown Garda Station on the evening of Sunday, March 28th 1993, and the missing person report was confirmed by her mother, Nancy, when she arrived in Dublin for a pre-arranged visit on Tuesday, March 30th, 1993.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone with information, no matter how small or insignificant they believe it might be, to the investigation team.

They have also appealed to anyone who has previously come forward but who felt they could not provide gardaí with all of the relevant information they had about the matter to them again, as with time, they may now be in a position to speak further with the investigation team.

Any information will be welcomed by the investigation team and treated with the strictest confidence, they said.

The investigation team can be ed at Irishtown Garda Station on 01 666 9600, or anyone who wishes to provide information confidentially should the Garda Confidential Line: 1800 666 111.

The investigation is being led by the Dublin South Central Serious Crime Unit ed by the National Serious Crime Review Team.