GARDAI have interviewed a man in France who was a friend of Annie McCarrick’s when she went missing 32 years ago today.
The disappearance of the 26-year-old American, who was described by pals as “tall, broad and feisty, has baffled detectives ever since she was last seen on March 26, 1993 in Sandymount, Co Dublin.
The case was upgraded from a missing persons investigation to a murder investigation in 2023.
The young woman was originally from Bayport in Long Island but had relocated to Ireland to study teaching in 1987.
She returned briefly to the US, but eventually moved back to Dublin before her disappearance.
She was working as a waitress at the Courtyard Restaurant in Donnybrook and Café Java in Leeson Street when she went missing.
Annie is described as 5’8″ in height, 10 stone with long brown and spoke in a soft American-Irish accent.
When Annie disappeared it is believed she was in possession of a large brown leather bag.
A friend reported Annie missing after she failed to show up for her shift at work.
And the following day Annie’s mother Nancy arrived from the US.
Investigators have said they are “committed to uncovering the truth” behind the disappearance and murder of Annie, but a number of unanswered questions still surround the 32-year-old case.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE DAY SHE LEFT?
On the day Annie disappeared, her housemates had returned to their home houses in the countryside, leaving Annie alone in the shared apartment.
The morning of March 26, 1993 Annie went grocery shopping in Quinnsworth, Sandymount Road.
The receipt for the shopping puts the time of purchase at 11.02am[/caption]
A receipt found in the bag puts the time of purchase at 11.02am that day.
Among the shopping were perishable items such as butter and milk, but Annie did not put the shopping away.
Instead, Annie is understood to have been seen leaving her apartment again and walking along Newgrove Avenue.
It is understood she did not return home after this, as the shopping bags were discovered still packed in the apartment after she went missing.
A friend reported seeing her boarding no 44 bus headed for Enniskerry in Wicklow at around 3.30pm, but did not speak with her.
Further potential sightings of her were reported in Enniskerrry.
Annie had made contact with friends on March 26 to invite them for dinner in the apartment the following night.
However, concerns began when she was not there when they showed up the following day.
WHEN WAS THE LAST KNOWN SIGHTING?
The last known sighting of Annie has caused some confusion in recent years.
It was believed Annie had visited the Allied Irish Bank branch on Sandymount Road shortly before 11am.
This was long regarded as the last confirmed sighting of Annie McCarrick and CCTV footage of her queuing at the bank was released publicly.
However, Gardai last year said they believe the date provided for the CCTV footage was incorrect and was actually from 11 days earlier.
The supermarket receipt from the morning of March 26 is the last definite record of Annie.
Gardai had originally believed Annie may have travelled to Wicklow on the day of her disappearance, but struggled to find witnesses to confirm this.
A post office worker said she believed she may have sold stamps to a girl matching Annie’s description but without CCTV footage this was never confirmed.
During an RTE documentary on Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle a woman named Una Wogan said her mother Margret had been working in Poppies Cafe on Enniskerry’s Square on that Friday.
Una claimed her mother had said she was sure the last people she served at around 4pm that day were Annie and a man.
However, Gardai never took a statement from Margret at the time.
This may have been due to the fact that if Annie had boarded the bus at 3.30pm as they were investigating at the time, it would have taken over an hour for her to reach Wicklow.
Gardai have since confirmed they do not believe the 26-year-old made a trip to Wicklow on the day of her disappearance.
A doorman of Johnnie Fox’s pub in Glencullen reported seeing Annie leave the pub that evening with a man.
The pub would have been around 6km from Annie’s apartment, with no public transport available between the two locations, meaning Annie would have had to walk.
In the years since her disappearance Gardai have also said they do not believe it was Annie that was spotted in the pub.
ARE GARDAI PROBING NEW EVIDENCE?
Gardai now believe Annie may not have ever left Sandymount on the day she disappeared.
It is understood Gardai have recently travelled to France to interview a man who knew Annie at the time she went missing.
In a statement yesterday a garda spokesperson said: “An Garda Siochana continues to investigate the disappearance and murder of Annie McCarrick, who disappeared on 26th March 1993.
“An Garda Siochana remains committed to uncovering the truth and progressing this investigation.
“While An Garda Siochana does not comment on specific lines of inquiry, as part of ongoing investigations into the disappearance and murder of Annie McCarrick investigators have interviewed a number of witnesses located in other jurisdictions.”
They continued: “Investigating Gardai continue to appeal to the public for any information that may shed light on Annie’s disappearance and murder.
“Any person who may have interacted with Annie on or after March 26, 1993, are urged to come forward and assist in the investigation.
“Anyone with information is asked to contact the investigation team at Irishtown Garda Station at 01 666 9600, the Garda Confidential line at 1800 666 111, or their local Garda station.”
WAS ANNIE BEING HARRASED?
In 2023 claims were made publicly that Annie had been assaulted by a man before her disappearance.
The man who had been known to Annie is understood to have hit her while they were drunk, her friends claimed.
As part of a 2023 RTE documentary aunt Maureen Covell said: “I was told something in confidence that someone that Annie had known had struck her when they were in a drunken state.”
Annie’s childhood best friend Linda Ringhouse revealed she and other pals and relatives sent faxes to Gardai from the US just over a week after the student went missing to highlight their fears.
Linda said: “Four or five of us each faxed statements. One of the things that’s really frustrating is that we were never contacted by the Garda regarding our faxes and some of the information we put in — information that to us was very telling at least, you know, something to be questioned.
“But it never happened as far as I can remember.”
But Gardai who worked on the case say they never received the faxes sent from New York.
Annie’s mother also had no idea her daughter had been assaulted.
Nancy McCarick said: “We found out from her friends that she had been having quite a bit of difficulty with someone she knew and we were totally unaware of that.
“She hadn’t let us know about it. I guess she thought she could handle it herself and things would be all right.”
However, this was not a line of enquiry Gardai followed at the time.
Detective Val Smyth questioned family and friends at the time of her disappearance and said he knew nothing of anyone being violent.
She said: “I’m not aware that anyone known to Annie hit her. There was never any question of assaulting Annie at any time.”
COULD ANNIE’S MURDER BE LINKED TO A SERIAL KILLER?
In recent years it was claimed Spanish serial killer Antonio Angles may be a suspect in Annie’s disappearance and murder.
The murderer was wanted over the November 1992 kidnap, rape, torture and murders of three teenage girls near Valencia.
A US private investigator spoke in 2022 about the fact Angles was identified as a stowaway on a British-captained container ship who fled Portugal for Dublin after escaping a massive police manhunt in Spain.
He would have reached Dublin just before Annie McCarrick disappeared without trace.
In 2023, retired Garda Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey, who was centrally involved in the investigation told a Spanish TV programme about the fugitive’s escape from police and the mystery of his current whereabouts.
He said: “I would say Antonio Angles will remain a person of interest until he can be definitively ruled out and we know what happened with Annie McCarrick.
“Antonio Angles needs to be traced, investigated and ruled out of the inquiry if he wasn’t involved. The fact he has never been located means he will be a suspect always.”