MISSING teen Amy Fitzpatrick’s mother and stepfather say they will celebrate her 30th birthday by buying cake, playing music and “pretending she’s here.”
In an exclusive interview with our sister title The Star, Audrey Mahon says she and her husband Dave will listen to music and go shopping as Amy loved to do - as they mark her 30th birthday next week- some 14 years on from her disappearance.
Tragic Irish teen Amy was just 15 years old when she vanished from the Mijas Costa area of Spain on New Years Day, 2008 - but now Audrey says she and Dave don’t have enough money to properly campaign for answers - after spending "hundreds of thousands."
But next Tuesday, Audrey says she and Dave will buy a birthday cake and pretend her daughter is with them, as they mark her 30th without her.
“We’re going to go shopping like we always did on her birthday - get her a birthday cake, play her music and just pretend she’s still here with me,” Audrey told us.
“Amy loved shopping and we’ll go shopping that day. As far as I’m concerned she’s there shopping with me.”
And she says Amy’s love for music, particularly for artists like Elvis, will be celebrated by her and Dave next week, as they mark the occasion in an undisclosed location.
“So it won’t be songs from the chats that we’d be singing. She loves Elvis as well and she got that from Davey because he loves Elvis. She used to rob his CDs and he used to go mad,” she said.
“She always had CDs strewn all over the place. She loves the all the oldies. So we’ll be playing them next week I suppose.”
We asked Audrey if her husband Dave wanted to also say anything about Amy on this tragic landmark occasion.
“The way it is, it's actually very hard for Davey to talk about Amy. As far as he’s concerned that’s his baby, and he wouldn’t be up for the conversation,” she told us.
“That’s too hard for him,” she said.
The investigation into Amy’s disappearance continues in Spain - though no trace of the missing teen has ever been found.
Amy was last seen walking from her friend Ashley Rose’s house at around 10pm on New Years Day, 2008, walking in the direction of her home, where she lived with her mother Audrey and stepfather Dave Mahon.
She was never seen again.
Despite the years going on, Audrey says she still has hope that she will one day find the answers as to what happened to her daughter.
But she says over the years she and Dave have spent “hundreds of thousands” campaigning to find Amy, and they are now left penniless.
“You’re talking 14 years of campaigning. Hundreds of thousands. Easily.
“It went on eating, running the car, getting flights, staying in the hotel, going from here to there, doing leaflets, badges, bus stops, banners.
“More than a hundred thousand I can tell you. If I had it today I'd spend it again on the same thing,” she said.
“Every penny we had is gone. Every time we had any money we got the pennies together and I’d get a flight over, and go around putting posters up and going down to the police station.
“I even done it on my own when Davey was away,” she said.
Audrey says she and Dave want to eventually go back to Spain and continue their campaign for answers.
“I’ll always hold out hope. Hopefully one day when we’re back on our feet we’ll go back out investigating in Spain again but at the minute we can’t.
“We’re managing but I mean for this, it’s such a big project to take on,” she said.
Meanwhile Audrey says she's now walking 100 miles for the month of February, as she helps raise money for a charity named 'Children in Crossfire.'
"I want to be able to raise money for another cause now," she said. So I'm doing this walk for the charity and hoping to do 100 miles by the end of the month."
