The heartbroken family of an Irish woman who went missing in Portugal three years ago think that a dating app could help solve the mystery of her disappearance.
Jean Tighe from Co Cavan, was 38 when she vanished in July 2020, and was last seen leaving a hostel in Parede, a town 30 minutes outside of Lisbon.
Her family hired a private investigator and learned she left the hostel with a male Brazilian on the day she vanished, carrying her handbag and left her passport and other belongings behind.
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Jean's sister Leona told The Missing podcast that her family want to know if she had made plans to meet someone via a dating app - but still doesn't know if that clue has been investigated by police.
She said: “My sister was on a particular dating website.
“Now, I would’ve thought that that would’ve been the biggest point of information... because people meet other people through websites like that.”
Leona said they know Jean left the hostel to go to meet a Brazilian friend but they don’t know who he is.
Leona said: “There’s a strong chance he’s the last person to have seen Jean alive.”
Despite being missing for three years, Jean is still not officially on the Portuguese missing person’s list.
Concerns were reduced because Jean's Instagram was being updated until February 2021, seven months after her disappearance.
Leona said that although her sister suffered from mental health difficulties in the past, she does not believe she took her own life.
Leona said: “There was a belief over here in Ireland that my sister, you know, had mental health difficulties.
"She was anxious, she had anxiety, and that she had taken her own life, and that we as a family couldn’t accept it.”
