A former detective who investigated the disappearance of Annie McCarrick says he believes her killer may have kept her bag as a souvenir.
Last week gardai upgraded the investigation into the American’s disappearance to a murder probe – and issued an appeal in relation to a brown bag she had when she vanished on March 26, 1993.
Alan Bailey said: “Going on the standards before you’d say that bag if it was located it would probably not yield anything of any evidential value.
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“But nowadays that bag would have DNA on it and something like that would be a gold mine in evidential terms.”
Mr Bailey, who headed the Garda Cold Case Unit that investigated Ms McCarrick’s disappearance, added: “It would appear as if it may have been kept as a souvenir by her assailant.
“If you take it Annie was snatched off the side of a road or didn’t go of her own free will, well the chances of that person who took her would snatch her and hold on to her bag and all that are slim.
“The fact that the bag still remains missing would suggest that if she was taken and the bag wasn’t disposed of, it was kept as a souvenir by her assailant.”
The now-retired officer said his biggest professional regret is not being able to solve Annie’s murder – and other cases in the so-called “vanishing triangle” such as Deirdre Jacob and Jo Jo Dullard.
He added: “It’s the one regret I have. In the six cases we weren’t able to bring closure to the families.
“It’s a failure as an investigator on my part and it’s something I have to live with.”
But Mr Bailey believes Annie’s killer is still out there and believes monster kidnapper Larry Murphy needs to be spoken to by the detectives now investigating her murder.
The former detective said he once tried to speak to Murphy while he was in prison – but the beast refused.
He added: “Larry Murphy had the modus operandi in that he took a girl off the side of a road, and only for the timely intervention of two strangers I have no doubt that girl would be dead and we would never have found her body.
“He was in custody and we went up to Arbour Hill prison to interview him but he refused to speak to us.
“Unfortunately as the law stood at that stage, that was the end of it.”
But believing those conditions have now changed, Mr Bailey said: “Nowadays you can go to court, get a warrant and take him out to actually interview someone.
“But back then if he refused to be interviewed he couldn’t be.”
And he added until gardai interview Murphy, he cannot be ruled out as a potential suspect in the disappearance of Annie. Mr Bailey said: “Until such time and he’s been eliminated or otherwise he remains a person of interest to the investigation.
“He certainly needs to be interviewed and eliminated.
“I’d be afraid to fit all eggs in one basket but he certainly needs to be eliminated or otherwise.”
But the retired detective added there were many suspects and gardai may now have to speak to each and every one of them.
This includes a man Annie was reportedly seen in the company of at Johnnie Fox’s pub on the night she went missing.
Some have disputed this account – but Mr Bailey said the doorman who claims he saw her that night has never changed his story. He added: “I am satisfied that the man at Johnnie Fox’s convinced himself he was right.
“To this day he has stood by his information that he saw her and identified her straight away.
“Annie was a very good looking girl and she stood out. And he is quite satisfied that he saw her.”
The alleged sighting at the popular pub does however throw the time line of Annie’s disappearance asunder – as gardai then cannot account for an entire six hours of her whereabouts that day.
According to a credible witness, Annie was seen getting off a bus at Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, at around 1.30pm. The alleged sighting at Johnnie Fox’s is after 7pm.
Mr Bailey said: “The problem with the investigation was if Annie arrived in Enniskerry, which was some time around 1pm on March 26, the next sighting then would have been at Johnnie Fox’s which is some miles away from Enniskerry village and at 7.30pm.
“It’s those missing hours that are important in this investigation and we could never establish where Annie went during that time.”
But he added he has no doubt that Annie did not leave of her own accord – and this is why he had been asking for the investigation to be upgraded to a murder probe for more than 20 years.
Mr Bailey’s comments come after a fresh appeal by Annie’s mother Nancy, who told RTE News from her home in Long Island, New York: “I did (have hope) for a very, very, very long time but not after 30 years. I would just love to be able to find her.
“There is nothing more important, I don’t think really, that anyone could do then if they had any – even just the smallest bit of information – you never know how helpful it might be.
“If they have any, any, any, the smallest bit of information, if they would kindly let the gardai know, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated.”
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