Local community will gather in memory of Fiona Pender now missing for 27 years

THE annual walk and run in memory of Fiona Pender, the young Offaly woman who disappeared 27 years ago, will take place in her hometown of Tullamore this Sunday, September 3 at 11.30am.

As has been the case in previous years the walk and run will begin at the Fiona's Way monument at the Grand Canal, Tullamore and continue in a loop along the canal banks back to the starting point.

Fiona Pender was seven months pregnant when she was last seen on August 22, 1996.  She woman was said to be in good form and looking forward to the birth of her baby.

A Facebook page set up for the walk, Fiona Pender Annual Memorial Walk / Run says: “Let’s show our continued support to Fiona’s family and friends and ensure Fiona and her baby are never forgotten” and adds, “So round up the family, friends and leashed dogs also please feel free to share this event.”

The 25-year-old hairdresser grew up close to the site of the Fiona's Way monument and was living in a flat in Church Street in Tullamore when she disappeared.

The day before she had been shopping for baby clothes with her mother Josephine. Josephine Pender passed away at the age of 68 in September 2017, less than a month after renewing her pleas for information on the 21st anniversary of Fiona's disappearance.

Speaking to the Tullamore Tribune, she said it remained up to those with any information to come forward and she believed the person responsible for the disappearance had told others of what he had done.

“He has to have said something to somebody or got somebody's help. But they know and if they can live with it in their conscience I can't make them come forward and help us,” she said.

She said the years without Fiona were “a lifetime”: “It's tough but I still miss her terribly. We were such great old buddies and I miss her going shopping. Even when I hear things now and I would say 'God, I must tell Fiona that' and that's still there with me.”

She lost her son Mark in June 1995 to a motorcycle accident and just 14 months later her daughter, the hairdresser and part-time model Fiona, 25 years old and seven months pregnant, went missing.

Fiona's father, Sean Pender, died tragically at the family home in Connolly Park, Tullamore in 2000.

Mrs Pender believed her daughter was murdered and her body buried and still hoped that one day her remains would be found.

She believed she knew the man responsible for her daughter's disappearance and death.

“He destroyed all of us. He didn't just destroy Fiona, he destroyed every member of the family,” she said.

An extensive investigation took place at the time of Fiona's disappearance and the garda probe has continued since.

Anyone with any information about Fiona's disappearance is asked to contact the gardai in Tullamore 05793-27600 (From abroad 00-353-5793-27600) or phone the Garda Confidential Free Phone line on 1800 666111 or any garda station.