Brother of Midlands woman missing for 29 years says people are 'holding back vital information'

The brother of a young Laois woman who went missing 29 years ago this week, has said the family believe that several people are withholding vital information that could lead to her discovery.

Imelda Keenan from Manor Road, Mountmellick was aged 22 when she went missing on January 3 1994 after leaving her flat in William Street, Waterford which she shared with her boyfriend.

Despite extensive searches and a Garda investigation that remains unsolved, Imelda has never been found.

Her family had a plaque erected on a bridge in Waterford, and each year on her birthday they gather there to remember Imelda.

Below: Imelda's sister-in-law Cheryl and brother Gerry at her plaque. 

Imelda would reach 52 years of age this March 24.

Speaking to local radio in Waterford, her brother Gerry Keenan says he believes someone knows something.

"There are two or three people in Waterford who are holding back vital information. It's hurting us so badly, it has really taken its toll.  We don't think anything bad happened to her, we don't think this was suicide or that she is in the river, the Keenan family thinks they have found that there are two or three people who are keeping information."

Missing Persons Helpline Ireland has urged anyone with information, to again come forward.

"Today we remember Imelda Keenan originally from Mountmellick, Co. Laois, who disappeared on 3 January 1994. Aged 22 at the time, the last confirmed sighting of her was crossing the road on Lombard Street, Waterford at 1:30 P.M. She has not been seen since.

"Her brother Gerry has worked tirelessly to find out what happened to Imelda but says they still don't have the answers they desperately want.

On Imelda's 50th birthday which was during the Covid pandemic, Gerry spoke to the Leinster Express about the family's anguish and ongoing faint hopes.

“I can’t believe she would be 50, she was the youngest girl in our family. I imagine what she would be like as a mother. We have seen a lot of birthday parties, Christmasses and funerals without her. The pain never goes away, our family is in turmoil. We still believe there is light at the end, that there might be life there still. I can’t give up unless there is concrete evidence that Imelda is deceased.

“I feel for people who haven’t seen their family in 12 months because of Covid, but we are in lockdown for the past 27 years,” he said. 

Their parents Florence and Liz, and Imelda's brothers Ned and Donal have all passed on without knowing of Imelda’s whereabouts.

Gerry lives in Waterford and it was he who brought Imelda there to live. She was doing an Anco computer course and living with her boyfriend Mark Wall on William Street.

“She loved it in Waterdord, loved being so near the seaside. She was quiet and very shy. When Mark reported her missing, our world fell around us. Not an hour goes by in the day that I don’t think of her. Four or five times a week I stand on that bridge where we put a little plaque up for her.

“No one is accusing anyone, we are not looking for revenge. We are looking for closure, even if we found a shallow grave, we could take her bones and give her a christian burial beside our mother and father. Our own mother prayed for her all those years and went to her grave with a broken heart,” Gerry said.

"If you have any information which might help in bringing this family's pain to an end, please contact the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station. You can also call the National Missing Persons "Help bring them home" line 1800 911 999 - a Confidential service where you can leave a message with details which will be passed to the investigating team."

Imelda is 5ft 4in, of slim build with brown hair and blue eyes. When she was last seen, she was wearing a white jumper, leopardskin ski pants, blue denim jacket and black shoes.