Missing Fiona remembered in annual walk along Offaly canal bank

THE annual walk and run in memory of missing Tullamore woman Fiona Pender took place along the bank of the Grand Canal in the town on Sunday morning (Sunday, September 15).

Fiona Pender was 25 when she was last seen in Tullamore in August 1996. Gardai and her family believe she was murdered but despite a lengthy investigation no one has ever been brought to justice and a body has never been found.

The Fiona Pender Memorial Walk and Run takes place annually along Fiona's Way, the stretch of the canal greenway named after the woman who grew up nearby in Connolly Park.

Speaking to those gathered at the stone memorial to Fiona before the event began this morning, Marie White once again made an appeal for information about her disappearance and recalled how Fiona's late mother Josephine had always hoped a body would be found.

“Hopefully, in someone's heart, that they might come forward and tell us where Fiona is,” said Marie.

A Hail Mary was then prayed and the walkers set off towards Digby (Cappincur) Bridge where they turned around to arrive back at the memorial stone.

The annual walk passes the memorial marking the spot where Blueball schoolteacher Ashling Murphy (23) was murdered in January 2022.

An extensive garda investigation took place following Fiona's disappearance from her flat on Church Street and searches have taken place at a number of locations. She was seven months pregnant at the time.

People known to the Pender family have been questioned by gardai and the garda probe is still live.

The nearby Grand Canal and a farm a number of miles away were the focus of early searches and then in late 2014, acting on information from a woman living abroad, a dig took place in the Slieve Blooms near Rosenallis.

The 2014 search resulted from information given to investigators by a woman living abroad who was linked with a man previously questioned in the case. No human remains were found at the forest site.

Fiona's mother always prayed for a breakthrough and her hopes were raised and dashed again when a man she believed to be connected to her daughter's disappearance was prosecuted for alleged crimes in a foreign jurisdiction but was not convicted.

Josephine Pender, who died in 2017, never wavered from her belief that her daughter had been murdered and both herself and the gardai identified a chief suspect but nobody has ever been charged in connection with the young woman's disappearance.

Fiona's brother Mark died in a motorcycle accident in June 1995. Her father Sean Pender died tragically at the family home in Connolly Park in 2000.

Gardai believe Fiona, who worked as a hairdresser, was last seen at about 6am at Church Street in Tullamore on August 23, 1996.

Fiona was sharing a flat with her boyfriend. The day before her disappearance she met her mother in the Bridge House for coffee, accompanied by Fiona's younger brother John, who was 13 at the time, and went to the Bridge Centre and bought some baby clothes.

Fiona was described by the gardai as being 5' 5" in height, with long blonde hair and wearing bright coloured clothing and white leggings. They continue to appeal to anyone who may have information helpful to the investigation.