Mother appeals for information about Fiona Pender cross

A heartbroken Josephine Pender appealed to whoever placed a cross bearing her daughter?s name to come forward if they have information.

A makeshift wooden cross bearing Ms Pender?s name and other writing, which has not been disclosed by gardai, was found by walkers at Monicnew, Mountrath, Co Laois, on Sunday afternoon. The discovery of the cross sparked a large scale search in the remote mountainous area on the Offaly/Laois border, but failed to yield any results for the devastated Pender family. Gardai dug on two sites in the vicinity and employed sniffer dogs during the fruitless search. The search in the Slieve Bloom mountains got underway on Tuesday morning, but was wound down on Wednesday afternoon as Gardai confirmed it was a negative result.

The crude two and a half foot wooden cross, which was nailed together, bore the words ?Fiona Pender RIP?. It measured 4ft and 2ft and Gardai said it appeared as though the cross was erected in a hurry. The cross was taken away to Garda Headquarters in Dublin where it will be forensically examined for fingerprints.

Fiona Pender was seven months pregnant when she disappeared on August 23, 1996. She was last seen at her apartment on Church Street in Tullamore. She was 25 years old at the time of her disappearance and had worked as a part-time model. The last person to see Fiona alive was her boyfriend, John Thompson, as he left to go to work on his uncle?s farm at 6am that morning.

Her disappearance was the second tragedy to befall the Pender family in just over a year as her brother Mark had died in an accident at Killeigh on June 12, 1995.

Speaking of her son?s tragic death in a motorcycle accident and Fiona?s subsequent disappearance, Mrs Pender said: “this baby was going to give us new life so I am very disappointed.”

She said she no longer holds out any hope that Fiona will be found alive. “All I want is her body back and it laid to rest with her daddy and her brother. She deserves that at least,” Mrs Pender said.

Speaking last Wednesday, Supt Kevin Donohue said: “We are positive that it is a negative result.” He said the case was still open and appealed to anyone with information relating to the case to come forward and contact Gardai by whatever means.

There are two theories about the cross; one that it was simply a cruel hoax and a second theory that whoever erected it may hold key information about what happened to Fiona almost 12 years ago. Fiona?s mother Josephine believes whoever erected the cross may have vital information and has appealed to them to come forward.

“Someone in Tullamore knows what happened to Fiona,” Mrs Pender said. “Whoever put that cross up has some information. I would appeal to them to please come forward to explain why they put up the cross,” she added.

The discovery of the cross and subsequent investigation was extremely difficult for the Pender family who have been searching for Fiona for almost twelve years. “It?s hard for us to keep going on now,” Mrs Pender added.

Gardai, while not ruling out any motive for the placing of the cross, will now try and ascertain who was responsible for it?s erection.

Supt Donohue said the investigation would be continued by Tullamore?s Supt Denis Bowe.