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GARDAÍ ARE APPEALING to anyone who may have any information, “no matter how small or insignificant you might believe it to be”, on the disappearance and murder of 25-year-old Fiona Pender to come forward.

Sunday will mark 30 years since the pregnant woman was last seen at her flat on Church Street in Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Fiona was 5’5 with long, blonde hair, and was seven-months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. She was wearing bright-coloured clothing and white leggings in her last sighting, at 6am on the morning of Friday 23 August 1996.

Her body has not been recovered.

It is believed Fiona was murdered by someone known to her and her body was buried.

Over the years, five people were arrested and detained in connection with this investigation, although no one was ever charged. Extensive searches have been carried out – most recently in May 2025, when gardaí conducted a two-day search in the area of the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Co Laois and bogland in Co Offaly.

The results of the searches were not released for operational reasons, gardaí said at the time.

Today, Inspector Alan Kerin told The Journal that the investigation into Fiona’s disappearance and murder “is very much a live, ongoing investigation”.

“We’re still following inquiries all the time,” he said, adding that public appeals “definitely do unearth different sources of information.”

He stressed that there are numerous avenues in which to share information with gardaí, including through the garda confidential line.

Kerin was limited in what he could say on last year’s searches given the fact that the investigation remains ongoing, but said, “we carried out those searches for a reason, and then we followed them up afterwards”.

Anyone who met or saw Fiona in the early morning of Friday 23 August 1996, and anyone who has any information in relation to her disappearance and murder who has not spoken to gardaí is asked to come forward.

Anyone who has previously spoken to gardaí but who felt they could not provide all their information on the matter previously is asked to contact the investigation team again.

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