Fresh twist in Annie McCarrick case as Sandymount-based suspect identified

The man is understood to have lived in Sandymount at the time the young American was murdered on or about March 26, 1993.

He has not been arrested, and sources said there were no plans yet to bring him in as gardaí continue to build a case against him.

It is not known whether he and Ms McCarrick were known to each other, and gardaí stressed last night they are still keeping “a very open mind” in their murder investigation.

“There is a list of people of interest in this case and this individual is a person of major interest,” a source said.

Earlier this week, the Sunday Worldrevealed that the main geographical focus of the investigation is the Sandymount area of south Dublin.

This is where Ms McCarrick was last seen, at the Allied Irish Bank on March 26, 1993.

Gardaí have released the final known image of her – a grainy shot captured on a CCTV camera at that location.

Sources believe “way too much attention” was paid by detectives to reported sightings of her in Enniskerry village and Johnnie Fox’s pub in the aftermath of the bank sighting.

“The firm belief is that the key to solving this case is south Dublin, particularly the Sandymount area where Annie lived, rather than anywhere else,” a source said.

However, it has been stressed that it is a complex investigation and “everything is still being looked at”.

Last week, gardaí officially upgraded their missing person investigation into Ms Mc- Carrick’s disappearance to a murder investigation and made a public appeal for information.

While convicted rapist Larry Murphy, a long-time suspect in this case, has not been ruled out as a person of interest, sources said gardaí believe he is not on “top of the list”.

“Nothing can be ruled out, of course, but this investigation is going in a certain direction now,” a source said.

“There have been significant developments which cannot be disclosed now.”

Murphy has been connected to other missing persons cases, including the 1998 murder of Deirdre Jacob, and Jo Jo Dullard in 1995.

However, the south Dublin suspect in the Annie McCarrick case has never before come to the media’s attention in relation to those matters.

Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was 27 when she was last seen alive. She had been living in Sandymount and working in Dublin city centre at the time.

It had been believed that shortly after her image was captured inside the AIB in Sandymount, Ms McCarrick boarded a bus to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, to go for a walk, but she never returned.

However, there is “significant doubt” that bus journey ever happened.

Ms McCarrick’s father, John, died in 2009 without knowing what happened to his daughter.

Her mother, Nancy, lives in Long Island and was recently visited by senior garda detectives.

Further advances in investigative techniques may help gardaí in finally bringing closure for the McCarrick family.

So far, detectives have discovered and collated more than 5,000 documents and reports, taken more than 300 statements of evidence and retained several exhibits.

On the morning of her disappearance, Ms McCarrick spoke to her flatmates before they left separately to travel home that weekend.

She arrived at the AIB on Sandymount Road at 11am and also made arrangements with friends, inviting them over to dinner the following day.

However, on the evening of March 27, her friends became concerned for her welfare.

She was not at home for the arranged dinner and had not shown up to work.

Groceries that had been bought the previous morning were left unpacked in shopping bags.

By the following day, she was reported missing, a report that was confirmed by her mother, who arrived in Dublin two days later.

Last week, the officer leading the investigation, Detective Superintendent Eddie Carroll, said: “I want to speak to any person who met, spoke with or had any interaction with Annie McCarrick on March 26, 1993, or subsequently.

“There is a person or persons who have information on the disappearance of Annie McCarrick and her murder, and who haven’t yet spoken to gardaí or who may have already spoken to gardaí but were not in a position to tell everything that they know at that time.

“I want to speak with any person who has any information on the large brown handbag which it is believed that Annie was in possession of when she went missing. “I am appealing to those persons, 30 years later, to please come forward and speak to the investigation team embers.

“The primary focus of this investigation is the victim, Annie McCarrick, and her family.

“Annie’s father, John, has passed away not knowing what happened to his daughter.

“Annie’s mother, Nancy, deserves to know the truth – she deserves to know what happened to her daughter. She is waiting 30 years for those answers.

“I, and the investigation team, are determined to gather all available information and evidence to find those answers and bring this matter to a positive conclusion.”