‘It’s our pain’ – family of missing Imelda Keenan respond to ex-fiancé’s rant about disappearance

Imelda, who was originally from Laois, was 22 years old when she went missing from her flat on William Street in Waterford in January 1994.

Her fiancé at the time, Mark Wall, said she left the apartment at 1.30pm on January 3 to go to the post office.

A doctor's secretary who knew Imelda said she saw her crossing the road by the Tower Hotel on the corner of Lombard Street but after that the Laois woman was never seen again.

Her family believe she was murdered and are set to meet gardai next month to discuss whether the case will be upgraded from its current status as a missing persons investigation to a murder investigation.

The Sunday World called to the home of Mark Wall this week to see if he wanted to join Imelda's family in appealing for information in the case.

However, in an astonishing tirade, he said: "I don't want to talk about that, that's nothing to do with me... absolutely f*** all."

"Let the Keenans tell all the f*****g lies they want, f*** them."

He said he felt untrue insinuations about the case were being posted on social media.

"You'd want to watch some of the stuff they put online," he said, and began a curse-filled rant.

He expressed anger at what is being said about the case online.

"It's a conspiracy theory, that's all it is. Every single bit of it is a conspiracy [theory], there is not a shred of evidence of anything.

Asked what wasn't accurate in media reports, he said: "Plenty of s**t has been posted that is plainly untrue and can be verified as untrue. That's what's getting f**king published.

"It's a conspiracy theory. People... making up stories and adding stories on and making up their own bits and adding them in and then everyone going, 'oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's definitely true'. Because they f*****g read it on the f*****g internet."

Wall continued his tirade when he was asked how he felt about the Keenan family looking to have the case upgraded to a murder investigation.

"They're barking up the wrong f***** tree now completely. They're looking in the wrong place."

Wall then attacked the media and said he didn't want to say any more on the case.

"I speak to the guards on it and speak to my solicitors on it and literally nobody else. Anything I have to say, I'll say to the guards."

Imelda's brother Gerry, who along with other family members has tirelessly campaigned for answers as to what happened to Imelda, said he was upset by Wall's comments.

"It does upset me, of course. He shouldn't be in a position to call us that. It's our sister, it's our pain at the end of the day.

"He can call us all the names he wants, I'm 30 years doing interviews and I've never called him anything like that.

"The torture goes on for us. He might curse and all that but mentally it's hurting us so badly. We're just looking for our sister's body to bring home."

He said he hasn't had contact with Wall since shortly after Imelda's disappearance.

On the same day Wall was dismissing Gerry and all of Imelda's family, Gerry was visiting a plaque erected in her honour in the car park behind the Tower Hotel in the city like he does every day.

"It breaks my heart some days to walk away from the plaque with tears in my eyes. On many occasions I'm wearing dark glasses so one knows I'm crying.

"I'm in my 60s now and I was only a young lad in my early 30s when Imelda went missing.

"It has been a hard battle."

He said he doesn't think Imelda went off somewhere intentionally as she had no passport and her dole money hadn't been touched.

He also said he doesn't believe she fell or jumped into the river as it was extensively searched and her body never turned up.

"I have no doubt Imelda was murdered," he said.

Gerry feels gardai should have carried out more thorough investigations when Imelda disappeared, such as forensic searches, but didn't do so as they did not treat her disappearance as suspicious.

He also feels the sighting of Imelda by the doctor's secretary was either mistaken identity or on a different day.

He asked the gardai if he could speak with the secretary himself but said they declined the request.

Gerry said he hopes someone reading this today who has information will find it in their heart to come forward.

"I won't be around for the next 30 years. I did my best for the last 30 years. I haven't given up hope since the day she went missing that someone will come forward with information.

"If someone told me where the body was it would be like winning the lotto. I'd like to get an answer before going to my own grave. I saw my mother going and my brothers with broken hearts."

Imelda's niece Gina said the family are desperate to find answers.

She also pleaded for anyone who has any information to come forward.

"Thirty years ago, they might have loyalty to someone but they don't now. They can go directly to the guards or to us. We're just hoping Imelda gets the investigation she deserves as a murder inquiry."