A post mortem was carried out today on the body of Sean Pender, the father of the missing County Offaly woman, Fiona Pender. The fifty year old man was found dead in his home in Tullamore yesterday afternoon. He's thought to have taken his own life. His daughter Fiona Pender disappeared from her flat in the town in August of 1996 and has not been seen since.
Mr Pender was found unconscious by his wife Josephine in their home in Tullamore at around five o' clock yesterday evening. An ambulance was called but attempts to resuscitate him at the scene failed. He was taken to Tullamore General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Mr Pender was known to be very distressed by the disappearance of his daughter Fiona in mysterious circumstances four years ago, and he made a number of public appeals for information on the case. Fiona who was seven months pregnant was last seen by her boyfriend John Thompson at her flat in Church Street in Tullamore on the twenty third of August 1996. She has not been seen since. Her case is one of those being investigated by the Trace investigation team, set up to re-examine the disappearance of six women in the midlands and the east of the country.
This is the third tragedy to hit the Pender family. Along with Fiona's disappearance they lost another son in a traffic accident some years ago. Sean Pender is survived his wife Josephine and his son. A post mortem has been carried out and the circumstances surrounding his death will become clear when the inquest is held later this year.
