The family of a Limerick man, missing for the past 25 years, have been informed by gardaí that his human remains were actually discovered a few weeks after he disappeared.
Denis Walsh was 23 when he went missing after walking out of his home in Caherdavin, on 9 March, 1996.
His parents, Denis Snr and Mary, have made appeals for information, and even travelled abroad to follow up on a number of reported sightings.
Mr and Mrs Walsh said they were visited by two members of An Garda Síochána over the weekend, who informed them that gardaí had received confirmation that human remains found in 1996 are that of their son.
When members of the family went to visit their local garda station on Saturday, they were told there was no further information at that time.
A garda spokesman said: "On 9 March 1996, Mr Denis Walsh, Caherdavin, Limerick, was reported missing to gardaí at Mayorstone Park Garda Station in Limerick. The missing person investigation file remained open until now.
"In April 1996, an unidentified body was recovered off Inis Mór, Aran Islands, Co Galway. This unidentified body was taken to the mortuary in UCHG.
"Bodily samples were taken and forwarded to the Forensic Science laboratory in an effort to identify the deceased. These samples were examined in July 2008, March 2011 and June 2017, with negative results for a match.
"On 5 February 2021, gardaí in Mayorstone were notified of a positive match following advances in DNA. The remains were positively identified from reference samples from both parents as that of Mr Walsh. The family have been notified."
Mr Walsh's heartbroken parents said they were awaiting information on the whereabouts of their son’s remains so they can give him "a proper Christian burial".
Speaking this morning, Denis Walsh Snr said he and his wife have been left "shocked" and "bewildered" by the news, but they were "also happy" their son had been found.
"We are bewildered by the whole thing, we have suffered enormously for the past 25 years, and I haven’t slept over the past three nights," Mr Walsh said.
"We still don’t know where his remains are," he added. "If Denis was found in April 1996, that’s only a month after he went missing, so were the dental records checked?" Mr Walsh asked.
"We have been going around for 25 years looking for Denis. We went to Cork, Kerry, Dublin, Fermanagh, England. I’m happy Denis has been found," he said.
Mike Walsh, a brother of the deceased, said the family was "trying to process all of this information" adding "I’m a bit numb".
He said: "We are definitely pleased Denis’s body was found; now the constant thinking and wondering is over, and we have something (tangible) to work with."
Gardaí have been asked for further comment surrounding Mr Walsh’s remains.
Despite a number of reported sightings of Denis Walsh in the days after he was reported missing, the trail soon ran cold.
A security manager working at the Seacat Ferry in Belfast contacted gardaí in May 1996 after he watched an appeal for information about Mr Walsh’s whereabouts on the Crimecall television programme.
The man told gardaí he believed he had seen Mr Walsh waiting to catch a ferry to the Isle of Man.
When the security manager checked, a ticket in the name of 'Walsh’ had been cashed in, unused.
