Relatives and friends of Fiona Pender have gathered for a walk in her memory in Tullamore, Co Offaly to mark 29 years since her disappearance.
25-year-old Fiona Pender went missing from Tullamore on August 23rd 1996. She was seven months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Ms O'Reilly said the family want to find Fiona and lay her to rest with her unborn baby and her parents.
"We as a family still have hope" said her aunt Bernie O'Reilly, who was taking part in the walk today.
"I think it's important to have Fiona with her parents, and then we know that she's there with her little baby.
"That's very important for us and for all of this town. We've had so much support from people in Tullamore so it's very important to see her put to rest," she said.
While gardaí long suspected Ms Pender had been murdered and had a chief suspect, the case was, until earlier this year, a missing persons investigation.
The person from the Midlands emigrated from Ireland.
Although arrests were made in the case in 1997, no one has ever been charged.
Over the years, Fiona Pender's mother Josephine campaigned tirelessly for a breakthrough in the case, continuously appealing for information to find her daughter. She died in 2017.
Fiona's father Sean died in 2000 and her brother Mark died in a motorcycle accident 14 months before Fiona's disappearance.
"We lost a sister a couple of months ago, and there's not many of us left now and we'd love to see Fiona put to rest with her parents in Durrow," Ms O'Reilly added.
She said her niece Fiona spent time with her family when they lived in London.
She explained how along with Fiona's mother Josephine, they searched all of south London for her.
"I'm always looking for Fiona. After she went missing her Mum came to London and we searched all of South London, we put up posters, and everything and nothing came of it," she said
The family believe there are people in the Tullamore area who have information and her aunt has urged them to show "compassion" and come forward.
"Please whatever it is. It doesn't matter how small; it will help the family," said Ms O'Reilly.
"I think there are people in this town that have some information and they should come forward," she added.
There's a lot of questions with very little answers.
However, it is understood that nothing useful was found in either search but that both avenues of inquiry had to be "closed off".
"We were sort of hopeful, and yet, at the same time, it had been done before, and there was no result," said another aunt, Patricia Cowley.
"For such a small country, it's just extraordinary to think of all of the women in Leinster that have gone missing and none of them have been found," she said.
"There's a lot of questions with very little answers," she added.
The case was re-classified as a murder investigation earlier this year although sources say it was always treated as such.
"We really were positive when we heard that news, to say it's a murder inquiry, after all that time, that was very important," said Ms O'Reilly.
"It was a big, a big step, but nothing has come of it. I know things are still going on but we'd just love to have Fiona with her parents and her baby and know that she's there," she added.
The family say Fiona will never be forgotten.
'She will never be forgotten'
"She's remembered every Sunday at Mass, on the parish bulletin there's a prayer for Fiona. This has been going on since day one," Ms Cowley said.
"Every year we say the same things and we wish and we hope. We'd just like to find out where she is," she added.
Marie White, one of the organisers of the memorial walk, said thay despite the passage of time, people in Tullamore will always remember Fiona.
"She will never be forgotten in Tullamore," said Ms White.
"She was my hairdresser and I happened to be pregnant at the same time Fiona was pregnant, so we used to compare notes and we became good friends," she said.
Despite searches being carried out and a number of arrests over the years, there has been no major breakthrough in the case however Fiona's friends say "the hope always remains".
"You just pray and keep hoping that one day somebody will come up with the vital information and she will be found."
