The Disappearance of Annie McCarrick

Annie Bridget McCarrick is an American woman who went missing in Ireland shortly after her 27th birthday. Annie was born in Long Island, New York on March 26, 1966. She began traveling back and forth for school in Dublin, Ireland in 1987 and finally relocated there in January 1993.

On Friday, March 26, 1993, Annie left her apartment for an afternoon trip to the Wicklow Mountains, where she enjoyed taking nature walks. Video taken from CCTV in the area places her at a nearby ATM that morning. She retrieved some cash and then did some grocery shopping before returning home. She was only there a short time before leaving again to catch a bus. Annie was last spotted on the bus around 3:40 pm in Ranelagh and then not again until that evening.

A bouncer at a pub claims that Annie was seen around 9 pm at the Hooley Show held at Johnnie Fox’s in Glencullen. The Hooley Show was a traditional Irish music and dancing show. A male was seen paying her way in and paying for her drinks during the time they were there, which was around two hours. The man has never been identified and neither he nor Annie was seen leaving.

Outside, it was late, dark, and rain-soaked. It is not known where Annie might have gone in such foul weather, but her originally intended destination of the Wicklow Mountains was too far for her to have walked. Later reports question whether it was Annie seen in the pub or merely someone who looked like her. The man in question has never come forward to offer further information.

When Annie failed to show up for a dinner date with friends, they began calling to check on her but were unable to get in touch. On Monday, they called her place of work, only to find that she had not shown up for her shift on Sunday. The shopping she had purchased on Friday still sat on the kitchen table at the apartment. Concerned for her well-being, her friends contacted the police and also, her parents in New York. Her mother traveled to Ireland and filed a missing person’s report at the Garda station some 80 hours after the last sighting of Annie.

Despite a number of searches focused on the Wicklow Mountains and Leinster area, where many women had gone missing the previous few years, no trace of Annie could be found. Numerous men with sexual assault records were investigated, including a recently convicted rapist named Larry Murphy and “Wolfman” Robert Howard, who was later convicted for murdering Hannah Williams.

The Garda believe that McCarrick may have been a victim of a serial killer that had been in the area at that time commonly referred to as “the vanishing triangle.” However, in a book called “Missing, Presumed” by retired detective sergeant Alan Bailey, the author wrote that there was a credible suspect in the case — an IRA henchman and child abuser, who may have been living in a safe-house near the pub and gotten a little loose-lipped with Annie about his activities with the IRA.

Bailey claims there is credible evidence that he met Annie at the pub and that he offered her a ride, then killed her. Afterward, it is suspected that he might have had her body hidden or destroyed by his fellow IRA members.

The case was reopened in 2008, but despite multiple theories, no new concrete information has come to light. It is widely believed that Annie is buried somewhere in Dublin or the Wicklow Mountains, but her body has never been found. To date, the mystery of what happened to Annie McCarrick remains unsolved.