Car sought in 1991 mystery of missing couple

Conor and Sheila Dwyer went missing from their home in Fermoy, Co Cork, on April 30, 1991, and have not been seen since.

Their disappearance remains one of the country's most baffling missing person cases.

Despite a major investigation, gardai and the couple's family have been unable to determine their fate.

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Detectives said their investigation into the Dwyers' disappearance remains active, though it has been several years since any information came to light.

However, they believe that finding the couple's car could be crucial in helping to explain what happened, and they urged anyone with information to contact them.

The white Cressida saloon had the registration number 5797 ZT.

The garda investigation was hampered by the fact that the couple, who were both in their 60s, left all their travel documents at their Chapel Hill home. Their bank accounts were never accessed and, despite numerous appeals, TV reconstructions and even an RTE radio documentary, no confirmed trace of the couple was ever found.

A possible sighting was reported in Munich in 1993, but Bavarian police and Interpol were unable to confirm it.

The German information intrigued gardai because Mr Dwyer, a handyman, had worked for a time in Ireland for a German businessman.

Mr Dwyer ran errands for the man and also looked after his several cars, including a Rolls-Royce.

"The file is open but, at this point, we just don't know what happened to them," a garda source said. "Without any possible sightings to investigate, our best hope is tracing that Toyota Cressida."

The last contact anyone had with the couple was on May 1, 1991, when Mrs Dwyer spoke to her sister on the phone.

The last confirmed sighting was by a neighbour near their home at 9.30am on April 30 as the couple left to attend a funeral.

On May 22 the alarm was raised when Mrs Dwyer's sisters, Maisie and Nellie, became concerned at being unable to locate the couple and alerted gardai.

hnews@herald.ie