THE ELDERLY parents of two Limerick men believed to have been murdered, have made emotional pleas for information on the whereabouts of their sons’ bodies. Bob Shanahan (70), and Teresa Carroll (82), laid a wreath near the Remembrance Tree on Bedford Row to remember their missing children. The heartbroken pensioners also lit a ‘candle of hope’ in solidarity with families all over the country who are missing loved ones this Christmas. Bob’s son, Aengus ‘Gussie’ Shanahan, is missing nearly 13 years. He was last seen in the city on Friday, February 11, 2000.
Bob and his wife Nancy – who suffered a stress related stroke and is mostly confined to a wheelchair – believe their son was murdered because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“We are just appealing to anybody who knows something to just tell us what happened to the body. That’s all we want. We don’t want any justice, we don’t want to prosecute anybody, all we want to do is get a Christian burial for Gussie and get closure,” Bob said.
“We are appealing at Christmas time because we might strike a chord with people who have information. These people are older now and they might have children of their own and coming up to Christmas time, it’s just a matter of appealing to them to give us the information that will allow us to give our son a christian burial.”
“Christmas is always a family time, and naturally it’s part of life that people die and people are missing from lots of houses in that way. But, for us, the disturbing part about it is not knowing where the person is. If we could have closure on it and give Gussie a Christian burial, we’d be very happy with it,” he added.
“Nancy had a stroke and she’s sitting by the fire constantly thinking, expecting a phone call, hoping the whole time. All she looks forward to is that piece of information.”
Teresa Carroll’s son, Matthew, went missing fifteen years ago aged 31.
Fighting back tears she said: “Fifteen years of my life have been destroyed, because he was my first son, and when he walked out that door that was the last I saw of him, and I’m still waiting for him to come home.”
“Someone knows, someone has to know. You don’t just disappear.”
Matthew Carroll was socialising in The Steering Wheel pub near his home in Southill on the night he went missing. His family suspect he was murdered by members of a local criminal family.
“I find it very hard at Christmas time. This year I have a terrible sensation, that somebody is going to come to me and tell me something. My nerves have gone very bad…I have a feeling something is going to happen.”
“If anyone knows anything about Matthew please, please, please go to someone and tell where he is. Leave the information in a church or with a priest or at a grave or wherever.”
Mrs Carroll said all she wanted was to be buried with her son’s remains.
“I’m 83 and I want to be buried with my son. I’ve told Seamus, my other son, that he has to put Matthew’s bones in on top of me, should I go before his body is found.”
Matthew Carroll’s daughter Trudy was just five years old when her father disappeared.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Searching for the Missing group, which is assisting the families of those who are missing, said the search for Gussie Shanahan and Matthew Carroll and another local man, Des Walsh, would “intensify in 2013”.
The spokesperson added: “We’ve become as bad as Northern Ireland and the troubles. As you go county by county you have pockets of people missing and it’s mostly young men. It really does need to be addressed.”
“We will not give up. We want closure. People know what happened. People are fearful of a garda coming knocking on their door. We have a confidential hotline (085-2092119). Getting the information is absolutely vital”, the spokesperson concluded.
