The heartbroken parents of Trevor Deely have said they will never give up praying that their missing son is still alive and will one day be reunited with them.
Michael and Ann Deely today mark the 19th anniversary of the last-ever sighting of 22-year-old Trevor, the youngest of their four children, at their home in Naas, Co Kildare.
The family suffered a major setback two years ago when their hopes of finally getting a breakthrough in their search for Trevor were crushed, after an extensive garda-led dig in Dublin came to nothing.
Trevor’s sister Michele said the blow was particularly devastating to her father, admitting: “It almost broke him, and set him back.”
But she paid tribute to her devoutly-Catholic father’s unwavering faith, which she said has given him the inner strength to cope with the never-ending nightmare of not knowing where his son is.
And despite reports last week of a new “highly significant” witness coming forward with information suggesting Trevor was the victim of foul play on the night he disappeared, Michele insists the past 12 months have once again failed to yield any credible new leads.
The 45-year-old mother-of-two said: “It’s been another frustrating year for our family. People come forward all the time, but the gardai will only contact us if they have something concrete. And so far this year, we’ve unfortunately had no reason to sit down with them, because there are no new leads.”
Michele, who joined other family members for a prayer service for Trevor on Friday night, also spoke of her parents’ heartache, admitting that the past two years have been particularly challenging.
She added: “My father is heartbroken. He’d been doing so well up to the time of dig in 2017. It was a time of great hope for us, but nothing was found there. That nearly broke him. It really set him back.
“It’s his faith that has got him through this. My parents will never let go of that, or their hope of seeing Trevor again.”
As one of Ireland’s most high-profile missing persons cases, the image of Trevor and the key facts in his disappearance in the early hours of December 8, 2000, in the capital, remain ingrained in many people’s memories.
The last image captured of him was on CCTV walking down Haddington Road towards his flat in Ballsbridge, south Dublin, at 4.14am, A man dressed in black, who gardai believe also spoke to the missing bank official outside his place of work just minutes before, can be seen following him in the direction of Haddington Road.
A cold case review was begun by gardai in December 2015, which included swathes of evidence being gathered and witnesses re-interviewed.
A fresh appeal was then issued in April 2017, with gardai releasing digitally-enhanced VHS footage on the night of Trevor’s disappearance.
In August that year the aforementioned garda-led dig of a 12-acre site in west Dublin revealed a wasteland used by criminals, as search teams discovered a gun and a sizeable drugs stash.
However, the family’s dream of finally getting a breakthrough was agonisingly crushed when gardai confirmed there was no evidence that Trevor was buried there.
And despite a €100,000 Crimestopper reward still available for credible information on Trevor, the frustrated Deely family maintains that there have been no firm leads since.
