Radio Espial: Episode 23: Missing - The Annie McCarrick Case

Annie Bridget McCarrick (born March 27th, 1966), an American woman from Long Island, New York, went missing under suspicious circumstances in 1993 while she was residing in Ireland.

Radio Espial's Mick Rooney explores the timeline and events surrounding her disappearance.

McCarrick was born on Long Island, New York and she grew up and lived in Bayport until her move to Ireland in January 1987, aged 19, to study at St Patrick’s College for Teacher Training in Drumcondra. She later switched colleges and instead decided to study Irish Literature at Maynooth University for three years.

For two years she was in a relationship with Dermot Ryan, a period when Annie was renting and sharing a small cottage with a female friend in Ballyboden, Dublin. In 1990, she returned to New York and after a four-month period, the relationship with Ryan petered out. He returned to Ireland and later decided to move to Italy. Annie instead remained in New York and spent two years in the US studying for a master’s degree.

Previously, she had also been in a short relationship with Philip Brady, brother of her long-time friend Hilary Brady. She knew the Brady family in Clondalkin back since her arrival in 1987-88 and stayed with them for a period of time. But she still yearned for a new fresh start in Ireland in 1993. Her maternal and paternal families all had strong roots in Ireland (Great-Grandparents).

During her years in Ireland, she still regularly commuted back to New York for short periods and family visits. Her parents also visited Ireland two or three times a year. After more than a two-year hiatus, Annie returned to Ireland on the 6th of January 1993 and insisted to her father that it would be a permanent move for good. This caused some strain between the pair; her father believing that she should cast aside this fanciful love affair and adventure with Ireland and return to live and work in New York.

Almost all the family, friends, teachers, and people who knew Annie, saw her as an outgoing and well-adjusted person – trusting of others, if a little too idealistic at times.

Annie McCarrick disappeared on Friday, March 26th, 1993, one day short of her 27th birthday. Her mother Nancy had already planned to visit her late the following week, arriving Friday, April 3rd, having just missed her daughter’s birthday a week before.