‘It's baffling’ – gardaí appeal for help to solve 33-year-old mystery of missing Cork couple Conor and Sheila Dwyer

Cork couple Conor (62) and Sheila Dwyer (61) disappeared 33 years ago.

Tomorrow marks the 33rd anniversary of the last time the couple were seen in public – and detectives hope the fresh appeal, in tandem with a re-examination of the original case file and liaison with Interpol, will finally uncover clues as to what happened.

Gardaí are interviewing the original members of the investigation team, all of whom are now retired, and are re-examining the case file, while also appealing for anyone with information about the disappearance to contact them.

A number of fresh pieces of information are being examined.

The bid to solve the case has the full support of the Dwyer family.

The appeal will be issued during a special feature on the case as part of RTÉ’s CrimeCall at 9.35pm tonight.

The mystery over what happened to the couple still troubles gardaí who helped investigate the disappearance in 1991.

The Dwyers were last seen just metres from their home at Chapel Hill in Fermoy, Co Cork, on April 30. Ms Dwyer’s family spoke to her by telephone 24 hours later – and the couple were never seen or heard from again.

The couple were reported missing on May 22. ​

Detective Sergeant James O’Shea said officers are desperate to get answers for the family. ​

“It is an awful tragedy for the family to still have no answers after all these years,” he said.

Retired Garda Sergeant Joe Watkins said officers involved in the case were still haunted by its unsolved status and the inability to offer closure to the family.

“Even after all these years, it is a case that still bothers me because everyone involved wanted to get answers for the family involved,” Sgt Watkins said.

The disappearance of a couple rather than an individual is highly unusual.

Despite repeated appeals, possible sightings in Ireland, Germany and France, no trace of the couple or their fate has ever been revealed.

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

Local girl Catherine Fenton greeted them as they passed on the street – that was to be the last confirmed sighting of the couple.

The alarm was raised just over three weeks later on May 22 when Mrs Dwyer’s sisters, Maisie and Nellie became concerned at their repeated inability to locate the couple and alerted gardaí.

ARCHIVE: Gardaí investigating new twist in unsolved case of Cork couple Conor and Sheila Dwyer

Officers later gained entry to the family home. All their clothing was present and there was no sign of a disturbance. The post lay unopened where it had been delivered.

Their bank accounts have not been accessed since they went missing and gardaí even found “a significant” quantity of cash by a dresser in the property.

The only thing missing was the couple’s Toyota car.

Detectives have always believed that tracing their Toyota Cressida holds the key to the mystery of what happened and have urged anyone with information to contact them.

The car, a white saloon, has the registration number 5797 ZT and has never been tracked down.

Sgt Watkins helped organise a recreation for a 1981 TV appeal with a replica vehicle driving through Fermoy.

“It was baffling – everything was there. All of their property, their money, their passports and all of their possessions,” he said.

“I always believed that the Toyota Cressida was the key... if we could have found the car, the car was the link.”

In the 1980s and 90s, the Cressida was a distinctive car and nothing like as commonplace as its stable sister, the Corolla.

Even an appeal for information for any parts from a Toyota Cressida car being offered for sale drew a blank.

The investigation was hampered by the fact that the couple disappeared with all their travel documents left at their Chapel Hill home.

It was decades before CCTV security camera networks and there was no trace of the couple or their car at ports or airports.

Officers conducted a search of the property and there was no indication the couple had packed for a trip.

Despite numerous appeals, TV reconstructions and even an RTÉ radio documentary, no confirmed trace of the couple was ever found.

The TV reconstruction revolved around the replica Toyota Cressida car. A possible sighting was reported in Munich in Germany in 1993, but both Bavarian police and Interpol were unable to confirm it.

Gardaí now believe it was likely to have been a well-intentioned but mistaken report.

The German information intrigued gardaí because Mr Dwyer, a handyman, had worked for a time in Ireland for a wealthy German businessman, Fritz Wolf, who had a home in nearby Castlelyons.

Mr Dwyer ran errands for the businessman and also looked after his collection of luxury cars, including a vintage Rolls-Royce.

A garda source has said that, despite enormous efforts over the past 33 years, the investigation lacked a key breakthrough in terms of evidence.

“There were lots of theories but no hard evidence or information. That was always the problem,” he said.

“We just don’t know what happened. Without any possible sightings to investigate, our best hope is tracing that Toyota Cressida car. Or what might now remain of it such as a licence plate or engine block.”

The disappearance shocked neighbours, friends and family because all had reported nothing unusual with either Mr or Mrs Dwyer.

They were described as a normal couple who followed a weekly routine in terms of shopping, attending mass and contacting friends and family.

The couple were described as devoted to each other and had two sons, both of whom were working overseas in 1991.

Both have since left the north Cork area but have fully supported the fresh Garda appeal.

The family home was sold a number of years ago.