Missing man identified by DNA after 20 years

The family of a man who has been missing for 20 years have finally received some closure after DNA testing revealed his body had been buried in an unmarked grave in Co Wexford.

Patrick Gallagher (29), a former fisherman, was last seen on September 28th, 1999 leaving the old Tower Bar in Wexford town at 11.15pm. Before leaving, he placed a £50 note into an RNLI charity box and was never seen again.

An inquest into his presumed death was held in 2014 and coroner Dr Sean Nixon said it was most likely he went into the river or harbour. Dr Nixon said the likely cause of death was death due to drowning. The jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure.

A month after his disappearance, on October 21st, 1999, a body washed up on the beach at Courtown.

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While gardaí were said to have carried out inquiries and all testing available to them at the time, that body could not be positively identified and the remains were interred at St Michael's Cemetery, Gorey, in an unmarked grave.

This year, gardaí returned to the case. They called to Mr Gallagher’s family and obtained DNA samples before the body in the unmarked Gorey grave was exhumed on March 4th. After carrying out tests, gardaí confirmed that those remains had now been positively identified as the man who went missing in September 1999 and that “the family of the missing man has been notified”.

Gardaí have indicated that the progress of DNA technology has resulted in the positive identification of the remains.

A spokesman said sufficient technology was unavailable at the time of Mr Gallagher’s disappearance to identify him definitively, but that the most recent developments would at least have provided some closure to his family.