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A woman and a man have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 25-year-old shop assistant.
Lisa Dorrian from Bangor, Co Down, was last seen at a caravan park on February 28th, 2005. She disappeared after a party at the site in Ballyhalbert.
On Friday, detectives from the PSNI’s major investigation team investigating the murder of Ms Dorrian confirmed they have made two arrests.
“A 49 year old man and a 34 year old woman were arrested this morning in the Newtownards area on suspicion of murder. They have been taken to Musgrave Serious Crime Suite for questioning,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy, who is leading the investigation, said.
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Police conducted a fresh search earlier this week, with a large-scale operation taking place in the caravan park as well as the disused airfield behind it. Thousands of lines of inquiry have been pursued in relation to the murder, according to the PSNI.
On Tuesday, Ms Dorrian’s sister Joanne Dorrian broke down in tears at the site where her sister was last seen 14 years ago as she urged anyone that could help to find her to come forward.
“We have been without Lisa for 14 years,” she said.
“Coming back to Ballyhalbert is really, really difficult. “When Lisa first went missing we walked these fields, in the days after she went missing we thought we were just looking for her because she had ran out in the night, and maybe fallen and passed away in the cold.
“Then we knew police were looking at a murder investigation. People can’t imagine what this feels like, what it feels like not knowing where she is.”
She said their mother had died a few years ago. “She never got the answers that she needed, it ruined her life and it has ruined our lives. None of us have been the same ever since this happened.
“To think that Lisa could be here where we are today, it’s just so hard to imagine. We are grateful for everything the police are doing to find Lisa, to give her what she deserves. This is for Lisa, this is not for us.
“The people who know where Lisa is knew Lisa, they knew the kind of person that she was, she knew the funny person that she was, and I just ask them to remember that. “If they can come forward and please just help us to get some sort of peace, that’s all that we can ask for.”
Det Supt Murphy said on Tuesday the new searches had been nine months in the planning, with the PSNI working with the National Crime Agency (NCA). He said they were using both new information and new techniques to comb the area.
The Dorrian family watched on as Mr Murphy said although 400 searches have taken place across Northern Ireland for Lisa, he believed the answers to her murder remain in Ballyhalbert.
Joanne was tearful as she described how hard it has been for the family to come back to where her sister was last seen alive.