An Garda Síochána has renewed its appeal for any information relating to the disappearance and murder of Fiona Pender, who was last seen almost 30 years ago.The 25-year-old hairdresser was seven months pregnant when she disappeared on August 23rd, 1996. She was last seen in her flat on Church Street in Tullamore, Co Offaly.Gardaí last year upgraded the case to a murder investigation based on “the entirety of the information available to the investigation team”.In a statement on Friday, gardaí said a “sustained investigation” has been carried out over the past 30 years. During that period, more than 300 statements have been taken and thousands of documents and reports collated.Five people have been arrested and detained in connection with the investigation, while “extensive” searches have also been carried out, the force said.“Fiona’s body has never been located. At this time, no person has been brought to justice for the disappearance and murder of Fiona,” gardaí said in a statement.Gardaí appealed to anyone who has any information, “no matter how small or insignificant you might believe it to be”, to come forward.Among those arrested previously was John Thompson, who was in a relationship with Pender when she vanished. Thompson, the father of Pender’s unborn child, had been arrested on suspicion of withholding information. His three sisters and his father were also arrested. All five were released without charge.In a 1997 interview with The Irish Times, Thompson criticised the arrests, saying: “It is just not good enough for them to suggest that we disposed of her and then leave it at that.”Several searches have been carried out over the past three decades, with the most recent taking place at an area of bogland in Killeigh, Co Offaly, shortly after the case was upgraded to a murder investigation last year.A digger excavates land at Graigue, Killeigh, Co Offaly, in 2025 during a search as part of the investigation into Fiona Pender’s disappearance and murder. Photograph: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos Speaking on Friday, Alan Kerin, an inspector at Tullamore Garda station, said “significant” inquiries have been carried out “and continue to be carried out”.“This is very much ongoing,” he said. “We’ve spoken to a lot of people over the years, and some people have come and spoken to us, but there may have been something that they couldn’t say at the time for whatever reason.“Someone may feel that because they have spoken to us before that that’s the [end] of it, but we’re very much open to speaking to people again, and hopefully they may have something that they couldn’t tell us at the time for whatever reason,” he said.Kerin said any information leading to the discovery of Fiona Pender’s remains would bring “great closure for friends and neighbours and family”.“And likewise, if someone was brought to justice, it would as well.”Josephine Pender, Fiona’s mother, died in 2017. Her father, Seán, died by suicide in 2000 and her brother, Mark, was fatally injured in a motorcycle crash in 1995.[ Four men arrested over burglaries after gardaí stop car with false registration platesOpens in new window ]