Amy Fitzpatrick

**Amy Carrie Fitzpatrick** was a teenager from Ireland who vanished from Spain in 2008.

## Background

Amy was born in Dublin, Ireland on February 7, 1992 to parents Christopher "Chris" Fitzpatrick and Audrey Donoghue. She had a brother, Dean Fitzpatrick. Her parents were divorced and she had been living with her mother and stepfather, Dave Mahon, for years at the time of her disappearance. The family moved to Mijas Costa, Spain in 2004. However, Audrey and Dave treated the move like a holiday and didn't tell their children that they would be staying there permanently until they had already arrived. However, Amy did not settle well in Spain.

According to Amy's friends and their parents, she had a difficult relationship with her mother and was frightened of Dave for unknown reasons. Entries in Amy's diary also reveal she was upset and contained statements such as: "I smell of dog shit and I haven’t had a shower in 2 years and I moved into my new house 2 day (sic) and it’s quite small and it’s not been painted. I am hoping to paint my cardboard box soon.” Additionally, there are reports of Amy being bullied in school in Spain and in the lead-up to her disappearance she stopped attending school altogether. A woman who Amy stayed with for a time was so concerned by the situation she contacted the Irish Embassy stating she thought Amy needed to be taken into care for her own safety.

Audrey does not believe Amy's situation was as bad as others have claimed though. She has said that Amy wasn't actually scared of Dave and her daughter was in no way neglected. She also denied allegations that Amy drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. She claims Dave had done his best to keep Amy in school but that the bullying had become to severe. According to Audrey, the way she and her partner have been the victims of a "smear campaign" in the media.

Amy had been due to return to Ireland on St Stephen's Day of 2007 but this had to be cancelled after Dean wound up in legal trouble. This upset Amy who had been looking forward to staying with her father.

## Case

### Disappearance

Amy was last seen at her friend Ashley Rose's house in Riviera del Sol, Mijas Costa, Spain on January 1, 2008. She had been staying with Ashley Rose for several nights as she didn't want to return to live with her family. That evening she had been helping Ashley Rose babysit her younger brother prior to leaving at approximately 10:00 P.M. The journey home should only have taken Amy a few minutes but she never arrived.
Amy's parents didn't realise she was missing until January 3, 2008. It wasn't uncommon for her to spend the night away from home so it didn't immediately raise suspicion that she didn't show up.

### Investigation

Hundreds of people participated in the initial search for Amy. Her case is being investigated by Interpol, Spanish police and the Gardai. Audrey has also hired private investigated who had worked on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Despite Amy's mother and stepfather insisting she never returned home some evidence was found which contradicts this. Amy's pink Nokia phone was found at their apartment after her disappearance despite Ashley Rose and her mother insisting she had it while she stayed with them. On New Years Eve Amy had taken out the phone, which had no credit on it, and used it to find Audrey's number so she could call her over the landline. Ashley Rose discovered this when Audrey took out the phone on a TV show and claimed Amy had forgotten to bring it with her and that they discovered it under her bed. Ashley Rose contacted the Gardai but does not feel like they investigated the matter any further.

However, Audrey does not believe Amy even had her phone with her at the time of her disappearance and has pointed out that it is at the very least impossible to say where it was as there was no credit on it. She also thinks I would have been possible for Amy to simply call her by looking at Ashley Rose's phone as she also had her number.

In August 2008, the home of Audrey and Dave's lawyer, Juan José de la Fuente Teixidó, was burglarised. The intruder entered the Riviera del Sol property by breaking a locked garden gate. They stole Amy’s mobile phone, a laptop and confidential documents, however other valuables such as televisions and expensive music equipment were left behind. Juan himself had stated that he thinks the break-in was somehow related to Amy's case: "The stolen documents included confidential police reports about Fitzpatrick's disappearance. I believe the burglary was related to Fitzpatrick's disappearance. It makes no sense that they took documents which financially are worthless, and left behind all my expensive valuables."

In June 2009, Audrey Fitzpatrick received a call from a man who claimed he knew what happened to Amy. The man who Audrey said spoke in an African accent, told her Amy had been abducted and that she was being held in Madrid. He made a ransom demand of €500,000. The Gardai and private investigators Audrey hired have investigated the call but found the contact numbers the man had provided were for prepay phones which had never been registered.

Several witnesses reported seeing Amy in the company of a blonde women at Trafalgar Bar in Calahonda's El Zoco centre hours after she left Ashley Rose's house. Another report from the same bar indicated that she had been with an older man. It is considered possible Amy could have got into a bar as she looked relatively mature for her age and Spanish bars are known to be lax when enforcing age limits. The local bars were very busy that night so they could also have provided a refuge for Amy if she didn't want to return home.

### Theories

Despite Amy's unhappiness in the lead-up to her disappearance, Spanish police do not believe she ran away. She had no money and had made few friends in Spain.

Audrey and Dave eventually returned to Dublin, Ireland. Then five years after Amy's disappearance, Dave stabbed 23-year-old Dean, who was then a father of one, to death during an argument over a water bottle. Although, interestingly, Chris claims Dean had been confiding in him about Amy prior to his death. Dave claims Dean had walked into the blade of a knife he was holding. Audrey and Dave still married after this incident, with Dave wearing cufflinks bearing photos of Amy and Dean at the ceremony. On 6 May 2016, Dave Mahon was found guilty of manslaughter in Dean's case. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison, which he has since completed. Dave and Audrey now live in Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim.

Irish gangland killer, Eric "Lucky" Wilson, who is currently incarcerated for the shooting of 24-year-old British criminal Daniel Smith in a packed bar. The report of Amy being seen with an older man, who her family believe was Wilson, on the night of her disappearance may support this.

Amy's family believe she is buried under Stable Number 5 in the derelict Hipodrome racetrack outside the Costa del Sol resort of La Cala de Mijas. The racetrack was only five minutes away from where she was last seen. Chris and her aunt, Christine Kenny, were led to this by an anonymous person who they say came forward due to a guilty conscience. Chris believes his daughter is deceased and hopes to someday bring her body home.

## Characteristics

* Black or brown hair.
* Blue eyes.
* She only spoke English.

## Clothing and accessories

* A T-shirt with the word "Diesel" on it.
* Brown tracksuit bottoms.

## Sources

* Amy Fitzpatrick on Wikipedia
* *Interpol Yellow Notices*
* *Missing Irish People*
* *Independent*
* *Irish Mirror*
* *Dublin Live*
* *The Journal*
* *Case Remains*