Ciara Breen

* Living photo
* Age progressed

**Ciara Breen** was a teenager who vanished after leaving her home in the night in 1997. Her age progression depicts her at 26 years old.

## Case

### Disappearance

Ciara was last seen by her mother, Bernadette, at her home on Bachelor’s Walk in Dundalk, County Louth, on February 13, 1997. That day they had gone to a local cafe for dinner then returned home to watch TV. According to Bernadette she was due to get the results of a biopsy the next morning and Ciara was worried about this. The two had a short conversation on Bernadette’s bed before going to sleep at around midnight.

Just after 2:00 A.M Bernadette got up to go to the toilet and discovered that Ciara was gone and that either her bedroom window had been left unlatched or that the front window was left open, Bernadette believes Ciara left of her own accord and had left the window open so she could return to the house unnoticed. It is considered the most likely scenario in Ciara’s case that she decided to leave her home to attend a pre-planner meeting with someone that night but this has never been verified.

### Theories

In 2015, Liam Mullen, a man in his fifties, was arrested in relation to Ciara’s case but he was later released without charges. He had been the prime suspect in her case since 1999 but the Gardi only had enough information to arrest him after receiving two anonymous letters that year. Mullen always maintained that he was innocent and that his only connection to Ciara was that they lived in the same area and that he would sometimes say hello to her when he saw her. He was arrested again in 2017 for an unrelated drink-driving charge and died of a drug overdose while in custody.

Ciara's case has been linked to the disappearances of a number of other young women who vanished in Ireland in the 1990’s. These cases, which are sometimes referred to as the Irish vanishing triangle, are considered to be the work of a possible serial killer. Investigators continue to investigate the cases but they are all unsolved and none of the young women’s bodies have ever been found. There are eight women and teenage girls who are usually included in the unofficial listing for the vanishing triangle.

The 1993 disappearance of Annie McCarrick from Enniskerry is the first case in the vanishing triangle. Later the same year Eva Brennan vanished from near her home in Rathgar. In 1994 Imelda Keenan disappeared from Waterford after heading out to go to the post office. The next year  Josephine "JoJo" Dullard went missing from Moone, she is believed to have been abducted. In 1996 pregnant Fiona Pender was last seen in Tullamore. In 1996 Ciara vanished. Two years later Fiona Sinnott vanished after leaving Butler's Pub in Broadway in 1998. Deirdre Jacob was the last to go missing also in 1998.

## Characteristics

* Shoulder length dark brown or black hair.
* Dark blue eyes.
* Crooked front teeth
* She had unspecified problems with her gums.
* She had a sallow complexion.
* She had a very slim build.
* She was prone to repeating herself when she got excited.

## Clothing and accessories

* A three-quarter-length black leather jacket.
* A wine sweatshirt.
* A white t-shirt from Sea World in Florida showing a group of male lifeguards surrounding a woman with Ciara's face superimposed on the model.
* Dark blue jeans.
* A square watch with a green background featuring Mickey Mouse on the left-hand side and a black leather strap.

## Sources

* Ciara Breen on Wikipedia
* Ciara Breen at the *Doe Network*
* Ireland's National Police and Security Service