Family of Cork man missing 24 years ‘just want to know what happened to him’

IT HAS been 24 years since Pearse Cremin vanished from Cork city after an evening out with a friend on October 30, 2000. The then 28-year-old was last seen leaving the Viaduct Bar on Bandon Rd at around 8.30pm, when he was presumed to be travelling home to Glasheen Rd, where he lived with his older brother Cormac.

At the time of his disappearance, Pearse was wearing a navy-coloured tracksuit, runners, a white t-shirt with red writing on the front, and a blue fleece top.

In the hours prior to his vanishing, Pearse had spent the Monday morning with family in Turner’s Cross, discussing birthday plans with his younger sister Siobhán and chatting with his mother over lunch.

“He was in home with mam and myself, because I was actually sick at the time [and] I always remember we had made plans to go out the following weekend because we couldn’t go out for my birthday on the Sunday,” Siobhán Cremin told The Echo.

“He was in the best form leaving the house and that was the last time we saw him.

“He literally left to go out and meet his friend in the Viaduct, and then when he left him [his friend], he told him that he was going home, but he never got there.”

On Halloween morning, Cormac realised that Pearse had not returned home to their shared residence, leading him to raise the alarm with local Gardaí.

About a week after he vanished, Pearse was spotted by someone known to the family filling his car at a service station on the Kinsale Rd, but unfortunately, this person was unaware that he had been reported missing, and failed to inform the family or Gardaí of this sighting until some time later.

Since then, a confirmed sighting of Pearse has not materialised, however, another potential sighting of Pearse was reported on Christmas Eve of 2000, when a man matching his description was said to have called into a B&B on MacCurtain St seeking a room.

On this night, the B&B was reportedly at full capacity, and the man was turned away.

This sighting of Pearse has remained unconfirmed by both family members and investigating Gardaí.

The next break in the case occurred on February 23, 2001, when Pearse’s car, a navy blue/black Fiat Bravo, was recovered from the water near Robert’s Cove in Nohoval.

The area of Robert’s Cove would have been well-known to, and frequented by Pearse as their brother Cormac owned a mobile home in the close vicinity.

The search for the vehicle was prompted by the discovery of the car’s license plate, which was uncovered by Cormac and a friend of the family, who were walking along the cliffside near the cove.

Upon closer inspection, Cormac realised that what they had found was the registration plate of Pearses’ car, reading 98-C-16472.

“There was something in the back of my mind that just kept pulling me back to Robert’s Cove,” said Cormac Cremin.

“So we went down one afternoon, just looking around, and we found his number plate in the fields above on the cliffs.

“We then climbed over the fence just to have a look, and we found some broken taillight glass on the cliff face, so that’s when we knew that the car had gone over.

“We needed to verify it, so we got the glass analysed, and it matched the type of car he was driving at the time.” Cormac then contacted Gardaí and friends from the naval service, leading to the search and recovery of Pearse’s vehicle, close to four months after his vanishing.

For the Cremin family, this discovery left them with more questions than answers, as Gardaí further confirmed that when the vehicle was recovered from the water, no persons were found.

“We used to keep an eye down there in case Pearse would go down during the winter,” said Siobhán.

“I always remember it came out [of the water] like a tin box, obviously because of the way it went over the cliffs, it was bashed into the cave underneath. They [the Gardaí] did say at the time, ‘look guys, it doesn’t look like he was in that car when it went over’, [and] I don’t know whether it was because there was no keys in ignition or something else.” Though, despite the lack of a body, this discovery indicated to many amid the rumour-mill that Pearse had decided to take his own life.

Pearse, a popular tennis coach and beloved sibling, friend and son, was described by Siobhán as someone who had a “desperate fear” of open water, and because of this, would likely not opt to end his life in such a way.

“That is one way that he would not go, absolutely not,” said Siobhán.

“I’m 99.9% sure that he did not commit suicide, I always maintain someone had to have helped him.

“When we found the car out there, I often thought somebody helped him get rid of it, because being up on the cliff like that, and when you’ve a fear of water, the first thing you’re going to be is afraid of falling over.”

Pearse, who would now be 52 years of age, was one of six children in the Cremin family, headed by parents Monica and Denis Cremin, who both tirelessly campaigned to find their missing son in the years following his disappearance.

Denis passed away in 2013, but prior to his death, he spent a great deal of his spare time walking the streets of Cork city looking for Pearse, interacting with homeless people, all in the hopes of locating his missing child, or by some virtue, unearthing some piece of information that could help the family in their search.

Siobhán said that Denis sometimes wondered if Pearse had made his way to Liverpool, to live there and start a new life, as Liverpool FC was his favourite soccer team.

Monica passed away in 2020, and her daughter says, was “forgetful” at the time of her death, often asking her children to call Pearse so she could speak with him about coming to visit her.

Detailing this story, Siobhán explained how they felt obligated to lie to their mother, telling her of broken phones and blocked signals, to save her the pain of reliving the memory of losing Pearse all those years ago.

She went on to say that Monica, in the years following Pearse’s vanishing, would frequently buy jars of mayonnaise to keep in the fridge, the condiment of choice for her missing child, just in case he were to show up one day in need of a sandwich.

“He was such a mammy’s boy, you have no idea how close they were, he was absolutely spoiled,” said Siobhán.

“He loved mayonnaise, and I’ll always remember, for years and years, you could never open that fridge without the mayonnaise still being in there.

“It was just in case he’d come home, so she could give him his ham and mayonnaise sandwich.

“I’d always say to her, ‘mam, nobody else eats the mayonnaise’, but she still bought it.

“Unfortunately, she passed before she got an answer.

“Up until the very last minute for her, the only person she looked for was Pearse.”

Siobhán said that, following Monica’s death, condolences were posted on the death notice from Australia, with mourners sharing their sympathies directly to Pearse by name.

“My daughter was going through the condolences on the site and someone had written a condolence to Pearse on the passing of your mom, and we were like, ‘who the hell is this?’

“But before mam passed away, we had found out there was someone in Australia named Pearse Cremin, and we were kind of researching him.

“One of my brothers said one day, ‘I’m going to pick up the phone and ring him because it could be him’, but no it wasn’t, it was a different Pearse.”

More than two decades on, Siobhán is renewing her family’s call for information, urging members of the public to come forward with any details on Pearse’s current whereabouts, or movements in the days after his disappearance, to investigating gardaí.

“We just want to know what happened to him. If he is alive, wherever he is, is he happy, is he okay? If that’s the case, if he wants to be away from us, that’s fine,” said Siobhán.

“And if he’s on the other side, just let us know, so we can give him a decent burial and leave him with my mam and dad where he should be.

“When Pearse went missing it broke the family, so if anyone has the slightest little bit of information, or anything at all that they can remember, please tell us, or the gardaí. It’s time to come and tell the truth,” she added.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said that the investigation into the disappearance of Pearse Cremin remains active and ongoing to this day.

At the time of his disappearance, Pearse was described as being 5ft 8in in height, of slim build, with short fair/slightly red hair.

• Anyone with information regarding the missing persons case of Pearse Cremin should contact gardaí in Anglesea Street Garda Station on 021 452 2000.