Fiona Pender was last seen alive in August 1996 by her boyfriend John in their Tullamore bedsit. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant. Fiona and her family had just come through a profound tragedy but were preparing for a new chapter in their lives. All this changed when Fiona disappeared. Her body was never found and no one ever got to meet the baby that Fiona and John were expecting. 

In Part 2 of our series on Fiona Pender, we track the many twists and turns in the massive nationwide search for Fiona, from the arrest of five suspects in 1997 up to a mysterious cross being found in the woods at Slieve Bloom in 2008.

The conclusion of Fiona Pender's story, from further searches in 2014 to her case finally being reclassified as a murder investigation in 2025, will drop later this week.

Fiona Pender was last seen alive in August 1996 by her boyfriend John in their Tullamore bedsit. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant. Fiona and her family had just come through a profound tragedy but were preparing for a new chapter in their lives. All this changed when Fiona disappeared. Her body was never found and no one ever got to meet the baby that Fiona and John were expecting. In Part 2 of our series on Fiona Pender, we track the many twists and turns in the massive nationwide search for Fiona, from the arrest of five suspects in 1997 up to a mysterious cross being found in the woods at Slieve Bloom in 2008.The conclusion of Fiona Pender's story, from further searches in 2014 to her case finally being reclassified as a murder investigation in 2025, will drop later this week.

Some crimes don't get solved. Some families never get justice. Unsolved, hosted by award-winning crime journalist Barry Cummins and RTÉ presenter Katja Mia, is a true crime podcast made in the hope that someone listening knows something. In each episode, we investigate Irish cold cases with the victim firmly at the centre of the story, focusing on the lives behind the headlines, what we know about the crime that took them from their loved ones and the lasting impact it had. Get in touch at unsolved@rte.ie  

Some crimes don't get solved. Some families never get justice. Unsolved, hosted by award-winning crime journalist Barry Cummins and RTÉ presenter Katja Mia, is a true crime podcast made in the hope that someone listening knows something. In each episode, we investigate Irish cold cases with the victim firmly at the centre of the story, focusing on the lives behind the headlines, what we know about the crime that took them from their loved ones and the lasting impact it had. Get in touch at unsolved@rte.ie&nbsp;&nbsp;