119: Missing Mary

Mary Boyle disappeared from a swampy field next her grandparents home in an isolated part of Donegal in 1977. She disappeared without a trace, and her case has become the longest running missing child case in Ireland.

In forty years, the case has seen only one arrest and also has been linked with notorious Scottish child-killer Robert Black, and has drawn the attention of controversial media figures. But, through all that, Mary is still missing, and her mother still prays daily to know what happened to her.

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Theme Music:

Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Additional Music: Allemande (Sting) by Wahneta Meixsell. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Music:

Kevin McLeod, Quinns Song : The Dance Begins. (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Sources:

Barry Cummins, Missing: The unsolved cases of Ireland's vanished women and children (Dublin: Gill Books, 2019) ch. 9.

Mary Boyle: The Untold Story. Written and Directed by Gemma O'Doherty.

Brighid McLaughlin, “ Mary Boyle – a stolen child” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mary-boyle-a-stolen-child-26259379.html (16 May 1999)

Anita Guidera, “Gardai probe 26-year missing child link to UK killer” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/gardai-probe-26year-missing-child-link-to-uk-killer-25922663.html (18 November 2003)

Anita Gudera and Martha Kerns, “Missing girl's father one of three tragic drownings in five hours” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/missing-girls-father-one-of-three-tragic-drownings-in-five-hours-25976360.html (20 July 2005)

Anita Guidera, “Mum still searches for her girl, 30 years on” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mum-still-searches-for-her-girl-30-years-on-26270736.html (15 March 2007)

Anita Guidera, “34- year search for girl resumes” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/34year-search-for-girl-resumes-26612529.html (10 January 2011)

Mark Hilliard, Greg Harkin and David Young, “Paedophile faces questions in missing teen's cold case” in the Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/paedophile-faces-questions-in-missing-teens-cold-case-26786394.html (28 October 2011)

Anita Guidera, “Search to resume for body of girl missing since 1977” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/search-to-resume-for-body-of-girl-missing-since-1977-30681599.html (19 March 2012)

Greg Harkin, “Cold case report on missing Mary (6) due shortly” in The Irish Independent https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/cold-case-report-on-missing-mary-6-due-shortly-30681588.html (21 March 2012)

For a full list of sources, please see mensreapod.com