Family appeal for help tracing missing Clones man
The family of a Clones man, who went missing 17 years ago, made a heartfelt appeal for information on RTÉ’s Crimecall last night (Monday).
Michael Anthony Lynch, also known as Tony, was last seen on Fermanagh Street in the County Monaghan town on Sunday, January 6, 2002, and reported missing to Gardaí almost a week later.
Born in Newtownbutler, Mr Lynch had been working in neighbouring Co Cavan at the time. When the 54-year-old father of four failed to turn up for work, his family became concerned and raised the alarm.
Mr Lynch had moved from Magheraveely, Co Fermanagh to a flat in Clones, Co Monaghan two months before he went missing.
Speaking on RTÉ One’s Crimecall, Mr Lynch’s wife Angela Lynch recalled the day she went to his flat and realised he was missing.
She told the RTE programme: “Every single thing he owned was in that flat. It was like he just went out to the shop and just didn’t come back.
Mr Lynch’s daughter Mary said: “Different things go through our head all the time about what could have happened. We just really need some answers.”
Son Peter, meanwhile, recalled some fond childhood memories of his father. “During the summertime, he used to take me to work with him. I’d sit up on the back of the digger all day with him.”
Angela added that her husband is always on the family’s mind and in their hearts.
“I just want to find Tony for my children. This is their daddy, this is the person they loved very much. They will always look for their daddy, just like I want to find my husband, that will never change,” she said. “All we want is the right to find him and to bring him home, that’s all we want.”
At the time Mr Lynch’s disappearance, he was driving a white Mitsubishi Galant with the registration number TIL 4670.
The car has also never been recovered, and gardaí are appealing for information about the whereabouts of this vehicle.
Sighting
A possible sighting of Mr Lynch in Clare back in 2016 come to nothing.
On April 15, a young man travelling from Cork to Ballyvaughan in Clare picked up a hitch-hiker in Mallow. The driver was approached by a man at a local filling station who asked for a lift to the next village.
While chatting in the car, the man asked if he could continue to Ennis.
During their conversation, the hitchhiker called himself Gerry and mentioned he was from Clones. He also said he had lived in Dublin for a time, and mentioned a connection with Parteen in East Clare.
On arriving in Ennis, he dropped the man off on the Limerick Road close to the West County Hotel. The man is understood to have set off on foot in the direction of Clarecastle and the Clare Abbey roundabout.
The driver described the man as being about 70 years old, 5ft 10in in height, of medium build and with a moustache and bald. The man was carrying a green gear bag on his shoulder.
At the time he was wearing a black fleece coat, black trousers and a black woollen hat, and also appeared to be familiar with Ennis town.
The original description of Mr Lynch was that he was 5 foot 11, of medium build, with grey receding hair.
He would have been 68 at the time of the possible sighting.