Missing people in Ireland.

When Fiona Pender went missing back in august 1996 I remember watching the story break on the evening news and seeing the beautiful blonde girl's image flashing across the screen. She was a part time model and she worked as a hairdresser in Tullamore, she was also seven months pregnant and expecting her first baby.
She wasn't the first or the last person to disappear, but I suppose because she was pregnant it stayed with me.
On Sunday in the Slieve Bloom mountains a wooden cross was discovered by walkers bearing Fiona's name. Other words were hewn into the cross but we don't know what they might be yet as the Gardai are staying tight lipped while they comb the area for Fiona's remains. This morning Gardai will begin their third day of searching and excavating of a site,
If this is a hoax it's a cruel and spiteful one. But I'm holding on to the conviction no one would be that cruel. I hope they find her, I hope for her family's sake they find her and let them have some kind of closure. Just as I hope one day they find Philip Cairns, Jo Jo Dullard, Ciara Breen and all the other people who have vanished without a trace in our fair island. The pain of loss and sense of longing for their families must be immeasurable.

There is a website set up to help, you can find it here. When you look at all those name and think of all those left behind it sends a shiver down your back. All those families with no answers and no idea what might have happened to their loved one. I don't know how they cope.