25 years on, family finally lay missing son to rest

POPULAR Denis Walsh

THE family of a man who went missing 25 years ago have remembered him as “kind, compassionate and he liked a good laugh”.

Denis Walsh, 23, disappeared in March 1996 but unknown to loved ones, his unidentified body was discovered four weeks later – and kept in a hospital mortuary for 18 years.

Denis had been buried in a council grave in 2014 with other unidentified bodies in Bohermore, Co Galway but his remains were exhumed earlier this week after a DNA breakthrough identified him.

Denis, who had struggled with mental health issues, walked out of the home on March 9, 1996, and was never seen again, apart from two positive sightings

GRIEVING Denis’s parents a few days later. A letter from gardai to the family last February acknowledged they have been left with “lots of justifiable questions on how it took so long to identify Denis”.

It read: “Identification ultimately came about through advances in science and DNA, and there was nothing by way of identification from dental records, fingerprints or clothing which may have assisted Denis’s identification in 1996 when his remains were recovered.”

Denis Walsh Snr said he and his wife Mary provided saliva swabs containing their DNA in 2012 but were unaware of any bodies.

Denis was buried in a family plot yesterday after requiem Mass in Limerick.

His brother Mike broke down as he read tributes to his brother and recalled how popular the sports fan was.

And he thanked everyone for their support over the last 25 years.