No answers for loved ones more than 50 years after girl taken and murdered in Sligo
Bernadette Connolly was abducted and murdered in Sligo in 1970. Her killer has never been found.
Credit: Sunday Independent
The afternoon of April 17th, 1970 was a memorable one for many people. It was the day that the Apollo 13 lunar module landed back on earth, with millions glued to TV screens waiting to see if the ill-fated mission would actually make it.
But for one family in Collooney in Sligo, the date will forever be remembered with the most profound sense of loss.
Bernadette Connolly was 10 years old when she left her family home to cycle to a friend's house. She never made it there. She remained missing until early August of that year, when her body was discovered in a bog 24 kilometres away. She had been sexually assaulted and murdered.
Since then, several theories as to who was responsible for the shocking crime have been put forward, but definitive answers continue to elude the Connolly family.
Early Leads
When Bernadette Connolly failed to arrive either at her friend's house or back at home, family and friends immediately went out to search for her. Her abandoned bicycle was discovered about 2 kilometres from her friend's house, and this prompted Gardai to instigate a massive search which encompassed much of Ireland's north-eastern region.
In the course of their investigation, authorities managed to eliminate about 500 locals--as well as known offenders--as suspects.
Leads were scarce, however, until Gardai decided to appeal to the public for information. A number of people reported passing Bernadette on the road, and in time two vehicles were identified as being of interest. One of these was a large black car that was never traced. The other was a green ford escort van.
The Passionist monastery at Cloonamahon in Sligo.
Credit: Broadsheet.ie
This vehicle had been seen near the area where Bernadette's bicycle was found. Whoever was driving the van that day never came forward, but Gardai soon discovered that a green ford escort van was in use at the Passionist monastery in Clonmahoon, close to Collooney. Bernadette--a keen Irish dancer--had even performed for the brothers at the monastery.
It was discovered that the van's whereabouts between the hours of 4.30 and 7.30 PM on Friday, 17th April could not be accounted for. This did little to help the investigation, however, as 22 priests and brothers and three grounds-keeping staff had access to the vehicle.
A priest and a brother at the monastery were identified as people of interest; however, for the moment, the trail had gone cold.
Bernadette Found
With no new information coming to light and the early leads in the case going nowhere, the attention of the Gardai gradually got diverted to other matters.
Of course, they still continued to search for Bernadette, as did her family members and locals from the community. But over the summer of 1970, they had no luck.
A few days after she had disappeared, Gardai were informed that a small patch of bog had been dug up in a bog at Limnagh in County Roscommon. They had sent an officer to check the scene out at the time, but he had nothing to report upon his return.
But in early August a grim discovery was made at that exact spot. Bernadette had evidently been murdered and left in the bog at Limnagh, although exposure to the elements meant that a precise cause of death could not be established. She had been in the makeshift grave for almost four months.
Father Columba
Despite renewed efforts to identify a suspect in the wake of the discovery at Limnagh, Gardai were unable to proceed much further with the case. A fingerprint that had been found on the crossbar of Bernadette's bicycle proved to be that of a neighbour who had lifted it into his car a day or so before her disappearance. No new evidence was forthcoming.
In fact, very little new evidence has come to light in over half a century.
But in that time, there has been renewed speculation about the possible involvement of the priest and brother identified by the Gardai as potential suspects in the early stages of the investigation.
The brother has never been named and is referred to as "Brother X". The priest, however, has been known from the beginning.
Father Columba Kelly.
Credit: Broadsheet.ie
Father Columba Kelly was a student priest in the area at the time of Bernadette's disappearance. He knew the Connolly family well, but even so, his actions after she went missing were odd. Father Columba actually moved into the Connolly family's home, and took it upon himself to look through the mailed messages of support (and perhaps information) coming in to the house. He told the distraught parents of Bernadette that he would pass any useful information that he found along to Gardai. Nothing ever was.
One day, for no apparent reason, Father Columba remarked to the family that he had seen a car drive into the cul-de-sac where the Connollys lived and then drive off very fast. He decided to follow the car, and it led him to the bog, where he then lost sight of the car. This anecdote was related by Columba some weeks before Bernadette's body was found--at almost the exact same location in the bog where the mystery car had led him. Was the young priest trying to lead the family to the location?
They never got to ask him that, because the Connollys claim a few days before Bernadette was found, Father Columba left the house abruptly. He did not give advance notice and did not say goodbye. The church had sent him to Botswana.
Brother X
The other individual that aroused suspicions is known only as Brother X. One of the members of the Passionist monastery, he was reported to have stopped for petrol at a filling station in the general vicinity of Collooney around the same time as Bernadette had gone missing.
The attendant who had served Brother X told Gardai that the cleric was very impatient, beeping the horn and demanding prompt service. The attendant--who is now deceased--also reported that Brother X was driving a green ford escort van.
Brother X denied this account and told Gardai that he had a solid alibi--he had been watching the return of Apollo 13 on the monastery's television that night.
The Apollo 13 landing module.
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
All of the other members of the monastery backed up this account.
A Clerical Cover-Up?
In 2009, the Murphy report into historical clerical abuse in Ireland was published. Outlining years of serious abuse of minors at the hands of clergy members, the report was particularly damning of Gardai. It suggested that, at times, the police force had effectively colluded with the church to cover up serious crimes committed by priests and members of religious orders.
But that might be unfair to individual members of the Gardai involved in this case. It seems that, even in the very early stages of the investigation, certain witnesses might not have been as forthcoming with the authorities as they should have been.
Nobody at Cloonamahon was able to recall Brother X's whereabouts when Gardai first visited the monastery, for instance. Yet less than two weeks later, this had changed, and by now there was no doubt that Brother X had watched the return of Apollo 13 right there at the retreat.
Father Columba's posting to Botswana was not unusual. Newly-ordained priests are routinely sent on missions to countries that seem far-flung. His sudden departure, however, continues to cause suspicion.
The Second Interviews
In the early months of 1999, both Father Columba Kelly and Brother X were interviewed for the second time by journalist Brighid McLaughlin. A friend of the Connolly family, she had interviewed the two back in 1970.
According to McLaughlin, Father Columba grew defensive when she queried where he was on the day of Bernadette's disappearance, before offering an outlandish speculative explanation of the abduction involving IRA gun-runners from Northern Ireland and the security forces sent to intercept them. He then said that he was in Collooney on the day Bernadette's body was discovered, which conflicted with the Connolly family's narrative.
Brother X stated that he was sure that he had not stopped at the petrol station that day, but he was no longer certain where he actually was. He suggested that he may have been digging potatoes in the monastery's garden, and reiterated that he had watched the return on Apollo 13 on the monastery's television.
Neither man could recall having their prints taken by Gardai.
An Open Case
In 2011, it was reported that Gardai were looking into the possible involvement of one Bob Reynolds, a 77-year old inmate in a UK prison who had previously served time for sexually assaulting a young girl in Mayo in 1974.
However, in the end nothing came of the new line of inquiry.
The case is still open but, 50 years on and counting, the chances of Bernadette's killer being brought to justice seem slim.
The memorial to Bernadette that stands close to where she was found in 1970.
Credit: Reallyboyle.com
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