The father of a man who disappeared with his pregnant partner 10 years ago tomorrow said it feels “like it was yesterday” they vanished.
Willie Maughan, who was 34, and Anna Varslavane, who was 21, were last seen on April 14, 2015 near Gormanston, Co Meath. While no trace of the couple has ever been found despite numerous and extensive searches, it’s believed they were abducted and murdered.
They had been living in a caravan at “evil” mobster Cornelius Price’s compound in Gormanston and were planning on moving back to Willie’s family home in Tallaght on the day they went missing.
They were on their way to meet Willie’s mother Nell to get a lift to Tallaght. Anna rang her partner’s mother at 2.57pm and one of her sons answered and could hear her calling for help.
Ten minutes later the Maughan family arrived at the agreed pick-up point but neither Willie or Anna were there. Notorious Drogheda gang boss Price, who died in 2023 aged 41, is suspected of having them murdered .
It is thought he believed they had key information about his gang’s activities, including the murder of Benny Whitehouse in Balbriggan in 2014.
Last November, gardai conducted a four-day search of open bog land at Ring Commons in Balrothery, north County Dublin adjacent to land once owned by Price.
However, that search and excavation was stood down and nothing of evidential value was found. Now, a decade since the couple were abducted and murdered, Willie’s heartbroken father Joe said: “It feels like yesterday.
“Willie and Anna never leave our minds, even 10 years on. Sometimes you think Willie is going to walk in the door with Anna - but that doesn’t happen. Price took the secrets to his grave with him. He was so evil he wouldn’t even say where they were even on his death bed. He’s nobody now.”
Joe added his family will get together tomorrow to mark the 10th anniversary – but they are not sure what they will do. Joe said: “We will do something to remember them but we have no grave, no place to go.
But he is “full of confidence” a breakthrough will be made to help end the family’s torment. Joe added: “I’m full of confidence that something might come of it all this year. Please, God it will.”
He hopes someone who knows where the couple are buried “might think differently now”.
Joe said: “They might want to speak up now that Price is dead so we can find them and finally give Willie and Anna the proper burial.” He added any person who knows where the couple are buried “don’t have to identify themselves”.
But wants them to “contact Gardaí and just leave a marker or a map as to where they are and clear their conscience.”
Mobster Price – who was heavily involved in organised crime and suspected of being responsible for at least six murders – died from a brain disease in a Welsh hospital in February 2023.
He never confessed his involvement in the double murder of the couple. Price was behind much of the chaos in the lethal Drogheda feud that claimed four lives and fled to the UK in 2020.
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