Body of Crossmaglen man found after 30 years

The body of a Crossmaglen man murdered by the IRA over 30 years ago was found last Friday in Carrickrobin, Co Louth. Ironically, the discovery of the remains (just inside the Louth and close to the Inniskeen area of Co Monaghan) was made only two weeks after the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains had officially called off the search.

Gerry Evans from Crossmaglen was last seen hitching a lift on the Dublin to Derry road before he disappeared in 1979. The 24-year-old was one of 15 victims who became known as the “disappeared”, eight of whom have still to be found.

Another of the alleged IRA victims was Charlie Armstrong, a neighbour or Mr Evans whose body was found in a bog at Colgagh, Co Monaghan, in July.

The announcement that the  search for Evans was being wound down had prompted his family to tell of their devastation at the failure to find his remains. But it also led to “clarification” of the information originally provided to the commission, which in turn resulted in Friday’s breakthrough.

The commission confirmed that formal identification of the body would “take some time”, but members of the Evans family brought a hearse to the site on receiving news of the development.

The Provisional IRA has always denied any involvement in the deaths of either Mr Evans or Mr Armstrong.