WIDESPREAD SEARCHES are continuing this week for a woman in her 60’s who has been missing from New Ross since last Wednesday.
Stacia Purcell (66), from Barrowview Heights, was last seen on the evening of Wednesday, October 30, in the Mountgarrett area of the town.
She is 5’3” in height and is of slim build with grey hair. When last seen she was wearing white trousers, wine coloured [half-size] wellingtons, a green Irish Rugby hoodie, a beige raincoat, multi-coloured hat [predominantly green], and black insulated gloves. She also had a brown extendable walking stick and a black golf umbrella in her possession when last seen.
She is also believed to have her green coloured Nokia mobile phone with her and may also be possession of a Lidl shopping bag.
Speaking to The Echo yesterday, Mrs. Purcell’s daughter, Anna Kehoe, said the family is very worried for her safety.
“She was last seen at 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday night outside the CBS G.A.A. grounds [adjacent to the Geraldine O’Hanrahan’s G.A.A. club] and was facing towards Bawnmore,” said Anna.
“That is really the only area she would go,” she added.
Mrs. Purcell is very well known around the town is a familiar figure walking around New Ross.
One of the routes she commonly uses is to go from the CBS and Geraldine O’Hanrahan’s G.A.A. grounds down towards the Ponds and from there across to the bottom of the Maudlins and back up to the Irishtown by St. Stephen’s Cemetery.
Anna lives in Clonroche but she visits her mam every Wednesday evening and brings her grandchildren in to see her.
“We go in every Wednesday evening and last Wednesday she wasn’t at home so I rang but the phone just went to voicemail,” she said.
“There was still no sign of her at 8 p.m. but someone later reported seeing her at around 9.30 p.m.,” she added.
Once the missing person’s report was made to the Gardai a major search operation was launch which included the Garda helicopter which carried out an aerial search on Friday.
Searches have been ongoing throughout the New Ross area since word came through that Mrs. Purcell was missing and volunteer searchers have been combing the town and an area within a six-mile radius of New Ross in the hope of finding her. Yesterday another major search was carried out by a group of local volunteers in and around the downtown area.
Searches have also been conducted in farm sheds and fields on the outskirts of the town in the hope of finding some trace of the missing woman.
By nature Mrs. Purcell is not likely to have gotten into a car and is known for her preference of walking around the town and as her daughter, Anna, pointed out a big concern for the family is that her mam may have fallen into a ditch or gripe out of view of the road. With that in mind anyone out walking or conducting a deliberate search should take that into consideration.
Supt. Jim Doyle also spoke to The Echo about the search.
“Our priority is find Stacia and hopefully find her alive and well,” he said.
Supt. Doyle complimented the large number of people who participated in searches throughout the town and surrounding areas over the last few days.
In particular, he also acknowledged the support of New Ross River Rescue and said they always provide great support to the Gardai.
“An incident room has been set up here [in the station] and every area that is checked thoroughly is marked,” he said.
“The air unit has been down and is actually down again today,” he added.
The Garda Dog Unit also arrived in New Ross yesterday to participate in the search.
Supt. Doyle said the unit would be concentrating on the Knockmullen area of the town.
“I would appeal to local people to check their back gardens and for people to check farm sheds and fields,” he said.
“It’s a number of days now so she may have fallen so we are appealing to people to check their land and garages and outbuildings.”
All of New Ross has been covered and everywhere has been searched twice.
Supt. Doyle praised the volunteers – many of whom he met on Saturday.
“I was out on Saturday and I met around 100 volunteers,” he said.
Anyone with information about Mrs. Purcell whereabouts or anyone who thinks they’ve seen someone matching her description is asked to contact New Ross Gardai on 051-421204. All information, no matter how small or trivial it seems, could prove vital in the overall investigation and all calls will be treated in strict confidence.
