He Mysteriously Disappeared After An Office Christmas Party 24 Years Ago
Trevor Deely, born on August 15, 1978, grew up in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland, and had a bright future ahead of him.
After initially choosing to go to school for business, he dropped out of the Waterford Institute of Technology and had a tough time finding his true calling.
However, his math skills led him to take a computer course in Dublin, and following graduation, he earned multiple job offers.
Trevor, who was known for his positive attitude and diligent work ethic, ultimately began working in the IT department of the Bank of Ireland Asset Management in Dublin. There, he quickly charmed his coworkers and manager.
“He was almost the perfect employee: he was reliable, nothing was too much trouble, he was hungry to learn, and he mingled well with everyone in the company. He was a very happy guy,” remembered Trevor’s manager, Daragh Treacy.
Yet, at only 22-years-old, Trevor mysteriously disappeared following an office Christmas party in 2000.
The Night Of Trevor’s Disappearance
Trevor went to his office’s Christmas party on December 7, 2000. It was held at Copper Face Jacks, a nearby bar.
The celebration was a success, and once the official party was over, Trevor and some colleagues went to Buck Whaley’s nightclub, which was down the block from the Bank of Ireland Asset Management. They stayed there until the early morning hours of December 8. Trevor didn’t end up leaving until 3:30 a.m.
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However, a taxi workers’ strike prevented him from getting a lift home that evening, and it was raining. So Trevor opted to travel back to his office to grab his umbrella.
He ran into a colleague, Karl Pender, and they reportedly had tea and spoke for a little while. Afterward, around 4:00 a.m., Trevor set out to walk back to his apartment on Serpentine Avenue, approximately 20 minutes away.
During his walk, Trevor tried calling a friend named Glen Cullen but got no answer, as Glen was already asleep. He left a voicemail, which marked the last time anyone heard from Trevor.
Trevor’s Reported Missing
Trevor never arrived at work the following morning, and at first, his coworkers weren’t concerned. Then, both his friends and family didn’t hear from him over the weekend. That was worrisome since Trevor had made tentative plans with them.
By the following Monday, Trevor’s brother, Mark Deely, learned of his brother’s absence.
“You get a sixth sense when something is wrong. I got a phone call at 10:30 on Monday from mom. She was not quite in hysterics, but she was frantic,” Mark detailed.
“Trevor’s work had been on to her. They’d said he hadn’t been at work on Friday and that he wasn’t in on Monday, either, which was completely unusual and out of character.”
This launched the search for Trevor, who was reported missing by his employer that day.
The Search For Trevor
His loved ones immediately aided the investigation, going door-to-door, hanging missing person posters and distributing flyers.
“They were very proactive. I’ve never worked on a case where the family was so proactive,” stated Det. Sgt. Michael Fitzgerald.
It was even reportedly Trevor’s friends who obtained CCTV footage from Bank of Ireland Asset Management, as well as from a different business on Trevor’s route home.
The cameras caught the last known sightings of Trevor and initially indicated something sinister might’ve happened to him.
A man in all black was seen outside of the bank, and he briefly spoke to Trevor the night he disappeared. Then, Trevor went inside the bank to get his umbrella and have tea with his colleague.
Once Trevor exited the bank again, he was captured walking past an ATM located near Haddington Road and Baggot Street Bridge at 4:14 a.m. At that point, another man wearing all black was seen walking in the same direction about 30 seconds later.
Many believed that the unidentified man in the footage was the key to solving Trevor’s case.
“We are placing particular emphasis on the new CCTV that captures a male who can only be described as acting suspiciously in the short period before Trevor enters the bank at 3:35 a.m. on December 8, 2000,” Detective Superintendent Peter O’Boyle said in 2017, according to a post on the official Facebook page of An Garda Síochána, Ireland’s National Police Service.
“Our first appeal is for this male, if he recognizes himself, to come forward, and secondly, for anyone else to come forward who may recognize him.”
Years later, in December 2023, though, an update in the investigation dispelled this idea.
The Irish police were able to identify the man who was walking behind Trevor that evening and cleared him of any involvement in Trevor’s disappearance.
“They’re happy now that the person following Trevor down Haddington Road, there is nothing sinister in that he was not following; he was not tracking. They’re totally happy that there is nothing sinister involved with that,” said Trevor’s brother Mark.
A UK-based company helped authorities enhance the quality of CCTV footage to come to this conclusion. Additionally, it was determined that the two men in black captured by surveillance cameras were not the same person.
“There was a doubt over whether or not that person was the same person tracking Trevor down Haddington Road. It’s not. We’d love to know who that person is,” Mark explained.
The latest finding was “bittersweet” for Trevor’s loved ones, who thought the investigation was going in one direction only to be put “nearly straight back to square one.”
Now, despite many searches being conducted over the years, including divers scouring the Grand Canal, Trevor’s family has no theories as to what truly happened to him.
“We’re totally open-minded. The truth is, as daft as it might sound, he’s as likely to walk in the door in the morning as he is to be found dead. We’ve no information whatsoever,” Mark admitted.
Nonetheless, his family continues focusing on spreading awareness of Trevor’s case, which has gone unsolved for 24 years now.
“It’s all about keeping Trevor’s name out there,” Mark stated.
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