Missing Wexford Man Identified By DNA After 20 Years

29 year old Patrick Gallagher was last seen on the night of September the 28th in 1999 in Wexford town.

Despite no body being found, an inquest in 2014 determined it was most likely he fell into the river or harbour with the cause of death due to drowning.  A month after his disappearance, on October 21st, a body washed up on the beach at Courtown.

While gardaí carried out inquiries and all testing available at the time was used, that body could not be positively identified and the remains were interred in an unmarked grave at St Michael’s Cemetery in Gorey.

This year, gardaí reviewed the missing Patrick Gallagher case and took DNA samples from his family to compare with the buried remains in Gorey, which were exhumed on March 4th.

The tests have confirmed that the remains are his.