Amy Fitzpatrick was last seen in the popular Spanish tourist resort of Calahonda on New Year's Day in 2008
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Spanish police not giving up hope of finding missing Irish teen Amy Fitzpatrick 16 years on
Spanish police have not given up hope of finding missing Irish teen Amy Fitzpatrick, 16 years after she vanished on the Costa Del Sol.
The Guardia Civil said yesterday that the investigation into her disappearance is still ongoing but there have been no further developments at this stage.
They were responding to claims that they were not doing enough to trace the 15-year-old teenager, who disappeared while walking home near the popular tourist resort of Calahonda on New Year's Day, 2008.
The Spanish authorities have been under increased pressure from the Irish Government to upgrade the child's disappearance case to a full blown murder investigation over the past several months.
Various pieces of new information received by Amy's dad Christopher Fitzpatrick and her aunt Christine Keegan have been given to them by Irish diplomats.
When Amy initially went missing, the police on the Costa could find no evidence that she was kidnapped and that a crime had been committed, and they believed she ran away on her own accord. She had a history of going missing for a couple of hours at a time.
But now the Spanish Police have changed their view and do not believe that she disappeared voluntarily.
They are, however, extremely dubious about a tip off that the family received that Amy is dead and buried underneath a stable in the old racetrack at Fuengirola, a couple of miles from her former home. They have refused to date to carry out a full-scale dig in the area.
The last person to see Amy alive, her best friend Ashley Rose, is among those extremely frustrated and angry that more is not being done by both the police in Spain and Ireland to find her.
She said; "They haven't done anything for years. If Amy had been Spanish, or if she had gone missing in Ireland, they would have done more.
"It is not right that they aren't still looking for her. She was a 15-year-old girl and she is my best friend."
Amy's family are convinced that a number of local people within the expat community on the Costa know what really happened to her and are hiding the truth.
They believe something terrible occurred and that Amy is dead. They do not believe if she was alive that she would not have contacted her family by this stage.
Last Monday, they commemorated the 16th anniversary of her disappearance with a vigil in Dublin.
The Fitzpatricks said in a statement; "We hope in 2024 someone comes forward with the information we need so we can bring Amy back to Ireland."
A petition set up by the family calling for the case to be upgraded to a murder probe has been signed by over 8,000 people.
Her tragic story has been raised in the Dail and the Social Democrat Dublin TD Cian O'Callaghan yesterday demanded that both the Spanish police and the Irish Government do more to try and find Amy.
