I'm disgusted it took so long to get murder probe..she did not disappear into thin air

THE mum of missing a missing woman told how she “nearly collapsed” when gardai told her the case has been upgraded to a murder inquiry.

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Distraught Noeleen Bieninda has also revealed how Elizabeth Clarke went to a Garda station to seek help a day before she vanished in 2015.

Noeleen - who this week pleaded with those who know where the body is to tell gardai - told us she had been fighting for so long for the case to be upgraded to murder probe.

Mum-of-two Elizabeth was 24 when she was last seen in November 2013 in Navan, Co Meath.

Ms Clarke, who had lived in Portrane, Co Dublin and Bettystown, Co Meath, as well as at another address in Co Meath, was reported missing in January 2015.

She had been estranged from her family, including her mum Noeleen, for a number of years.

Gardai are investigating if Elizabeth, who was a vulnerable person, was murdered around the time she was last seen in 2013.

Up until February this year, she was seen as a missing person.

However, gardai reclassified the investigation to one of murder as a result of their inquiries.

SHOCK

Noeleen revealed her shock when gardai called to her home in north County Dublin in February to inform her of the development.

She exclusively told Irish Sunday Mirror: "I had been fighting for so long to have the investigation into Elizabeth to be one of murder so I nearly collapsed when they told me it is a murder investigation now.

"I told them at the start that I knew Elizabeth didn't just disappear into thin air. I knew she didn't just go missing.

"To be honest, I am disgusted they left it this long to upgrade it to a murder investigation as it has given those responsible time to get rid of any evidence."