On one occasion over the past seven months, police in Spain thought they had a genuine lead in tracking down our daughter Amy Fitzpatrick. Amy spent hours every day chatting to friends at home and abroad on online social networking sites. She had numerous accounts and over 3,000 online friends. After she disappeared without trace, near her home in Calahonda, Spanish police took possession of her computer hoping it might offer some clues. For months, Amy didn't log on to any of her social networking sites. Then one day, out of the blue, Amy was suddenly online. Excited phone calls between the police and her family followed. She was out there, I believed, she was okay. But the truth soon emerged. One of Amy's friends knew her password and had logged on to her site to see if she'd posted any messages. For that one fleeting moment, I felt a rush of relief she hasn't experienced since. "It feels like a lot longer than seven months. If I knew she was going to be reading this I'd ask her to get in touch with someone, anyone. If she never wants to speak to me again, that's fine. I just need to know she's okay. We had a normal mother-daughter relationship; she was 15 when she went missing so we had our rows. We're worried that if she knows about all of this effort that's going on to find her she's afraid to get in touch."
It's no secret that Amy didn't like living in Spain with us since we moved there in 2004. She hadn't been attending school as she was being bullied, and spoke all the time about returning to live in Ireland. But while we hoped at first that she had simply run away, we now believe too much time has passed for her not to get in touch with anyone or – at the very least – check her Bebo page. We have a theory that she may be with an older, English-speaking man with influence over her, somewhere in central Europe. Or else she's been snatched. She's been gone for too long now for us to believe she's run away. The police have ruled that out too. What teenager would run away without any clothes, her mobile, money and make-up? Amy loved her make-up. We believe she may be with an older, English-speaking man, though not necessarily English, somewhere in Europe. She was on my passport so it would have been hard to get back to Ireland. The one place she'd be instantly recognisable is in Dublin. We think that if she's with someone, he has a lot of power and control over her; maybe she bumped into him on her way home that night and he convinced her to leave with him. Maybe she's been brainwashed and groomed by him now and can't get in touch. The other possibility is that she was taken. I don't want to think that's what happened. The worst thing would be if she's been kidnapped. At the end of the day, somebody knows something. Amy wasn't taken up in a spaceship."

We have no idea of the identity of the man Amy may have disappeared with. We have travelled around Spain and to Morocco searching for Amy. If she has been taken, other kids in the area are at risk.
I'd say to Amy, if you're reading this, get in touch, your not in trouble, I just want you back. If anyone has her against her will, drop her off somewhere safe. And if anyone knows anything at all, tell the police."
Spanish police, the Guardia Civil, are now treating Amy as a missing person and the investigation is still very much ongoing.
Amy's older brother Dean (18) was close to his sister and has found her disappearance difficult to cope with. He has since returned to Ireland. "He still finds it very hard. He's been back in Ireland with his father. It's easier for him there and he's being kept busy. Every time he used to walk by her bedroom at home, he used to have to shut the door so he wasn't reminded of her. The dirt path which Amy took a shortcut through on her way home at 10pm on New Year's Day is in a remote area in the small town of Calahonda. Police were initially working on the theory that she'd been snatched from this isolated track. It remains in use, not considered by police to pose such a risk that it warrants fencing to discourage people from using it.
We believe there's a small chance she's in the UK and a lot more British than Irish live in the area where she disappeared. We are hoping that the British Media will start to highlight Amy’s case and we wont give up until we get her picture in every corner of the World. We have emailed every UK newspaper with the help of Forever Searching and we are hoping some of the newspapers will print our appeal for Amy.
I have no problem keeping this up every day for the rest of my life I'll do this until I know Amy is ok.

Audrey Fitzpatrick (amy’s Mam)