The definitive account of the only case of its kind, a search for truth and a labour-of-love in honour of the victim of a unique murder mystery still officially unsolved 33 years on.
By Keeley Moss
- Part 36 – CONTENTS
- Chapter 95: Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Chapter 96: Fool If You Think It’s Over
- Acknowledgements for Part 36
Chapter 95: Bridge Over Troubled Water
For here, what is remembered lives
What is remembered lives
Starhawk & Reclaiming – ‘The Gates’
Today is the 33rd anniversary of Inga’s brutal murder, the circumstances of which are utterly unique. As PSNI Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray once said, “This murder is completely out there on its own”. And it’s been out there on it’s own for 33 years now. To mark the 29th anniversary I travelled from my native Dublin to visit Ballypatrick Forest Park for the first time, the location of the only known crime scene in Inga’s case (covered in Part 9 of the Chronicles). To mark the 30th and 31st anniversaries of Inga’s murder, myself and John Dallat MLA organised memorial gatherings at Ballypatrick Forest. To mark the 32nd anniversary, a special landmark conference on Inga’s behalf was being planned to take place in Belfast, organised by Inga’s family’s legal representative Claire McKeegan of the highly-respected Human Rights law firm Phoenix Law. It was set to have been chaired by Claire herself and attended by Inga’s sister Friederike and nephew Viktor, John Dallat MLA, myself, renowned author and Hillsborough campaigner Phil Scraton and The Irish News Security Correspondant and Deputy Editor Allison Morris. Due to ill health John sadly had to pull out and in his place was to have been his daughter Cllr. Helena Dallat-O’Driscoll, the elected Causeway Coast & Glens councillor for Bann DEA.
It would have been a truly seismic and significant event. Inga’s sister has never been to Northern Ireland before, and at that time had never before spoken publicly in the decades since Inga’s murder. All of us on the panel that Claire had assembled on Inga’s behalf felt this conference would bring Inga’s case back to the forefront of the agenda in Northern Ireland and serve as a timely reminder to Inga’s killers and those shielding them that this case is not going away.
Alas, events were to take a couple of very unexpected turns. Firstly, within weeks of a meeting held at the Phoenix Law offices in Belfast to plan the conference, COVID-19 had reared it’s ugly head and was scything it’s way through everything in it’s path, turning the world upside down. As a result of the pandemic, our plans for the conference had to be postponed and then remodelled as an online conference, with all of our interviews filmed via Zoom. Then, as referred to at length in the previous instalment of the Chronicles, within weeks of the outbreak of the pandemic, John Dallat MLA, my partner in the fight for truth and justice on Inga’s behalf, would tragically lose his battle with cancer, and pass away at the comparatively young age of 73 years old.
And now here we are, facing another anniversary in Inga’s case, the 33rd. More than three decades have now elapsed since that fateful – and fatal – Spring night in 1988 when everything changed for Inga and in varying ways, ultimately for many other people as well. So many twists and turns have occurred in the case throughout this time, hopes have been raised and dashed so many times, all manner of strange mutations have seen this case wind it’s way to it’s current status, and yet the mystery surrounding the precise circumstances of Inga’s death remains exactly that – a mystery. I believe there is no more more mysterious and more gripping case in the annals of True Crime. It is a case that on the face of it appears fairly straightforward. It is anything but. This blog currently amounts to more than 110,000 words in total. Would the Chronicles be anywhere near that long if the case was straightforward? And bear in mind that for legal reasons and so as not to risk interfering with due process, which is arguably the most fundamental tenet of the justice system, however frustrating, there are a number of things I am unable to expand upon.
To mark the 33rd anniversary of Inga’s killing, and as part of my ongoing mission to keep Inga’s memory alive I wanted to publish on the Chronicles for the first time the last photo Inga ever took. It may appear to the naked eye a fairly nondescript image, mundane even. But it is precious. It is a doorway to another world and a snapshot of a moment that can never be recaptured. It is Scotland as it was seen through Inga’s eyes on what would turn out to be the last day of her very young life and as such it is the last opportunity to see what she saw before her life was taken so cruelly later that day. Imagine what was going through her mind when she snapped this photo. Imagine the excitement in her heart as she approached the imminent realisation of her “greatest dream”, that of finally reaching the island of Ireland after seven days of continuous travel. Standing there in that moment, unwittingly a shooting star. Imagine…
But if this photograph illustrates anything, it is that it makes one thing very clear, and that is something that is a vital source of sustenance of spirit for all of us who love Inga, for those of us involved in this most enduring if exasperating and heartbreaking case, this unstoppable cause. And it is this… It is that what is remembered, lives.
What is remembered, lives.
Chapter 96: Fool If You Think It’s Over
Miss Teenage Dream
Such a tragic scene
He knocked your crown and ran away
Chris Rea – ‘Fool If You Think It’s Over’
33 years. Much has changed during that time but so much has stayed the same. Inga’s killers still haven’t spent a day behind bars. And yet if Inga’s case has exhibited one overriding characteristic over the years it’s that however hopeless the prospects of justice may seem, it never fails to find a way to survive, and be revived. Time and time and time again it has appeared dead in the water, having hit brick wall after brick wall. But it never stays down for long. At most it is out of the spotlight for a couple of years only for some surprise new development to occur as if out of nowhere, and in doing so propel the case back to the top of the news agenda where it belongs.
As I always say, this case will not die. It may go through periods of apparent inactivity where all seems lost. But if we have learnt anything, it’s that this case has an extraordinary propensity for survival and revival. I have considered many times that perhaps, just perhaps, there might be some otherworldly or mystical energies at play with this. Or maybe that’s merely a case of wishful thinking. I suppose I can’t help wanting to believe that somehow, just maybe, Inga’s spirit might be “up there” and playing some part in casting some sort of influence. But then again, if that were the case, surely her case would have been resolved by now, certainly in time for her mum and dad to have been able to see justice done in their lifetime. Alas, that did not happen.
But still, against all odds, after more than three decades progress is still being made. There is now the very encouraging hope of a full and proper inquest, with efforts in this respect being spearheaded by Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law who has proved a huge fillip for the campaign since her emergence in Inga’s case in early 2019. Beyond the inquest there is also on the horizon the possibility of civil action for the first time. In addition, production is now underway for a new BBC1 TV documentary that even at this early stage promises to be the most extensive – and most explosive – document in the history of this case. It is scheduled to be broadcast in early 2022 and represents yet more new ground for The Case That Will Not Die.
Inga’s case is the strangest of things. It inches forward incrementally, it is forever fluid and yet it is seemingly never-ending. There cannot be another case in True Crime history that has been perched on the verge of a breakthrough for so long, having been described by PSNI Detective Chief Superintendent Raymond Murray as being “tantalisingly close” to a significant breakthrough in 2011 and “extremely close” to a significant breakthrough in 2018 only for this breakthrough to subsequently remain as elusive as it has since 1988. There are other murder cases that have gone unsolved for even longer, for much longer in fact. But those cases had been cold cases for many years only to either suddenly be revived and solved with the advent of a DNA breakthrough or a confession, or they’re still cold cases. But to my knowledge there is no other case that has been seemingly on the verge of being solved for as long as Inga’s has, without it actually getting solved. And yet, as Chris Rea once sang, “Fool if you think it’s over”. Because this case – this cause – will not die.
So, another year. And another instalment. Inga’s case is now 33 years old, and I’ve been working on it for 5 years now. I feel as intensely committed and devoted to Inga’s cause now as at any point since the day I commenced work on what would become Part 1 of The Keeley Chronicles. And I intend to spend the rest of my life working on it. Inga means far too much to me to just “move on” to something else. You don’t move on from Inga Maria Hauser. This is something that I believe becomes apparent to anyone who works on Inga’s case for any degree of time. She gets under your skin and you can’t let go. Her aura, her essence, even in her absence, is so moving, so charismatic and ultimately so powerful that it has survived 33 years of her not being on the Earth. That is something beautiful and extraordinary.
And so on Inga’s campaign goes, and on it grows. A force every bit as unstoppable as the object – the evasion of justice – that has thus far proved immovable. Continuing to emit a glow amidst the gloom, still exerting it’s intangible, magnetic attraction. Much like Inga did in her short time on the Earth. I believe it is a big part of what makes this case – this cause – so singular, so distinctive, and ultimately impossible to shake off.
Inga Maria Hauser
May 28th 1969 – April 6th 1988. Never forgotten.
Copyright: Keeley Moss ℗&©2021. All rights reserved.
Acknowledgements for Part 36
The Gates written by Starhawk & Reclaiming ©1992
Fool If You Think It’s Over written by Chris Rea. Published by Magnet Music Ltd. ©1978
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