Charles Armstrong was a 55 year old labourer from

Crossmaglen Crossmaglen (, ) is a village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,610 in the 2011 Census and is the largest village in South Armagh. The village centre is the site of a large Police Service of Northern Irel ...

who disappeared on 16 August 1981. It is suspected that he was abducted and killed by the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

, a victim of

enforced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...

. No reason, in this case, has ever been publicly given. Armstrong and his wife Kathleen had five children. Armstrong's body was retrieved in July 2010, in a bog near Aughrim More and his funeral took place on 18 September 2010.

Disappearance

On the day Armstrong disappeared, his wife walked with their daughters to

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

, where they had planned to meet him after he drove a friend to it. He did not appear and it was only when they got home that they discovered that he had not met their friend. Initially, it was thought that he had had an accident, so his family and friends searched the area, but there was no sign of him. The next day, a friend phoned the family to tell them that his car had been found outside a cinema in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

. His name did not appear on a list of nine people whose disappearances the

admitted responsibility for in 1999.

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020 ...

, president of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

, denied that the IRA was responsible, but journalist Suzanne Breen claimed that she had been contacted by a member of the IRA who said that the IRA was responsible.

Searches

In 2001, a search for his body produced no results. In July 2010, a group searching for Armstrong announced that they had found human remains in

County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ga, Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Ulster and is part of Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Cou ...

. The

Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) was established by treaty between the Her Majesty's Government, United Kingdom Government and the Government of Ireland, made on 27 April 1999 in connection with the affairs o ...

said that it had found the remains early on the afternoon of 29 July 2010 in the townland of Aughrim More, on the

side of

Cullaville Cullaville or Culloville ( or McCulloch's ville or town is a small village and townland near Crossmaglen in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is the southernmost settlement in the county and one of the southernmost in Northern Ireland, straddlin ...

. This search was carried out after the Commission had received anonymously a map indicating an area which had not been searched before for Armstrong's body. In September 2010, the Independent Commission confirmed that the remains found were those of Charles Armstrong.

References

External links

"Looking for Charlie"
guardian.co.uk

thedisappearedni.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Charles 1920s births 1980s missing person cases 1980s crimes in Northern Ireland 1981 deaths 1981 murders in the United Kingdom Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Enforced disappearances in Northern Ireland Formerly missing people Kidnapped people from Northern Ireland Missing person cases in Northern Ireland People declared dead in absentia People from Crossmaglen Terrorism deaths in Northern Ireland The Troubles in County Armagh

Disappearance

Searches

See also

References

External links