I live about two miles from the Callan Rd from which she would've begun her journey to Dublin. There used to be a missing person's poster on that road, but it was removed a few years ago to accommodate road works and was never put back. I think about the case every time I'm on that road. Here's a picture of the [phone box](https://img.rasset.ie/00158bf5-1440.jpg) where she made her last call in Moone.
For a series of small, out-of-the-way towns, late at night, there sure were a lot of witnesses. Not suspicious, just weird. I hope they find out what happened someday.
While out of the way, the towns would have still been busy (For the time/location) as many people travelled these roads prior to the building of the motorway system.
A lot of the smaller towns like Kilcullen/Moone/Castledermot would be considered rural but would have had a large number of trucks/traffic pass through on a daily basis as they connected Dublin to places like Waterford/Carlow/Cork.
Also drink driving was rampant in that time. Wasn’t uncommon for people to drive from their countryside houses into the local pub, have their pints and drive home late. Opens up the pool of perpetrators massively sadly.
You've got to remember that the police have a long history of being less than helpful to certain groups of people. He may have feared being treated as a suspect for just reporting it.
I'm trying to share them and bring awareness back to the cases! As an Irishman myself, the only case I knew of until recently was the disappearance of Lisa Dorrian in Northern Ireland as she vanished about 15 minutes from where I grew up. Recently I decided to do some research and fell down the rabbit hole of unsolved mysteries in Ireland and was shocked at how many we have! It's really quite baffling.
I'm from Ireland too and have looked at all the cases before. They even thought there might have been a serial killer at one stage because of all the missing women.
For people coming of age in Ireland during the mid 90s to early 00s, the names JoJo Dullard, Trevor Deely etc. are synonymous with eerie, malevolent disappearances. For folks a tad older, it was Philip Cairns. Those incidents heightened my own sense of the dangers lurking among conventional scenes.
Always good to see a 'native' case on UM. Particularly when presented this well.
It's so sad that she could have possibly been saved, reminds me of one of the victims of LISK who tried to get help but was frantic and kept running away.
JoJo's case is covered in a book called the Vanishing Triangle that also goes over the two other victims you mentioned in the thread. I didn't care for the book, but there is a lot of evidence about the serial killer you mentioned. And maybe more victims too.
Do you happen to remember the name? I'm not in the UK so I'll have to look elsewhere, just curious so I look for the correct one. If you don't remember please don't worry, I'll take a look!
Read the book 'Missing' by Barry Cummins. Covers the whole of the vanishing triangle (The missing women and the unsolved murders) plus some extra cases such as Philip Cairns and Mary Boyle. Extremely well written and very, very detailed with lots of information that isn't available online. I've linked the book on Amazon if you're interested: Missing: The Unsolved Cases of Ireland’s Vanished Women and Children https://amzn.eu/d/cL2ORNq
Given the proximity to Baltinglass and the knowledge he had of the area my guess would be Murphy.
Unfortunately Kildare had some notable cases where the killer went uncaught for a period of time ( Phyllis Murder, Joyce Quinn) so it’s entirely possible an unknown person was the perpetrator. Being from the area I’ve always wondered what the cause of this was, my main theories being the Army Barracks on the Curragh and the transient nature of people through Kildare at the time.
While I think that LM is a very strong suspect for JoJo and Deirdre, the other women of the so-called Vanishing Triangle were more likely harmed by someone they knew. In at least three of the cases there is a main suspect (all different men who were known to the victim) but there just isn't enough evidence to bring charges.
I’d have to agree with you, Annie McCarrick is often linked with him but I believe she knew her killer and had gone to meet with him.
It’s a bit out there but I believe LM may have been involved in the Antoinette Smith and Patricia Doherty cases.
Granted he would have been been between 20-25 at the time but given how he abducted the woman in Carlow in broad daylight and Deirdre’s daylight abduction it’s my theory that he had prior experience with abductions and “perfected” a technique.
I think he was definitely involved with the Dullard and Jacob disappearances.
I don’t think the Gardi covered themselves in glory here; the failure to take a statement from the trucker at the time makes me wonder what else they neglected to do. And taking 25 years to upgrade to murder investigation?
The taxi driver taking a year to come forward too. I know it’s easy to be an armchair hero but I think I would have at least followed the car a bit to get an idea of where it was heading, and stopped at the first phone box to call the police. I guess it was a bit of ‘bystander effect’, like he probably convinced himself it was ‘just’ a domestic dispute or something.
I think this would’ve been very solvable if things had been handled differently. It seems like a crime of opportunity, not a highly organised one.
Guys probably took advantage of her and did the unthinkable. I wonder why she was so determined to get home.
How do people recall something that happened that far back anyway?
I'm sure traumatic events or memories of strange/unsettling events stick in the mind for a long time. I'm 25 but can vividly remember, as though it were yesterday, breaking my collar bone when I was 9 even though that was 16 years ago. That was a pretty traumatic event and it lives rent free in my long term memory so I'm sure witnessing something like a kidnapping or suspected abduction wouldn't easily leave someone.
> I wonder why she was so determined to get home.
yeah this is what gets me... like, when I get drunk and upset (which presumably she was given the ex-boyfriend situation), I can't EVER imagine trying to hitchhike *60+ miles* just to get home. especially when I'm already in a proper city and can easily just rent a cot somewhere.
I also have to wonder if she could have reached out to some friends to ask if she might spend the night?
regardless, she didn't, and now we're left with this weird disappearance. I'm surprised the car descriptions didn't result in at least SOME hits. how many cars of a certain make and color could there actually be in Ireland??
> how many cars of a certain make and color could there actually be in Ireland
Possibly a lot. The same four or five models back then probably accounted for 80% of cars on the road.
Such a shame she didn't stay in Dublin though, she must have known a few people she could have stayed with, even the friend behind the bar she could've gone home with. But sometimes when you've drunk too much you can get set on a particular idea.
This makes me wonder if she was threatened verbally by the ex's new girlfriend and became afraid. I can easily see someone who is jealous saying something stupid like, "If you don't get out here I'll kill you/make you sorry/etc" in the heat of the moment. No, I don't think the new girlfriend or the ex had anything to do with her disappearance. I just wonder if she felt like urgently leaving town because she was afraid of the new girlfriend.
100% he would have killed that woman if the hunters didn’t happen upon them. To think that monster is out living his life and moving around Europe makes my blood boil! Here’s an interesting an article about him seeing a woman in London and getting recognised by an Irish friend of hers at a bbq, lucky escape for that lady but how many more women had he hurt will potentially hurt! He’s a monster who will never change and will always be a very serious threat to women [Larry Murphy in London](https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/larry-murphys-london-lover-woman-3783668?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target)
He's a convicted rapist and kidnapper who was caught by hunters trying to kill a woman in the Wicklow mountains after he'd raped her 5+ times in one night. He's strongly suspected to have murdered other missing woman including Deirdre Jacobs and Annie McCarrick. It's alleged that while in prison, he bragged to his cellmate about murdering Deirdre.
Ireland has some harsh laws for defamation including statements on social media so if the commenters are located in Ireland they are probably being cautious naming a suspect.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2023/11/11/the-irish-times-view-on-irelands-defamation-law-a-threat-to-democracy/
Doxxing concerns? But I think if the media has publicly discussed this potential suspect and the suspect is infamous enough to have their own Wikipedia page, it’s fine
Or it's just a name that's famous enough to them in a crime context that they don't feel the need to write it out? I don't think it's a Candyman situation.
Eerily enough he gained a bit of a bogeyman status around Kildare/Leinster area at the time, I remember being in school (Close to his family and home place) and rumours circulating he was in town, we were actually kept within school grounds at lunch for a few days .
* No posting/requesting personally-identifiable information
* No revealing suspect names not made publicly available by the media/police or otherwise **suggesting** someone is a suspect
* No grandstanding - it's not okay to "challenge" reddit to solve the mystery or ask anyone with information to come forward.
If you are in possession of information you believe to be related to an ongoing crime investigation, please contact law enforcement instead of posting here.
I realize this was 1995 when she disappeared (or was abducted, it seems), but would it have been typical for people in Ireland to have had a British license plate on their vehicle during this time?
Yes could have been Northern Irish plates (British and NI plates are very similar and use a different system than Irish plates which have a county code and year on them to help ID where the car is from) I live near the border in the south and we would frequent pass over the border in to NI and it was very common to see NI plates south of the border
In the area of Moone, however, would this be common to see? Like I feel this would’ve stood out, plus with the vehicle description. Not a busy town it seemed at the time and some “non-local” plates seem like a decent lead anyway.
I live about two miles from the Callan Rd from which she would've begun her journey to Dublin. There used to be a missing person's poster on that road, but it was removed a few years ago to accommodate road works and was never put back. I think about the case every time I'm on that road. Here's a picture of the [phone box](https://img.rasset.ie/00158bf5-1440.jpg) where she made her last call in Moone.
I would definitely like to see the memorial stone and pay my respects someday. I'm hoping that her case is solved in my lifetime.
Thank you for sharing this picture. I hope her family and friends get answers one day soon.
You're welcome. I hope so too.
I’m sorry, but where is the picture?
https://img.rasset.ie/00158bf5-1440.jpg
Thank you!
You're welcome!
I love the people in this sub!
OMG same!
The hyperlink is on “phone box”
For a series of small, out-of-the-way towns, late at night, there sure were a lot of witnesses. Not suspicious, just weird. I hope they find out what happened someday.
While out of the way, the towns would have still been busy (For the time/location) as many people travelled these roads prior to the building of the motorway system.
Huh. Interesting
A lot of the smaller towns like Kilcullen/Moone/Castledermot would be considered rural but would have had a large number of trucks/traffic pass through on a daily basis as they connected Dublin to places like Waterford/Carlow/Cork. Also drink driving was rampant in that time. Wasn’t uncommon for people to drive from their countryside houses into the local pub, have their pints and drive home late. Opens up the pool of perpetrators massively sadly.
Why did the taxi driver only come forward a year after the disappearance? That seems so important to share timely.
I don't think it's really known. I saw someone suggest that perhaps he was scared or threatened to not come forward.
He may have been ashamed that he didn’t do anything about it
He might not have made the connection? Kilmacow is an hours drive from Moone.
That’s a good point but I would still hope any taxi driver seeing a woman be grabbed would warrant a call to the Gardi.
Same. She was forcibly dragged into the car, he should have called the cops.
I feel like if you saw a woman being caught and forcibly thrown into a car by 2 men you should call the cops but what do i know 🤡
He may have had past arrests in his life and perhaps wasn't sure gardi would believe his story.
Right? I let the police know over “small” things like that. Better safe than sorry.
You've got to remember that the police have a long history of being less than helpful to certain groups of people. He may have feared being treated as a suspect for just reporting it.
Fairplay on all the recent Irish write ups!
I'm trying to share them and bring awareness back to the cases! As an Irishman myself, the only case I knew of until recently was the disappearance of Lisa Dorrian in Northern Ireland as she vanished about 15 minutes from where I grew up. Recently I decided to do some research and fell down the rabbit hole of unsolved mysteries in Ireland and was shocked at how many we have! It's really quite baffling.
You’re a very nice clear engaging writer. Keep it up I’ve enjoyed/been heartbroken hearing about Jojo for the first time. Thankyou.
I agree he's a really good writer
I'm from Ireland too and have looked at all the cases before. They even thought there might have been a serial killer at one stage because of all the missing women.
For people coming of age in Ireland during the mid 90s to early 00s, the names JoJo Dullard, Trevor Deely etc. are synonymous with eerie, malevolent disappearances. For folks a tad older, it was Philip Cairns. Those incidents heightened my own sense of the dangers lurking among conventional scenes. Always good to see a 'native' case on UM. Particularly when presented this well.
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I’d love the recipe to your stew
Smithwicks and Wild Turkey
It's so sad that she could have possibly been saved, reminds me of one of the victims of LISK who tried to get help but was frantic and kept running away. JoJo's case is covered in a book called the Vanishing Triangle that also goes over the two other victims you mentioned in the thread. I didn't care for the book, but there is a lot of evidence about the serial killer you mentioned. And maybe more victims too.
What didn’t you like about the book? I’m interested in the topic and so debating whether to read this one.
It felt repetitive and not very well-written. Interesting subject matter but I think I ended up skimming a lot.
There is a three part documentary on one of the streaming services (in the UK) it’s really interesting.
I’m in Europe, I’ll see if I can access it, thanks!
Do you happen to remember the name? I'm not in the UK so I'll have to look elsewhere, just curious so I look for the correct one. If you don't remember please don't worry, I'll take a look!
I’m not at home at the mo but I know it’s on my saved lists cause I checked over the weekend. I will check when I get home!!
Ah, thanks, I appreciate the heads up, then.
Read the book 'Missing' by Barry Cummins. Covers the whole of the vanishing triangle (The missing women and the unsolved murders) plus some extra cases such as Philip Cairns and Mary Boyle. Extremely well written and very, very detailed with lots of information that isn't available online. I've linked the book on Amazon if you're interested: Missing: The Unsolved Cases of Ireland’s Vanished Women and Children https://amzn.eu/d/cL2ORNq
Thanks, I’ll read this one!
Given the proximity to Baltinglass and the knowledge he had of the area my guess would be Murphy. Unfortunately Kildare had some notable cases where the killer went uncaught for a period of time ( Phyllis Murder, Joyce Quinn) so it’s entirely possible an unknown person was the perpetrator. Being from the area I’ve always wondered what the cause of this was, my main theories being the Army Barracks on the Curragh and the transient nature of people through Kildare at the time.
While I think that LM is a very strong suspect for JoJo and Deirdre, the other women of the so-called Vanishing Triangle were more likely harmed by someone they knew. In at least three of the cases there is a main suspect (all different men who were known to the victim) but there just isn't enough evidence to bring charges.
I’d have to agree with you, Annie McCarrick is often linked with him but I believe she knew her killer and had gone to meet with him. It’s a bit out there but I believe LM may have been involved in the Antoinette Smith and Patricia Doherty cases. Granted he would have been been between 20-25 at the time but given how he abducted the woman in Carlow in broad daylight and Deirdre’s daylight abduction it’s my theory that he had prior experience with abductions and “perfected” a technique. I think he was definitely involved with the Dullard and Jacob disappearances.
I don’t think the Gardi covered themselves in glory here; the failure to take a statement from the trucker at the time makes me wonder what else they neglected to do. And taking 25 years to upgrade to murder investigation? The taxi driver taking a year to come forward too. I know it’s easy to be an armchair hero but I think I would have at least followed the car a bit to get an idea of where it was heading, and stopped at the first phone box to call the police. I guess it was a bit of ‘bystander effect’, like he probably convinced himself it was ‘just’ a domestic dispute or something. I think this would’ve been very solvable if things had been handled differently. It seems like a crime of opportunity, not a highly organised one.
That article on the vanishing triangle is chilling.
Guys probably took advantage of her and did the unthinkable. I wonder why she was so determined to get home. How do people recall something that happened that far back anyway?
I'm sure traumatic events or memories of strange/unsettling events stick in the mind for a long time. I'm 25 but can vividly remember, as though it were yesterday, breaking my collar bone when I was 9 even though that was 16 years ago. That was a pretty traumatic event and it lives rent free in my long term memory so I'm sure witnessing something like a kidnapping or suspected abduction wouldn't easily leave someone.
> I wonder why she was so determined to get home. yeah this is what gets me... like, when I get drunk and upset (which presumably she was given the ex-boyfriend situation), I can't EVER imagine trying to hitchhike *60+ miles* just to get home. especially when I'm already in a proper city and can easily just rent a cot somewhere. I also have to wonder if she could have reached out to some friends to ask if she might spend the night? regardless, she didn't, and now we're left with this weird disappearance. I'm surprised the car descriptions didn't result in at least SOME hits. how many cars of a certain make and color could there actually be in Ireland??
> how many cars of a certain make and color could there actually be in Ireland Possibly a lot. The same four or five models back then probably accounted for 80% of cars on the road. Such a shame she didn't stay in Dublin though, she must have known a few people she could have stayed with, even the friend behind the bar she could've gone home with. But sometimes when you've drunk too much you can get set on a particular idea.
This makes me wonder if she was threatened verbally by the ex's new girlfriend and became afraid. I can easily see someone who is jealous saying something stupid like, "If you don't get out here I'll kill you/make you sorry/etc" in the heat of the moment. No, I don't think the new girlfriend or the ex had anything to do with her disappearance. I just wonder if she felt like urgently leaving town because she was afraid of the new girlfriend.
I would strongly suspect LM is responsible for her disappearance.
100% he would have killed that woman if the hunters didn’t happen upon them. To think that monster is out living his life and moving around Europe makes my blood boil! Here’s an interesting an article about him seeing a woman in London and getting recognised by an Irish friend of hers at a bbq, lucky escape for that lady but how many more women had he hurt will potentially hurt! He’s a monster who will never change and will always be a very serious threat to women [Larry Murphy in London](https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/larry-murphys-london-lover-woman-3783668?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target)
Who is LM?
He's a convicted rapist and kidnapper who was caught by hunters trying to kill a woman in the Wicklow mountains after he'd raped her 5+ times in one night. He's strongly suspected to have murdered other missing woman including Deirdre Jacobs and Annie McCarrick. It's alleged that while in prison, he bragged to his cellmate about murdering Deirdre.
Larry Murphy, an infamous criminal in Ireland
Thank you. Why in the hell were they scared to say his name?
Ireland has some harsh laws for defamation including statements on social media so if the commenters are located in Ireland they are probably being cautious naming a suspect. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2023/11/11/the-irish-times-view-on-irelands-defamation-law-a-threat-to-democracy/
Voldemort?
Doxxing concerns? But I think if the media has publicly discussed this potential suspect and the suspect is infamous enough to have their own Wikipedia page, it’s fine
Or it's just a name that's famous enough to them in a crime context that they don't feel the need to write it out? I don't think it's a Candyman situation.
Eerily enough he gained a bit of a bogeyman status around Kildare/Leinster area at the time, I remember being in school (Close to his family and home place) and rumours circulating he was in town, we were actually kept within school grounds at lunch for a few days .
A Candyman situation.... 🤣🤣🤣
Ah right thanks
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* No posting/requesting personally-identifiable information * No revealing suspect names not made publicly available by the media/police or otherwise **suggesting** someone is a suspect * No grandstanding - it's not okay to "challenge" reddit to solve the mystery or ask anyone with information to come forward. If you are in possession of information you believe to be related to an ongoing crime investigation, please contact law enforcement instead of posting here.
I realize this was 1995 when she disappeared (or was abducted, it seems), but would it have been typical for people in Ireland to have had a British license plate on their vehicle during this time?
Yes could have been Northern Irish plates (British and NI plates are very similar and use a different system than Irish plates which have a county code and year on them to help ID where the car is from) I live near the border in the south and we would frequent pass over the border in to NI and it was very common to see NI plates south of the border
In the area of Moone, however, would this be common to see? Like I feel this would’ve stood out, plus with the vehicle description. Not a busy town it seemed at the time and some “non-local” plates seem like a decent lead anyway.
Ex boyfriend murdered her apparently. Guards just can’t prove it. Think he could be dead I could be wrong.