NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN MISSING DEIRDRE JACOB CASE SPARK INVESTIGATIONS IN KILDARE WOODLANDS
Investigations by Gardaí began this morning on a woodland site near Usk Little, Co Kildare, as new evidence has come to light in the 1998 disappearance of Deirdre Jacob.
The search of the woodland area began after the recent revelation of credible new evidence in Ms Jacob’s case, ignited by the upgrading of her disappearance to murder in 2018.
At a press briefing this morning, Inspector John Fitzgerald, lead investigator in the case, said that up to 15 people will be involved in the ongoing search. He believes the search of the Kildare site may take upwards of three weeks.
“There was unusual activity noticed in the woodland in and around the time Deirdre went missing,” said Inspector Fitzgerald at the briefing. “Based on that we felt it prudent to commence a further search of the area.”
According to Inspector Fitzgerald, a previous cursory search of the site was conducted, which has led to this morning’s renewed, more thorough investigation, after consideration by the Garda Serious Crime Review Team.
In an interview with RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Alan Bailey, a retired Garda detective sergeant and former National Coordinator for Operation Trace, responsible for the original investigation in the disappearance of Ms Jacob, said this morning marks a “very significant development” in the case “based on very credible evidence” in investigative terms.
Deirdre Jacob was last seen on the afternoon of July 28, 1998, outside the front gate of her home in Roseberry, near Newbridge, Co Kildare. She was 18 years old at the time of her disappearance. Her case was upgraded to an active murder investigation by Gardaí in 2018.
Ms Jacob was seen to be greeting friends and neighbours outside her home shortly before the time of her disappearance.
Mr Bailey believes Ms Jacob was abducted and that her abductor was not someone known to her.
Gardaí are also hoping to find further evidence of the disappearance of Josephine ‘JoJo’ Dullard at the Usk Little site, though they do not currently believe the disappearance of Ms Dullard to be directly linked to Ms Jacob. JoJo Dullard was last seen in Moone, Co Kildare, on November 9, 1995. The location of her last sighting in Moone is a mere 10-minute drive from the last known location of Ms Jacob.
Similar to Ms Jacob, Ms Dullard’s case was upgraded to a murder investigation earlier this year.
Deirdre Jacob and JoJo Dullard are numbered among a string of six women who disappeared in the east of Ireland throughout the 1990s.
Others among them, according to Morning Ireland’s report, are Annie McCarrick (last seen taking a bus to Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, in 1993), Ciara Breen (1997), Fiona Pender (1996), and Fiona Synnott (1998).
In his interview with Morning Ireland, Mr Bailey named convicted rapist Larry Murphy as a prime person of interest for Gardaí in the disappearances of Ms Jacob and Ms Dullard. He noted that their cases had the same “modus operandi” as Murphy in the crimes he had been previously convicted of in January 2001.
According to a report by RTÉ, potential human remains or items of clothing are among the evidence Gardaí hope to uncover in their investigations at the Usk Little site.
Mr Bailey appealed to members of the public who may know anything about the disappearance of Ms Jacob and Ms Dullard to come forward, noting his hope that the current investigations at Usk Little “will bring some closure to at least one family”.