Original subtitles

Gardai are still checking on information

supplied by members of the public

in response to Garda... ..the search has all

the hallmarks of a murder inquiry.

..the family say her disappearance is totally out of character.

This is a story in two parts.

..to her family, she never arrived...

Throughout the 1990s,

a series of young women vanish without a trace.

..the American student Annie McCarrick disappeared...

..Someone knows...

..Patricia McAuley... ..Mary Cummins...

..found traces of blood in the house.

Now Gardai believe Deirdre Jacob was killed....

If there is no body, then you have no crime scene.

Leaving their families looking for answers.

It's as if she had disappeared into thin air.

In three of the cases,

there were very good suspects.

A false alibi hindered the case greatly.

Most of these cases remain unsolved decades later.

Raising fresh questions about how they were investigated.

What were they appealing for? She was giving them the information,

but nobody came to get it from her.

Is this a missing case,

or is it a murder case?

What else could they have missed?

Today Gardai upgraded the Anna McCarrick case to a murder inquiry.

Prompting fears that the same killer may have abducted some of these women.

There could be a serial killer roaming Kildare, Dublin, the mountains.

Dumping their bodies.

Within an area that becomes known as the Vanishing Triangle.

It's 1995...

...and 26-year-old American woman Annie McCarrick has been missing for two years.

The student from Long Island in New York went missing...

Annie McCarrick's mother had been due to visit her daughter a few days after she went missing.

Annie was my only child.

Here we are, in merry old Ireland!

ANNIE'S VOICE: I really don't wanna leave but,

can't wait to see ya at Christmas.

My fondest wish would just be to find out what happened to her.

Bye, mom!

Annie! Let's go, Annie!

Then in November, another young woman vanishes.

Jo Jo Dullard was abducted while hitching a lift...

Jo Jo Dullard disappears from Moone, County Kildare in November 1995.

She called a friend at around 11.15pm,

from the Kildare village of Moone.

She was having problems hitching a lift,

but said she would call when she arrived home.

Fiona Pender from Tullamore, County Offaly,

vanishes in August 1996.

At 6 o'clock that morning,

she was in her flat at Church Street in the town,

when her boyfriend left for work.

Six months later in February 1997,

17-year-old Ciara Breen disappears.

Ciara Breen went missing from her home in Bachelor's Walk in Dundalk.

Like Annie McCarrick, all of the women seem to have vanished without a trace.

Then, two more women disappear within months of each other.

Fiona Sinnott disappeared in 1998...

A young mother, Fiona Sinnott from Wexford, vanishes in February 1998.

Fiona went out socialising with friends in a pub in Broadway in County Wexford.

She then walked home and was last reported, seen at her house the next day,

but hasn't been seen since.

Five months later, 18-year-old Deirdre Jacob is snatched outside her home,

near Newbridge in County Kildare.

After visiting a local bank,

she was walking towards her home on the outskirts of the town.

The Gardai now say they're concerned about her whereabouts.

The disappearances of these six women,

within a so-called 'Murder Triangle',

stretching from Dundalk in the North, to Wexford in the South,

and across to Tullamore in the Midlands,

provokes a public outcry.

WOMAN: It actually scares you to think that somebody can actually go missing.

Just like that.

WOMAN: It's a mystery anyway.

And how it's going to be solved, I do not know.

Between 1996 and 1998, there's a noticeable change in peoples' attitudes towards,

walking the streets at night,

thumbing lifts and things like that.

There's a certain fear and panic, felt by the public at large.

Because they thought...'was there a serial killer out there targetting,

'lone females?'

#

This is quite extraordinary that,

there could be, a serial killer operating in Ireland,

who is...killing women,

and dumping their bodies.

With no body and no crime scene,

the disappearances of all six women,

are officially classified as missing person cases.

At that stage, missing persons are treated as a local investigation.

It'd be then up to the local Superintendent,

to increase the manpower that's involved in the investigation,

or maybe to bring in outside assistance to help with the investigation.

Amid mounting public concern the Garda authorities decide to act.

We must assume,

as police investigators that they're dead.

And I'm sorry to have to say that, but we have to face reality.

In October 1998, Commissioner Pat Byrne,

announces the establishment of Operation Trace.

For the first time,

local investigations into the missing women,

will be examined by a single national team.

We included six missing women,

which were Annie McCarrick,

Fiona Pender,

Jo Jo Dullard,

Fiona Sinnott,

Ciara Breen,

and Deirdre Jacob.

The idea was to establish, was there a common link.

The team will also look at the records of people

who have shown serious sexual violence against women.

The investigation invariably puts people like that under the microscope.

This man, Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey, is hand-picked to lead the Operation Trace team.

We tried to learn from what was being done in other countries.

And at a very early stage, I selected half a dozen people.

An inspector, couple of sergeants,

couple of detectives.

I had known them, they all had pretty good track records.

They were all conscientious investigators.

#

One of those experienced detectives, is Alan Bailey.

It was unique in that it was the first operation within the state that was set up specifically,

to target six specific crimes,

to see if we were dealing with a serial killer.

So you come in with a fresh pair of eyes.

We had an open mind when we started.

There was research done into the whole background of the victims,

and we looked at geographical profiling.

We also did a system called victimology,

as in, did they share a boyfriend, did they share a school and things like that.

All these things were pieced together,

if we're looking for a serial killer.

We have no bodies at this stage.

We've no crime scene, which is extraordinary, makes it extraordinarily difficult.

With Operation Trace, in many respects,

we didn't even have proof that a crime had been committed.

But Operation Trace has no powers to critically examine how local Gardai initially investigated the cases.

With Operation Trace, we had to be very careful,

not to give the impression that we were there to criticise the initial investigation.

Code named Operation Trace,

they will be Gardai who had not worked on the investigations,

so that they could take a fresh look at them.

We did find some pushback,

to be told our role wasn't investigative.

We found that to be...rather frustrating because,

on the one hand, here we are with an overview of all six cases.

We felt best placed, to comment on them,

and maybe to highlight aspects of the investigation.

Operation Trace soon expands its remit, to include more cases of missing women.

The aim is to help build a better profile of a potential killer.

Out of necessity, we have broadened it.

What we're trying to establish is...is there something there

that we haven't hit on?

We were advised that maybe six cases mightn't be enough.

#

The search has all the hallmarks of a murder enquiry,

but all the Gardai will say officially,

is they are treating the disappearance of Phyllis Murphy, as that of a missing person.

One of the cases Operation Trace adds to its list,

stretches back almost 20 years.

Phyllis vanished after leaving the home of her friend.

Phyllis was one of eleven.

She was very quiet.

Very sensible girl.

She loved life, she loved children.

She always said she'd love to be a children's nurse.

Phyllis worked in the Curragh Knitwear factory...

She worked in the factory as a cutter, and she loved the job.

Very loyal person.

She'd called here to see her work mate Barbara,

to arrange to go to a dance later that night.

She left the house,

and walked up to the bus stop.

In 1979, Phyllis Murphy was standing at bus stop,

outside the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge.

She didn't get on the 7 o'clock bus.

She was waiting for a bus, and she obviously got a lift.

Everyone who knew her, makes a point,

she would never have taken a lift from a stranger.

So it follows, whoever gave her a lift that night,

was known to her.

The body was found just before 12 o'clock today,

lying in woodland, about 15 feet from the side of the main Hollywood to Turlough Hill Road,

about a mile from Wicklow Gap.

A month after Phyllis goes missing,

her family get the news they fear most.

She had 25 marks on her body, bruises,

where she'd been hit.

#

One Guard said that the mark of his boot was still in her head,

where she had been kicked.

#

To think that someone did that to her,

that was just...that was heartbreaking.

About 2,000 people from throughout the county,

attended the funeral.

The heavy snow too had postponed the search for clues to the girl's killer.

Despite the discovery of her body,

by 1998 when Operation Trace was established,

Phyllis Murphy's murderer remains at large.

Could he be the serial killer Trace is looking for?

The Operation Trace team soon becomes aware,

that behind the scenes, this man,

Detective Sergeant Brendan McArdle, of the Technical Bureau,

has been examining potential links between the recent missing women cases,

and Phyllis Murphy's killing, 20 years earlier.

In 1979, when Phyllis Murphy went missing,

I was a uniformed Guard attached to Naas station.

I was hopeful if I could get the breakthrough in the Phyllis Murphy case,

that this may have led to establishing the killer for some of the other cases.

I could see commonalities between some of the other disappeared,

and this case.

Deirdre Jacob went missing in Newbridge,

Jo Jo Dullard went missing in Moone.

Phyllis Murphy went missing in Newbridge.

The three of those locations were in Kildare,

which is remarkable.

As a forensic expert, McArdle is also aware,

that semen samples taken from Phyllis Murphy's body 20 years earlier,

could in time yield vital clues.

The body had been lying there we believe, from shortly she was abducted,

and she was in a perfect state of preservation.

#

A body when it's found, can tell a story of what happened to it, prior to death,

and maybe after death.

And as a scientist it's our job to help elaborate that story.

This is Dr. Maureen Smith, an expert in DNA profiling,

and a colleague of Brendan McArdle's.

He always maintained his interest in the Phyllis Murphy case.

It would come up on fairly regular intervals in our conversations,

as to, 'is there anything can be done in this case?'

As DNA techniques improve, the two forensic experts begin to wonder, if they might have a trump card.

There were over 50 preserved blood samples, from males, that had been taken in the early stages

of the investigation.

And the possibility now existed, that for a DNA profile existed,

that where a DNA profile from the semen swabs of Phyllis Murphy,

could be compared with the profile from these blood samples.

But to find a match between the semen and blood samples,

McArdle will have to have to deliver them in person,

to a specialist laboratory in England for examination.

#

I'm travelling through the airport, hopefully to solve a murder.

#

I hold onto this bag, my personal luggage,

at no stage did I allow that out of my reach or out of my hands.

But the first batch fails to produce a successful match.

He convinces his bosses to allow him bring a second batch over to the UK.

Then, he gets a call he'll never forget.

I was based in Carlingford area at Templetown Beach.

And I got a call from the forensic laboratory in the UK,

and they told me that they had identified a suspect from the last batch,

that I had delivered.

And they told me his name.

I asked him to spell his name and I wrote it down there and then.

John Crerar.

I was in shock.

This was the killer of Phyllis Murphy, after 20 years.

McArdle immediately contacts Operation Trace.

Brendan McArdle rang me,

and he said 'there's a hit on the Phyllis Murphy case.

Down here, he was one of about 40 or 50 people from whom blood samples were taken.

He lived in the locality.

Naturally we put his whole movements and everything that we could find out about him,

under a microscope, and examined his work records at the time.

But there's a problem.

Crerar has a cast iron alibi for the night Phyllis disappeared.

If the science contradicts alibi evidence,

when the alibi warrants further investigation by the Gardai.

During the initial investigation in 1980, a work colleague told Gardai,

that Crerar was at work with him on the evening Phyllis Murphy disappeared.

Armed with the new DNA evidence,

detectives revisit this alibi witness.

Alibis, they're as good as the weakest link.

It was a workmate, not knowing what he had done and not suspecting,

they probably thought maybe he had slipped off maybe for a few pints coming up to Christmas.

The man gave the alibi on the basis, he thought John would have lost the job.

And unfortunately for 20 years, that alibi stood firm.

With Crerar's alibi broken, the Operation Trace team,

moves quickly.

After he left his place of work,

he was stopped in his car and was arrested.

The one thing he did take with him, was a religious statuette,

and I saw John Crerar bless himself, and pray.

And I said to myself, 'that's a most unusual reaction for a man

'who's just been arrested for murder.'

After nearly a quarter of a century after he raped and strangled Phyllis Murphy,

John Crerar is tonight beginning a life sentence for her murder.

After a four week trial, and with his alibi broken,

in October 2002, John Crerar is found guilty.

Convicted by unanimous jury verdict,

he always denied the charge,

and called the compelling DNA evidence,

'absolutely impossible'.

For Phyllis Murphy's family,

the realisation she had been killed by someone known to her,

is shocking.

He was a local man,

lived in the town here.

We knew him, he knew the family.

Two of my sisters babysat for him.

John Crerar contradicts evidence...

Only for that man retracted his alibi,

that was the reason John was Crerar got.

He did the right thing.

Even after 20 years, it's important because, then the family can rest,

that they're not looking at everyone,

that they're not worrying, is it the person that's walking behind them going up to town.

Was it that person that killed their family?

After Crerar's arrest in 1999,

the disappearances stop.

Might he be the missing link Operation Trace is looking for?

On the face of it, Crerar would have to be a serious suspect.

He wasn't 100 miles away from what we had thought happened to our missing women.

Having said that, despite all the investigations that were done,

and all the background checks, and everything else,

we didn't acquire any evidence to connect Crerar.

While Crerar is in custody, two men out hunting,

stumble upon a terrifying scene.

What happens next raises even more questions for Tony Hickey and the Operation Trace team.

If Larry Murphy hadn't been caught attempting to kill that woman,

the Gardai would never know about him.

It's February 2000, and Operation Trace

has been up and running for almost 18 months.

John Crerar is tonight beginning a life sentence for murder.

Despite some early success assisting in the capture

of killer John Crerar, the team is unable to prove

any link between him

and the other missing women they're investigating.

Then, on a Friday evening in February 2000,

a woman leaving work in Carlow makes her way towards her car.

She heard somebody behind her, turned around, and it was a man...

..who punched her in the face, she fell backwards into her own car,

he pushed her into the foot well,

he got her out of the car, and into his boot.

He drove through Carlow Town with the radio blaring in his car,

to drown out any possible sound, or thoughts, or help.

She saw a child seat in the back of the car.

She saw, like this guy is a father probably. This guy has kids.

He told her, the circumstances of his own background,

married with children.

Why would he tell me those things if he's going to let me go?

He drove to a wooded area.

And then, having repeatedly raped her, he then took a plastic bag.

He tried to strangle her, he tried to kill her.

He tried to murder her.

At was at that stage then, when she was

half in and half out of the boot of his car,

that he was disturbed.

Two men out hunting in the woods

just happened upon this horrific scene.

The woman, terrified, actually tried to get away

from the people who were actually her rescuers.

They recognised the man who had done this to her.

They gave the Gardai the name Larry Murphy.

Larry of course, because of the modus operandi he used

in the abduction and assault,

became a person of interest to the Operation Trace investigation.

He ticked a lot of boxes for us, and we went back to school,

to work and all that, just to establish a picture of him

and see could we connect him to any of our missing persons.

Larry Murphy - he was a jobbing carpenter,

he lived in Baltinglass, he came from a local family there.

Was well known. He had a wife, two children,

and earned his living driving around Kildare, North Wicklow.

Larry would have known I'd say an awful lot of the area.

Spent a lot of time alone in the woods hunting, and...

a funny individual, to say the least.

He would have been considered to be totally antisocial.

If he went into a pub, he drank alone, and nobody mixed with him.

Nobody wanted to be party to him.

Larry attempted to remove himself from the suggestion

that he was somebody who stalked and targeted women.

He said it was a random act,

that he just happened to be in the car park at the time,

and just happened to see a lone female.

Now we would say that that's

totally at variance with the facts.

And we've no doubt that he had selected the victim with care.

He never had any criminal convictions.

If Larry Murphy hadn't been caught attempting to kill that woman,

the Gardai would never know about him.

Laurence Murphy aged 36 of Woodfield,

Baltinglass County Wicklow pleaded guilty

at the Central Criminal Court today to four charges

of raping a woman, and one charge

of attempted murder on February the 11th 2000.

Mr. Murphy collapsed in court

after he had pleaded guilty to the first four charges.

By the time Larry Murphy is jailed,

the Operation Trace team is unable to uncover

any connection between him and the other missing women.

But he remains a person of interest.

Well from our point of view, and again, it was quite close

to where we were operating from and it was in the region concerned.

More or less the centre of what had been called the triangle.

And Larry Murphy on the face of it,

no more than John Crerar at the time,

and Larry Murphy from our point of view,

you had to look at both of them seriously because of what they had done.

And what they were capable of.

And their modus operandi.

There's no obvious link and you're saying to yourself,

he ticks a lot of boxes. So he was a person of interest.

By this time, Operation Trace has added the disappearance

of another young woman - 22 year old Imelda Keenan - to its list.

Waterford City Centre, 1994.

The last time Imelda Keenan was seen was on Lombard Street,

close to her William Street flat.

Usually I'm out walking,

and I meet a terrible lot of people coming at me.

Looking at me. And I do be thinking deep down,

"That's someone that knows something.

Is that the person I'm looking for?"

Detectives hope the can establish potential links between the disappearance,

and the other cases they are investigating.

Reviewing the file, Alan Bailey is surprised to learn how her case has been categorised.

It was categorised as a possible suicide.

That left the door open that it may not have been,

but I'd be afraid a category like that

could colour the approach to it.

But this comes as news to the Keenan family.

They say they were not aware of this approach to the case

until now.

It leaves them wondering if vital clues may have been missed

because the case was not immediately investigated as a possible murder.

Imelda would never ever think of suicide.

I don't think Imelda would ever consider that.

It is only now after 29 years that Gerry is able to acknowledge publicly for the first time

that he believes his sister met a violent death.

Deep down,

in me own heart, I think that Imelda was murdered in Waterford.

I think Imelda...

knew her murderer.

The Keenan family are now looking for answers from the Gardai.

They are also requesting that Imelda's case

be upgraded to a full murder inquiry.

Is this a missing case, or is it a murder case?

After 29 years, this has to be a murder case.

We want the Gardai to look into it more for us.

Give us peace.

I always believed that there is two or three people here

in Waterford City holding back vital information.

We want someone to come forward.

Please, and just take us out of this pain.

By 2001, the Operation Trace team can find no links between

Imelda Keenan's disappearance,

and the other missing women cases.

Despite the Keenan family's questions and concerns,

An Garda Siochana's response is that the case remains listed as a missing person investigation.

The formal Operation Trace lasted for almost three years.

And then t'was wound down because

we felt we couldn't go any further than we had gone.

We didn't establish any link between all the cases.

We believe that certainly three,

there are what would consider good suspects.

The three cases that we are satisfied

that the perpetrator was known to the victim,

were the disappearance of Fiona Sinnott...

News report: Fiona went out socialising with friends

in a pub in County Wexford.

Anyone that knows anything, please come forward.

It's a long time now.

Do you think there are people out there that do know?

Both: Yep.

..Ciara Breen...

17 year old Ciara Breen went missing from her home in Dundalk.

I feel in my heart you will come forward.

..and Fiona Pender.

Fiona Pender was last seen in her home in Tullamore on the 23rd of August.

Fiona was my baby.

And I need to find her.

And... she was going to have her own baby as well.

And just, no one needs to find her more than I do.

Operation Trace identifies chief suspects in these three missing cases.

But when the team disbands in 2001,

nobody is charged. In part because the suspects have strong alibis.

There's insufficient evidence to bring it to successful prosecution.

And simple things like, we had no body, so we had no proof of death.

The persons whom had been suspected of involvement had cast iron alibis.

News report: A serious crime review team,

or a so-called cold case unit has been set up.

After Operation Trace winds down,

a new serious crime review team, or cold case unit,

is established to investigate unsolved crimes.

The cases of Fiona Sinnott and Fiona Pender are upgraded to murder,

and suspects arrested.

19 years old, Fiona Sinnott... ..five people were arrested under...

But no charges are brought.

Their alibis stand firm.

..two men were released.

..Ciara Breen, who was just 17 years...

..the man was arrested around eight o'clock

this morning in the Dundalk area...

The chief suspect in the case of Ciara Breen died in 2017.

But three other cases remain where Gardai can't rule out possible links.

The three cases are that of Annie McCarrick,

Jo Jo Dullard,

and Deirdre Jacob.

Today Larry Murphy walked free after...

Larry Murphy was released from prison in 2010,

having served two thirds of a 15 year sentence.

..but Murphy did not participate in any of the treatment

provided for sex offenders in prison.

In the years that follow, Gardai continue to treat him

as a person of interest in these three cases.

One of the few people who spoke directly to Larry Murphy

about the missing cases is his brother Tom.

I asked him had anything to do with the missing women.

I wasn't happy with his answers.

The American student Annie McCarrick

disappeared... JoJo Dullard...

She may have got to Enniskerry, and today

they carried out... The disappearance remains

a mystery...Now Gardai believe Deirdre Jacob was killed

the day of her disappearance...

Gardai cannot rule out links between the disappearances

of three young women, Deirdre Jacob, Jo Jo Dullard,

and Annie McCarrick.

In 2016, the Garda cold case unit completes a review

of the Deirdre Jacob case,

and makes recommendations to Kildare Gardai.

The family of Deirdre Jacob

have welcomed today's development in which Gardai have...

In August 2018,

Gardai reclassified the missing case of Deirdre Jacob

to a full murder inquiry.

Well, it does change everything.

Because we've always had hope that

Deirdre would come back, and that we would see her again,

and all that, and... it has changed all that.

And it's very difficult to hear that.

We will always have, eh, a lot of questions to ask,

you know, eh, what happened to Deirdre, why did it happen,

you know, and all that.

So we're never going to get closure on that,

but we will know... eh, somewhat more,

of... of what happened, and that's... that's what we're...

we're striving for.

The upgrade is on foot of what officers call

"substantial and significant new information."

The upgrade meant that a team of detectives

just pored over the whole file,

everything that was in it,

you know, reappraising witness statement, the evidence,

all of the CCTV footage that was taken...

Larry Murphy was the subject of an investigation

into Deirdre Jacob's murder.

In 2011, shortly before I was due to retire

from the Garda Siochana, at a stage when I was in the cold case unit,

I was directed to go to Midlands Prison

to speak to a prisoner there, who wanted to talk to the Gardai.

Myself and another Guard went to the prison,

where we met a prisoner who told us that, in his cell,

Larry Murphy admitted to him that he had abducted and killed...

eh, Deirdre Jacob.

He said that she was standing on the side of the road,

he struck her, dragged her into his car,

drove away, and then killed her

after that.

He actually made a written statement

containing that allegation.

Whilst I can never say for definite that

he's telling the truth, I can say

that he presented it all to us

as genuine and believable, what he's telling us.

If you look at it, everyone says that he'd quite a lot to lose,

because if the word got out in the prison that he was an informer,

and he's wearing an informer's jacket,

he's going to have a hard time of it in the prison.

But this prisoner's statement on its own

is unlikely to be enough to convince the Director of Public Prosecutions

to charge Larry Murphy.

Detectives believe they need more.

The Jacob family have spent 20 years

hoping for a breakthrough.

Using new techniques, they enhanced CCTV footage

which identifies a man resembling Larry Murphy

in Newbridge Post Office around the time that Deirdre Jacob was there.

Gardai now intend to revisit each witness

and aspect of the investigation.

Then, in 2019, a witness comes forward

with significant new information.

This witness was driving a Jeep on the day that Deirdre disappeared,

around 2.30, 3-ish, that sort of time,

and this witness told Gardai that he was driving along,

towards Newbridge, a car was coming towards him,

and from his position in the Jeep, slightly higher up,

he saw a person, eh, in the footwell of the passenger...

eh, seat... eh, kind of half in the footwell,

em, and this person was either laughing or crying.

So Gardai now have three key pieces of evidence,

they have the CCTV footage,

they have the prisoner, and they have the Jeep driver.

Investigators are confident that they now have enough evidence

for a prosecution.

The file that went to the DPP was the first file to go to the DPP

on Larry Murphy, in relation to any of the missing women.

But after reviewing the evidence,

in July 2022, the Director of Public Prosecutions

decides not to charge Larry Murphy.

I'm disappointed with...

that the DPP decided not to prosecute Larry

for the abduction and murder of Deirdre Jacob.

But at a... at a level, as an investigator,

knowing what's required in a court of law,

I'm... I suppose I wasn't that surprised.

Gardai still regard Larry Murphy as a strong suspect

and they're continuing to investigate him.

Larry Murphy's estranged brother Tom

is not surprised that Larry is a person of interest to the Gardai.

He is shocked by his brother's previous conviction

for abduction, rape and attempted murder.

It seems like something

that was well practised.

And he had done it before.

He was working in Swift's pub in Newbridge

when Deirdre Jacob went missing.

He lived about two mile from Moone,

where Jo Jo Dullard went missing,

and I'm suspicious of it.

25 years after Jo Jo Dullard

disappeared without a trace,

the Gardai today announced they had officially upgraded the case

to a murder investigation.

We have known in our hearts and have accepted

that Jo Jo is not alive.

And... we are hopeful

that the team will be able to move this case along further,

and maybe, please God,

find answers to our questions.

Josephine Dullard is now six days missing.

From early morning, Gardai were active throughout three counties.

Jo Jo Dullard, she was last seen in Moone,

in a phone box, she was ringing her friend

and she cut short the phone call, telling her friend

"Oh, I've just got a lift,"

so... the assumption was that she got into a car with somebody...

The massive search got underway...

The person who gave her a lift has never been traced,

and Jo Jo was never seen again.

What changed then, though,

was that Larry Murphy was now a suspect for the murder

of Deirdre Jacob, which was a few kilometres down the road

from where JoJo Dullard was last seen as well.

Today, Larry Murphy's name remains on the Garda file

as one of a number of persons of interest

in the Jo Jo Dullard case.

He... is now a free man.

Larry Murphy has never been charged, so

he can never be compelled to talk to Gardai.

The evidence against him is circumstantial,

it's not hard evidence enough to get a prosecution.

Last time I saw Larry was in 2005, in Arbour Hill prison.

I asked him... had he anything to do with

the missing women.

I wasn't happy with his answers...

I wasn't at all happy with them.

I didn't get any answers.

I NEVER want to see him again.

I can't begin to comprehend the suffering

these families are going through.

They get up in the morning

to a house...

their daughter's not there.

They're sitting watching the front door to open for her to walk in.

I have a daughter meself.

I can't begin... to imagine what it's like.

I just can't.

To date, Gardai have no evidence to link Larry Murphy

with the disappearance and murder of Jo Jo Dullard.

The new lines of enquiry

prompted by the upgrade of the Dullard and Jacob cases

to full murder investigations

leave Annie McCarrick's family hopeful.

This morning I'm making a public appeal for information.

I want to speak to any person who had any interaction

with Annie McCarrick on the 26th of March 1993...

In March of this year,

two days before the 30th anniversary

of Annie's disappearance,

the Garda Commissioner agrees to Nancy McCarrick's written request

for an upgrade to the case.

There is a person, or persons, who have information,

who haven't yet spoken to Gardai.

It now has all the resources and powers of a full murder inquiry.

Our great hope at this point in time

that it... it might shine a new light,

you never know, it might prompt someone

to come forward after all these years.

Gardai cannot rule out a possible link

between the cases of Annie McCarrick, Jo Jo Dullard

and Deirdre Jacob.

But they need evidence to connect them.

An international group of scientists,

working on their own initiative,

believe they may be able to help.

It has all the hallmarks,

all the earmarks of a serial killer.

I mean, whoever did this

planned it well, organised it well,

executed it well...

If there's no evidence left behind,

this person took great pains to, uh,

to... to set this whole thing up.

Ken Strange is a former FBI agent

and friend of the McCarrick family.

Uh, Nancy, I wanna introduce you to some of the...

uh, most wonderful people in the world,

they've come out today from far and wide...

I've hitched my wagon to this group of scientists,

we had, um, two college professors,

one was a geophysicist, the other was an expert in taphonomy,

and then, uh, we had a... a world famous

cadaver dog handler, as part of the group.

Based on years of independent research

into the vanishing triangle,

this group has identified a site in County Wicklow

which they say has a hidden underground chamber.

They believe this could be the burial place

for the missing women.

They are seeking the help of the Gardai to search the site.

An Garda Siochana says

it does not comment in advance on specific sites

that may or may not be the subject of forensic search

as part of ongoing investigations.

The Gardai, they're not turning over stones

when they don't need to... to do that,

and that's... that's fine.

But the other thing, and this worries me a little bit, is...

are they employing other tools, forensic tools,

scientific tools, without direct evidence?

Such as a ground radar,

to search for bodies, drones...

Are they enlisting subject matter experts from other countries?

Other police forces, such as the FBI?

There isn't a real thing called a vanishing triangle

into which women step, and some of them will disappear

and vanish without trace.

But what is very real is that women vanished without trace

and their bodies have never been found.

This is quite extraordinary.

I've two words, that I've been using over and over again,

and that's "someone knows".

Someone knows something. Mm.

I don't really want justice,

I want to put her into a grave,

into a final place.

For three decades now,

families of the missing women lost within a murder triangle

have tirelessly appealed for information.

Jo Jo was 21 when she was... We are very concerned about JoJo.

Please let her go!

Fiona Pender was last seen... Fiona was my baby.

And I need to find her.

They believe that someone out there is hiding the truth,

allowing a killer to walk free.

Fiona Sinnott disappeared... Somebody knows where Fiona is.

But we don't.

And 17-year-old Ciara Breen... But if she is lying out there,

please don't leave her lying out there on her own!

Deirdre Jacob was last seen... There is at least one person

who knows what happened to Deirdre and where she is,

and we're begging and asking people out there to help us.

The families have fought tooth and nail

to have it highlighted, to have it investigated,

and I'd say "Don't stop."

Alibis given through loyalty, friendship, fear...

that over the period, over the passage of time,

that all those things change,

and appear... I might be afraid of you today, maybe...

a few year's time, you're not the threat I thought you were,

or maybe you're not the lover I thought you were.

And these loyalties do change.

She happened to have a copy of "The Desiderata"

in her Filofax.

It was something that meant a great deal to her...

certainly for her to carry it with her,

along with her passport, and a few pounds...

"Go placidly amid the noise and haste

"and remember what peace there may be in silence.

"As far as possible, without surrender,

"be on good terms with all persons.

"Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,

"even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.

"You are a child of the universe

"no less than the trees and the stars;

"you have a right to be here.

"And whether or not it is clear to you,

"no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

"Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.

"And whatever your labours and aspirations,

"in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,

"it is still a beautiful world.

"Be careful. Strive to be happy."

That's it.

Mm.

"On the Nature of Daylight"