As convicted rapist Larry Murphy, the so-called Beast of Baltinglass, continues to live abroad under a new identity, a forensic scientist-turned amateur sleuth claims new information has emerged that could finally expose the truth behind one of Ireland’s most enduring mysteries, and perhaps bring closure to families who have waited decades for answers.
This month marks 27 years since 18-year-old Deirdre Jacob vanished outside her home in Newbridge, Co. Kildare in July 1998.
She was the last of several women who went missing in the 1990s in an area dubbed the ‘Vanishing Triangle’.
Larry Murphy has been living abroad and working as a handyman following his 10-year sentence for rape in this country
In 2000, Larry Murphy was arrested and imprisoned for the abduction and rape of a young Carlow woman.
The timing led both gardaí and the media to speculate whether Murphy could be linked to the disappearances.
While other suspects have emerged in the cases of missing women including Jo Jo Dullard and Annie McCarrick, Murphy was investigated in relation to Deirdre Jacob whose disappearance was upgraded to a murder inquiry in 2018.
However in 2022, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that there was not enough evidence to charge Murphy and no remains have ever been found.
Respected
Now, a respected forensic expert says that he believes it may be because Gardaí simply aren’t looking where the should be.
David Kenny, a Frankfurt-based, and now retired, forensic scientist, has spent the past 15 years independently investigating Murphy’s movements, and a potential crime scene.
What he uncovered, he claims, is staggering: a remote woodland location, just 3.5km from Murphy’s former home, where seven different cadaver dogs, trained by three separate agencies, have all independently indicated the presence of human remains.
Historical records point to a “cave”, more likely an ancient souterrain, beneath the area. Ground-penetrating radar could confirm it within hours, he claims. But gardaí, he says, won’t take the next step.
Larry Murphy has long been linked to the disappearance of Deirdre Jacob (below)
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“This isn’t random speculation. These are consistent, repeated forensic indications that human remains may be present,” Kenny told the Sunday World.
“But despite all that, no formal garda search has ever been carried out.
“We reported the findings. We gave them everything. But we got nothing back. They’ve not even scanned the site,” he said.
“In the grand scheme of things this is a small ask, yet one which An Garda Síochána seem to think not worth the effort. Why, seems like an obvious question – with no obvious answers?”
Kenny began his work in 2010, examining the landscape around the uninhabited woodland near Kilranelagh, just over 1,600 metres from the remote location where Murphy was interrupted by two hunters during the 2000 rape and attempted murder of a woman he had abducted in Co Carlow.
He drove her to Co Kildare where he raped her before later bringing her to the Wicklow mountains where raped her again and tried to kill her.
Murphy had driven her approximately 40 kilometres before stopping, leading Kenny to question whether the area had been chosen deliberately.
Larry Murphy leaves the Central Criminal Court in 2001
“It seemed reasonable that the destination was not chosen at random,” Kenny said. “Put simply, the possibility of an intended disposal site being nearby could not be ignored, though this appears to have been entirely overlooked.”
Historical
In 2017, Kenny discovered two historical documents from the 1930s referencing a “cave” located just yards from Boleycarrigeen Stone Circle, near Kilranelagh.
The area is secluded, forested, and within 3.5km of Murphy’s home at the time of his arrest, and where he had hunting rights.
“Most likely this ‘cave’ is a reference to a souterrain,” Kenny explained. “It’s not a tomb, it’s a man-made underground storage chamber used for centuries across Ireland. Thousands exist. But this one sits directly beside where multiple dogs have now indicated.”
In 2021, Kenny assembled a professional team, including a retired FBI agent, a geophysicist, a university expert in clandestine burials, and internationally renowned search dog handler Dr Neil Powell. Despite harsh weather, Powell’s dog gave a positive indication at the exact spot near the stone circle.
The search team in 2021
Kenny reported the result to gardaí expecting they would seize the opportunity to search.
But nothing happened.
Since then, three additional dogs trained by Carlow handler Paul Murphy, followed by two more from a third team, all independently indicated the same site.
That makes seven dogs from three expert teams, all marking one secluded area without prior exposure, and without knowledge of each other’s results.
“You don’t get that kind of convergence unless something is really there,” Kenny said.
Unforgivable
This, Kenny argues, is what makes the inaction so unforgivable.
“Many of the official searches we’ve seen over the years have been extremely costly, often destructive of private land and often based on nothing more than hearsay,” he said.
“But here, you have specific forensic indications. Multiple, repeatable, credible signals. And still, no one acts.”
He believes the entrance to the underground structure, whatever it is, has been deliberately blocked, but could be exposed with minimal effort.
“Opening it would simply mean removing whatever material has been used to block the access point.” he said. “Why gardaí refuse to do so is, frankly, baffling.”
For the families of the missing women, they have endured a long history of unanswered questions. And for Kenny, it’s become a personal mission.
He is now speaking out publicly in the hope of putting pressure on authorities to act, before it’s too late. The longer this is ignored, the harder it becomes to retrieve what might be left.
Murphy served ten years for his 2000 conviction. .
Murder suspect Larry Murphy
News in 90 Seconds – Tuesday, July 29