A search for the remains of Deirdre Jacob and Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard, who both disappeared without trace in the 1990s, has begun based on information received by the Garda and which they believe is linked to rapist Larry Murphy.
The Wicklow man has long been regarded as the chief suspect for the murder of Deirdre Jacob, though not for Jo Jo Dullard, with another man questioned in 2024 about her killing.
While the excavation now taking place in Co Wicklow is effectively a search for the remains of either woman, or other evidence, gardaí are not linking their murders.
Instead, information has been received by the Garda alleging something was buried on the lands at a disused quarry near the Wicklow-Kildare boundary. The area is about 9km from Murphy’s former home and gardaí are treating him as the person suspected of carrying out the alleged burial.
Larry Murphy leaving Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin in 2010. Photograph: Alan Betson
However, the information dates back to claimed events at the quarry three decades ago. And while gardaí investigating the assumed murders of both women are keen the allegations are thoroughly investigated, the accuracy of the claims remains unknown.
The scene at Castleruddery Upper, Co Wicklow, was sealed off on Monday as a Garda search team carried out its work. A mechanical excavator was used to shift large mounds of earth.
In the Deirdre Jacob murder investigation, a file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2021, with Murphy as chief suspect, but no charges were directed.
In November 2024, lands were searched near Grangecon, Co Wicklow, for Jo Jo Dullard’s remains, though nothing was found. A man arrested at the time was released without charge.
In 2018, gardaí travelled to the UK to interview Murphy (60), who did not substantively engage with them.
Gardaí searching an area in a quarry in Castleruddery Upper, Co Wicklow, on Monday. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins
Originally from Baltinglass, he was released from prison in 2010 having served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for the kidnapping, rape and attempted murder of a woman in the Wicklow Mountains in 2001.
Jo Jo Dullard (21) was last seen on November 9th, 1995, while on her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny after socialising in Bruxelles bar off Dublin’s Grafton Street.
She called a friend from a phone box in Moone, Co Kildare, at 11.37pm, telling her a driver had stopped and she was going to take a lift. She was never seen again.
Deirdre Jacob was aged 18 years when she disappeared shortly after 3pm on July 28th, 1998, near her family home at Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare. She had walked into Newbridge town to organise a rent deposit for her second college year in London, where she was studying to be a teacher. Gardaí believe was abducted from the roadside close to her home.
“An Garda Síochána continue to keep an open mind into these investigations and follow up any information which is brought to the investigation team based at the Serious Crime Review Team,” Garda Headquarters said of the search operation.
It added both families were “fully appraised” of the development.