{"id":510015,"date":"2026-06-20T18:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/510015\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T18:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T18:47:16","slug":"harrowing-last-message-for-mum-left-by-teen-dismembered-in-drogheda-gangland-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/510015\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrowing last message for mum left by teen dismembered in Drogheda gangland killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Keane Mulready-Woods, 17, sent a final text to his mother before he was abducted and killed in a gangland murder in Drogheda, Co. Louth\"Keane<\/p>\n

Keane Mulready-Woods was just 17 when he was killed<\/p>\n

A 17-year-old who was kidnapped and subjected to a horrific dismemberment sent a chilling final text message to his mother before his savage gangland killing.<\/p>\n

The shocking murder of Keane Mulready-Woods in 2020 sent shockwaves across Ireland, leaving the entire country stunned. The teenager, who had become embroiled in a drugs turf war in Drogheda, was lured to a property on January 12 where he endured horrific torture before being decapitated.<\/p>\n

His severed limbs were thrown from a moving vehicle in a sports bag onto a pavement in Moatview. Several days later, his head, hands and feet were discovered in a burnt-out car in Dublin.<\/p>\n

Keane’s murder triggered a wave of retaliatory attacks, which ultimately led to the death of prime suspect Robbie Lawlor, who was shot dead while pursuing a drugs debt.<\/p>\n

Prior to his disappearance, Keane had been in contact with his mother, letting her know he would be home late and asking her to leave taxi fare out for him.<\/p>\n

\"Keane<\/p>\n

Keane Mulready-Woods was in contact with his mother before his harrowing death<\/p>\n

Keane, who had become involved in running drugs for a local criminal gang, was under strict orders to return before dark and had been adhering to these rules, according to the Irish Independent.<\/p>\n

At the time of his death, he was out on licence following a conviction for intimidating a local mother over her child’s drugs debts owed to the gang.<\/p>\n

It is thought that Lawlor murdered Keane because he suspected the teenager had played a role in the fatal shooting of his brother-in-law Richie Carberry at his home in November 2019.<\/p>\n

Garda\u00ed believe Lawlor escalated to torturing the teenager, despite initially claiming he would simply carry out a “punishment beating” over a minor drugs debt.<\/p>\n

A source said: “Lawlor was obsessed with Mulready-Woods and was determined to take his life because he was convinced he played a major role in Carberry’s death.<\/p>\n

\"Keane<\/p>\n

Keane was dismembered(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

“He took his propensity for violence to another level when he dismembered the teenager’s remains and then taunted his enemies about it.”<\/p>\n

The ruthless 36-year-old had been connected to several killings and racked up hundreds of criminal convictions prior to his fatal shooting.<\/p>\n

Last December, he walked free from court after being cleared of attempting to murder the mother of his former partner’s new boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Just weeks after his acquittal on the attempted murder charge, he was attacked outside a gym by an associate of one of his alleged murder victims.<\/p>\n

Lawlor’s gym belongings were seized and his rivals posted photographs of themselves sporting his flip-flops.<\/p>\n

\"Robbie<\/p>\n

Robbie Lawlor(Image: Handout)<\/p>\n

It is widely understood that Keane was present during the assault \u2013 and an enraged Lawlor allegedly swore revenge.<\/p>\n

Among the images circulated following Keane’s murder was one bearing the chilling caption: “Won’t be robbing a man’s flip-flops again.”<\/p>\n

In February 2023, local criminal Paul Crosby was handed a 10-year prison sentence for his role in Keane’s murder, while his associate Gerard “Rocky” Cruise received seven years behind bars.<\/p>\n

A third man, Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna, admitted to cleaning up and disposing of evidence from the scene.<\/p>\n

In a harrowing victim impact statement read out on behalf of Keane’s devastated mother Elizabeth, she said: “No one could imagine the darkness and sadistic evil in our country I can hear him calling ‘Mam, Mam’ – and the haunting nightmares live forever with us. To lose my child, my son, my baby in a most inhumane, barbaric death is shocking,” adding that a piece of her died as well. “I couldn’t protect him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT Keane Mulready-Woods, 17, sent a final text to his mother before he was abducted and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,21556,43],"class_list":["post-510015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-murder","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}