Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle

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“Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle” refers to a geographic area surrounding Dublin, in eastern Ireland, where a number of women have been abducted, raped, and murdered. Many of these are missing persons cases that remain unsolved thirty or so years later. Who are they, how are they connected, and who might be responsible?

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Location

These cases cover multiple counties in Ireland, as far north as Dublin, as far south as Wexford, and as far west as Laois and Offaly. The small tri-county area of Dublin, Kildare, and Wicklow are a particular hotspot, with the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains playing a major role as well. This is the eastern, midland, and coastal area surrounding Dublin, Ireland’s capital. It’s a densely populated area set against the country’s famously gorgeous landscapes, but in the 1980s and 1990s, it may have also been a hunting ground for serial predators.  

The Vanishing Triangle

The number of missing persons cases associated with Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle depends on who you ask. The gardai’s special task force, Operation TRACE, investigated six cases they believed to be connected. Individual garda have added to that list or narrowed their focus even further. 

Based on the areas where these women were last seen and the circumstances surrounding their disappearances, there are at least 13 cases with strong enough links to review as a whole. Of these, four of the missing have been found, two cases were solved, four involve a suspect known to the victim, and seven are more likely the work of a serial suspect(s). 

Those seven potentially serial cases span from 1987 through 1998, with the disappearances occurring in the winter months or July. Today we’ll look at two men who have been linked by gardai to several of these unsolved cases. One of the men is serving life in prison for rape and murder, and the other was released after serving 10 years for rape and attempted murder. 

The missing are all young women, aged 17 to 39, who vanished in public or after some type of activity in public, like shopping, running errands, or traveling, as if their abductor had been lying in wait. Several victims had been seen leaving, approaching, or just arriving home before they disappeared. Victims whose bodies were discovered, usually in a remote area, showed signs of sexual assault and/or death by strangulation.  

Operation TRACE

After 18-year-old Deirdre Jacob’s disappearance in the summer of 1998, gardai established Operation TRACE (Trace Review And Collate Evidence) to address the influx of missing young women’s cases they were investigating. Deirdre was a receptionist living and going to school in London to be a teacher. On Tuesday, July 28, she was back home visiting her parents in Newbridge Co. Kildare and had spent the afternoon running errands. A neighbor remembered seeing Deirdre crossing the street to her parents’ home at about 3:30 pm, but she never made it, and no one saw her again. 

Something similar had happened to 26-year-old Annie McCarrick back in early 1993, and that’s why her case would be the oldest one Operation TRACE would include. Annie was an American who studied in Ireland and recently decided to live there permanently. On Friday, March 23, Annie, like Deirdre, had spent her afternoon running errands. Annie’s last confirmed sighting was on an Enniskerry Co. Wicklow post office’s surveillance footage, but she left perishable groceries on the counter of her Sandymount Co. Dublin apartment, and some witness accounts have her traveling to a solo hike and to a bar later that night. Despite extensive investigation and attention, owing partly to the fact that Annie’s father was a retired New York State police officer, Annie has never been seen again. 

Then there’s 21-year-old Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard. On Thursday, November 9, 1995, Jo Jo, who lived in Harold’s Cross Co. Dublin and worked at a pub, decided to go out with friends. Either a bad friend or unfortunate decision left Jo Jo stranded without a place to stay after public transportation was finished for the night, so she began hitching rides. At about 11:30 pm, Jo Jo called her friend from a phone booth in Moone Co. Kildare. She interrupted the phone call to let her friend know she had found a ride, and no one has heard from her since. Unverified witness sightings place Jo Jo in Castledermot later that night. 

Suspect known to victim

Operation TRACE investigated three more cases that bear similarities to Deirdre Jacob, Annie McCarrick, and Jo Jo Dullard’s disappearances. However, gardai who worked on the special task force believe these cases are less likely the work of a serial predator because there is a strong suspect in each case known to the victim. 

One of those cases is 25-year-old Fiona Pender, a hairdresser, model, and expectant mother. Fiona was seven months pregnant and had gone shopping with her mother on Thursday, August 22, 1996. She left her mother’s place in Tullamore Co. Offaly around 7:00 pm to return home, and that’s the last her family would see her. 

Fiona’s boyfriend, John Thompson, was arrested in 1997, along with his sister and father, and questioned about Fiona’s disappearance. John says he saw Fiona at 6:00 am the next morning when he left their shared home in Tullamore for work. Some describe John as a sexually violent man, and he may be linked to a 2015 Canadian case in which a man was accused (but found not guilty of) sexually assaulting his wife. In the trial, the unnamed man’s wife claims her husband confessed to murdering his ex-girlfriend back in Ireland, presumably Fiona.

Then there’s another Fiona, 19-year-old single mother Fiona Sinnott. Fiona had moved out of her family home when she was just 15 to be with a boyfriend more than 10 years her senior. Hospital records show that Fiona suffered extreme and frequent domestic violence at her older partner’s hands. But by early 1998, Fiona was able to leave with her 11-month-old daughter to Rosslare Co. Wexford, and on Sunday, February 8, 1998, she was enjoying a rare night out. She was last seen at a pub in Broadway Co. Wexford around midnight. 

Unfortunately, Fiona encountered her ex that night, 30-year-old Sean Carroll. Sean says he and Fiona rekindled their romance, and she asked him to walk her home. Sean says Fiona said she wasn’t feeling well and went to bed while he slept on the couch. His mother picked him up the next morning at about 9:30 am. Fiona still wasn’t feeling well and planned to go to the doctor’s, but declined a ride. There are no records of her seeking medical treatment. No one has seen or heard from Fiona since, and Sean’s family has fought to maintain custody of Fiona and Sean’s baby – to this day, Fiona’s family has not been able to contact her. 

The last case within Operation TRACE’s investigation is that of 17-year-old Ciara Breen. Ciara had a history of sneaking out, and that was her mother’s initial explanation. Ciara’s mother awoke around 1:00 am on Thursday, February 13, 1997, to find Ciara gone from their Dundalk Co. Louth home. Ciara’s bedroom window was open. 

Gardai had a working theory that Ciara left to meet up with an older man that night and were aware of some local pedophiles who might be suspects. In 2017, they arrested Liam Mullen based on his connections to Ciara and that pedophile angle, but Mullen died of an overdose before gardai could question him. Her case remains unsolved. 

Imelda Keenan’s case is often listed as part of Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle, although Operation TRACE didn’t include her in their investigation. Like Fiona Pender, Fiona Sinnott, and Ciara Breen, gardai suspect that someone known to the 22-year-old computing student is likely responsible for whatever happened to her. 

At about 1:00 pm on Thursday, January 3, 1994, Mark Wall, Imelda’s fiancé, says Imelda left their shared apartment in Waterford City Co. Waterford. Mark said she was going to the post office, but it was closed for the holidays. An unconfirmed witness sighting has Imelda crossing a nearby road a half hour later. Imelda’s handbag and glasses were still at her apartment.  

Potential serial suspect(s)

While the unsolved cases of Imelda Keenan, Ciara Breen, Fiona Sinnott, and Fiona Pender all have individual primary suspects, someone personally known to each woman, we shouldn’t dismiss the possibility that one or more could be the victim of a serial predator. It’s more likely that a serial predator abducted Jo Jo Dullard, Annie McCarrick, and Deirdre Jacob, but that’s not necessarily the case, and there could be more than one suspect operating in the area at the time. The type of offender who abducts a young woman and makes her disappear for decades usually doesn’t do it only once, and there are still more cases that fall within Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle to cover.

Thirty-nine-year-old Eva Brennan disappeared just four months after Annie McCarrick, although her case garnered considerably less attention than Annie’s. At about 1:00 pm on a Sunday, July 25, 1994, Eva’s parents watched her leave their Rathgar Co. Dublin home on her way to her place. Two days later, unable to reach his daughter, Eva’s father broke into her apartment. He didn’t find Eva, but the coat she had worn to their home was there. 

When Eva’s family reported her missing, they felt gardai were convinced that Eva, despite being a devout Catholic, had killed herself. They never found her body, a suicide note, or any other evidence indicating what happened to Eva. They weren’t the only family to feel dismissed early on, and the lack of investigative effort in the early stages meant that critical physical and witness evidence would never be collected. 

Yet another woman went missing in 1993: 35-year-old Marie Kilmartin. Marie’s coworkers dropped her off at her Beladd Co. Laois home after a Christmas party at about 4:00 pm on Thursday, December 16. They watched her walk in the door before driving away. When Marie’s roommate arrived home around 6:00 pm, Marie was gone. 

A local garda discovered Marie’s body on June 10, 1994, just five months after Imelda Keenan disappeared, in a bog about 16 kilometers (or 10 miles) from her home. Whoever put Marie in the bog was unsuccessful in weighing her down and hiding the entrance to the bog, allowing her to be discovered and leading gardai to believe her killer was local. Marie had been strangled, but her body was too decomposed to determine much else. Multiple suspects have been arrested, but no one has ever been charged with her murder. 

On Monday, December 23, 1991, just a little over a year before Annie McCarrick vanished, 34-year-old Patricia Doherty said goodbye to her family at about 9:00 pm before going out to buy Christmas presents for her two children in South Dublin. They would never see her alive again. Unconfirmed witness sightings place Patricia at the shopping center she planned to visit. 

A man cutting turf in the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains would find Patricia’s remains the following summer, on June 21, 1992. Patricia had been strangled and was still dressed in the clothing she wore Christmas shopping. She had worked as a prison guard, and gardai heavily investigated that angle but have never arrested any suspects. 

Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle goes back to the late 1980s with the case of another mother-of-two, 27-year-old Antoinette Smith, who disappeared while trying to make her way home from a club. She had gone to the club after enjoying a David Bowie concert. Antoinette’s friends last saw her at about 2:30 am on Saturday, July 11, 1987, walking toward the O’Connell Bridge in Dublin. 

A young family discovered Antoinette’s remains while walking in the Dublin/Wicklow Mountains on April 3, 1988. She was still wearing a t-shirt she bought at the concert and had died of asphyxiation. Several witnesses came forward with unconfirmed sightings after her case made national news, but gardai has never made any arrests.   

Phyllis Murphy

Phyllis Murphy went missing in 1979, much earlier than some of these other women, but the circumstances of her disappearance link her to Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle. The recent Maru inar Measc documentary appears to link Phyllis and her killer to other Triangle cases. A suspect was convicted in her case, but not until July 1999, a year after the last woman, Deirdre Jacob, vanished. 

Twenty-three-year-old Philomena “Phyllis” Murphy was last seen between 6:30 and 6:45 pm on Saturday, December 22, 1979 while she waited for a bus in Newbridge Co. Kildare. Newbridge is the same area where Deirdre Jacob disappeared in 1998 walking toward her parents’ home. Phyllis had been shopping for Christmas presents, getting her hair done, and visiting with friends that afternoon and was taking the bus back to her family home. 

Phyllis’s body was discovered covered with brush near a power station in the Wicklow Mountains a month later, January 18, 1980. The cold weather preserved forensic evidence and DNA, the latter of which would be retested in 1998 and lead to a conviction. Phyllis had been strangled, and her body showed signs of sexual assault and significant defensive wounds. 

Gardai questioned John Crerar, a sergeant in the Defence Forces who left in 1979 and was working security at the Black & Decker factory in Kildare when Phyllis went missing. After DNA analysis linked John to Phyllis’s murder, the coworker who had provided John an alibi early on told investigators he had lied. The coworker knew John had left work that night but was worried about John losing his job and didn’t think he could have killed Phyllis. With the DNA match and without an alibi, John was convicted of Phyllis’s rape and murder in November 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.

When John Crerar became a suspect in Phyllis Murphy’s unsolved homicide, gardai quickly began investigating his potential connections to other local cold cases. “I don’t believe he did it once and then stopped,” one detective inspector commented at the time. John was 31 years old and a married father of five when he abducted Phyllis Murphy from a bus stop. He would have been 39 years old when Antoinette Smith went missing in 1987, and 50 when Deirdre Jacob disappeared in 1998. 

The 2003 book Frozen Blood by Michael Sheridan asserts that there are links between John Crerar and another convicted rapist, Larry Murphy. Sheridan’s sources connect both men to unsolved cases within Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle and potentially to each other. If nothing else, it’s hard to ignore the similarities between the nature of their known crimes and the close proximity in which they lived and operated around the same time period. Larry Murphy would have been 21 in 1987 when Antoinette Smith disappeared and 32 in 1998 when Deirdre Jacob vanished. 

Unnamed Victim

Larry Murphy was a married father of two when he abducted an unnamed woman from a parking lot in Carlow around 8:10 pm on Friday, February 11, 2000. Larry forced the woman into the trunk of his car and drove to different locations where he raped her multiple times. Eventually, he stopped in the Wicklow Mountains and began to strangle the woman with plastic grocery bags. Two hunters came across the scene, causing Larry Murphy to stop and flee. 

The woman survived, and Larry Murphy was arrested in January 2001 for her assault and attempted murder. Larry pleaded guilty, but despite the severity of his crimes, he was only sentenced to 15 years. And despite refusing therapy and never expressing remorse for his crimes, he was released after 10 years for good behavior. 

Since then, Larry has been traveling throughout Europe, trying to keep a low profile in countries like Amsterdam and France while rooming and partying with other convicted sex offenders. It appears that Larry Murphy slipped through the cracks, being sentenced just months before Ireland’s 2001 Sex Offenders Act that would have allowed gardai to keep tabs on his whereabouts post-release. Although it’s not as intensive as the United States’s registry process, Ireland created their registry years before other countries whose registries aren’t even available to the public. 

Why so many?

There are more women who were murdered, raped, or went missing in the same area of Ireland, around the same time. There are plenty more suspects to consider as well. Back in January 1996, in the wake of Jo Jo Dullard’s November 1995 disappearance, gardai assured the public that there was little risk of a serial killer or killers in the area despite the “striking similarities” in Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle cases. 

“Murders of young women tend to happen in the darkness of winter nights,  often around the Christmas holidays when women are traveling unaccompanied through the countryside.” Gardai did not say what they would be doing to keep Ireland’s women safer, but shared with journalists that their “official clear up rate for murder in the Republic is probably one of the highest in the world.” 

Several of the women who vanished had been trying to find a ride home after a night out on the town. Several had been running errands on their own. A few were single or unwed mothers or women living with their boyfriends. Quite a few held full time jobs, some in traditionally male-dominated fields. 

Ireland is overwhelmingly a Catholic country, and Irish Catholic women may be expected to conduct themselves in specific moral ways to fall in line with religious and cultural standards. The independent behaviors that many of the women in Ireland’s Vanishing Triangle exhibited meant their stories were often presented as cautionary tales at the time. Perhaps that perception, from the public, the gardai, or both, played a role in why so many of these cases remain unsolved today, but it’s never too late to learn, improve, and do more.  

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