A DAY OUT, A MISSED BUS... AND A MYSTERY THAT STILL ENDURES
NOVEMBER 9, 1995
8.00AM: Josephine ‘Jo Jo’ Dullard, 21, l eaves her home in Callan, Co. Kilkenny to travel up to Dublin by bus. AFTERNOON: She meets some friends in Bruxelles Pub on Harry Street, just off Grafton Street, and stays with them throughout the day. 10PM: Jo Jo goes to Busárus. She has missed the last bus home, so boards a bus to Kildare instead. 10.50PM: Arrives in Naas and hitches a lift from a driver, who drops her off in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, near the edge of the motorway. 11.15PM: Jo Jo hitches another lift and is dropped off in Moone, Co. Kildare. 11.35PM: She calls a friend from a phone box in Moone and explains t hat s he missed her bus and was going to hitch her way home. She i nterr upts t he conversation and informs her friend that a car has pulled up and has offered her a lift. She was never heard from again.
NOVEMBER 14, 1995:
FIVE days after her disappearance, Garda Superintendent Vincent Duff tells RTÉ News that they were very concerned for Jo Jo’s welfare and appeals for anyone with information to come forward.
1998:
Jo Jo’s family become the driving force behind Operation Trace, set up by former Garda commissioner Pat Byrne to investigate the cases of six young women who disappeared from the Leinster area over a five-year period: Jo Jo Dollard, Fiona Sinnott, Deirdre Jacob, Ciara Breen, Fiona Pender and Annie McCarrick.
NOVEMBER 2019:
Jo Jo’s sister Kathleen Bergin, along with the gardaí, issues a fresh appeal for information.
OCTOBER 19, 2020:
Gardaí confirm that the investigation into Jo Jo Dullard’s disappearance has now been upgraded to a murder inquiry.