THE MYSTERY OF IRELAND’S MISSING WOMEN
AN GARDA Síochána established Operation Trace, a specialist unit to investigate Ireland’s missing women, in 1998.
The unit focused on six major unexplained cases, including that of Deirdre Jacob (18).
In addition, it reviewed the cases of Jo Jo Dullard (21), Fiona Pender (25), Annie McCarrick (26), Ciara Breen (17), and Fiona Sinnott (19).
Ms Dullard disappeared on November 9, 1995 and her last known movements were making her way from Dublin back home to Callan, Co Kilkenny.
She phoned a friend from a phone box in Moone, Co Kildare, saying she was hitching a lift home.
Model Ms Pender went missing a year later, vanishing from her home in Tullamore, Co Offaly, on August 23, 1996.
She was seven months pregnant and had spent the previous day shopping for baby clothes with her mother in Tullamore.
She was in good form and was looking forward to the birth of her baby.
She was last seen at her flat at Church Street, Tullamore, at 6am.
Ms McCarrick, an American national, went missing from her home at Sandymount, Dublin, on March 26, 1993. On that day she left her house to go walking in Enniskerry.
There were sightings of a woman of her description on the 44 bus to Enniskerry at about 3.30pm on that afternoon and later on that evening a sighting at Johnny Foxes Pub in Glencullen, Co Wicklow. But these sightings never amounted to anything.
During a recent RTÉ ‘Crimecall’ show, gardaí received a large number of calls which opened up new lines of investigation. On the same show, Annie’s mother Nancy confessed that she believes her daughter is dead.
She described Annie’s disappearance as a “terrible loss” and said she now just wants to get her daughter’s body back.
Ciara Breen, from Dundalk, Co Louth, went missing on February 13, 1997.
She left the house she shared with her mother Bernadette Breen to meet someone and never came home. Last year, the main suspect in her death – Liam Mullen – died of a suspected overdose while in Garda custody. Her mother passed away in June this year.
Fiona Sinnott, from Bridgetown, Co Wexford, went missing on February 9, 1998. She was last seen in the Broadway area of Co Wexford at around midnight.
She had been socialising at Butler’s Pub with friends and was seen leaving the bar.
Investigating officers believe they know the individuals who killed three of the women including Ms Sinnott, but don’t, or didn’t, have enough evidence to pursue a conviction.
In the case of Ms Pender, gardaí believe she was killed by somebody known to her and her remains hidden. The cases of Ms Jacob, Ms Dullard and Ms McCarrick have remained mysteries though various lines of enquiry have emerged with gardai investigating possible links to rapist Larry Murphy.