MURPHY MAY HAVE STARTED BACK IN 1980S
THE garda who led Operation Trace believes Larry Murphy could have preyed on women from his early 20s.
The convicted rapist is now being linked to the unsolved murder of young mum Antoinette Smith, who went missing on her way home from a David Bowie concert in Slane in 1987.
The 27-year-old’s body was found dumped in the Dublin Mountains eight months later.
She had a plastic bag over her head and her shoes were never found.
Investigators have noted the similarities to that of the woman Murphy abducted in Carlow, who also had a plastic bag placed over her head and her shoes taken.
One theory is that she was dumped on a popular walking route “in a hurry” or someone “just starting out on their killing spree”.
Antoinette’s daughter Rachel said: “She was only 27, she was brought to the mountains, she was buried with the intention of her never being found.
“It’s horrific there’s someone out there that sick in the head to actually go out and plan that.
“Larry Murphy, in my own head, this is the person responsible for me growing up without my mam, he took my mam from me.
“All I got from gardai was he was too young at the time. There was no suspect, to this day there’s no suspect – 37 years later.”
Murphy would have been 22 at the time and retired detective Alan Bailey, who headed up Operation Trace, believes he could be the killer.
He said: “Antoinette Smith, Deirdre Jacob, Jojo Dullard, and possibly Annie Mccarrick, to me he [Murphy] is the prime suspect.” Operation Trace was set up to investigate the disappearance of six women – Annie Mccarrick, Fiona Pender, Ciara Breen, Fiona Sinnott, Jojo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob.
Mr Bailey said: “We were looking to see was there a serial killer in operation.
“We were satisfied that Fiona Pender, Ciara Breen, Fiona Sinnott, that the perpetrators of their murders, and they are murders, were known to the girls.”
Two brothers from South Dublin have since emerged as suspects for the murder of Annie Mccarrick. One is believed to have stalked and assaulted her in the weeks before she went missing.
Retired detective inspector Brendan Mcardle, who was instrumental in re-investigating and solving the murder of Phyllis Murphy, said there are links between the cases.
He said: “These cases still remain unsolved. Was it one, was it two, was it multiple killers?
“Since Larry Murphy went off the scene no young woman has gone missing in that area.”