Searches resume for woman missing for 29 years
Jo Jo Dullard went missing from Moone in County Kildare in 1995
- Published
Police investigating the murder of Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard have resumed searches along the border of Counties Wicklow and Kildare.
The 21-year-old went missing from Moone in County Kildare in November 1995.
Tuesday's searches will focus on lands in Ballyhook in County Wicklow.
A 55-year-old man arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of murder has been released without charge.
Tuesday's searches will focus on lands in Ballyhook in County Wicklow
The case was upgraded from a missing persons to a murder inquiry in 2020.
Monday's arrest was the first in the case.
Gardaí (Irish police) also searched two properties on Monday morning.
BBC News NI's Kevin Sharkey, reporting from County Wicklow:
Rich farmland around this part of County Wicklow provides the backdrop to these searches.
Getting here involves criss-crossing countless rural roads.
Gardaí are positioned at a number of farmland entry points, and in the distance, diggers can be seen working along a big green field.
The serenity of this still autumn day here along the Wicklow and Kildare border marks a striking contrast to the possibility that a young woman’s body may have been hidden or buried around here for almost thirty years.
What happened to Jo Jo Dullard?
The case was upgraded from a missing persons to a murder inquiry in November 2020
On 9 November 1995, Ms Dullard travelled to Dublin, where she spent the evening at Bruxelles Bar on Harry Street.
That evening, she missed her last bus home to Kilkenny and, at 22:00 local time boarded a bus to Naas in County Kildare, intending to hitchhike the rest of the way to Callan.
Ms Dullard caught a ride from Naas to the old N9 road near Kilcullen.
At about 23:15 she got another lift to Moone.
Once in Moone, at 23:37, Ms Dullard made a phone call to her friend, Mary Cullinan.
During the call she told Ms Cullinan a car had stopped to offer her a ride and she was planning to accept it.
This was the last known interaction she had with anyone. She was reported missing by her sister, Kathleen, on Friday 10 November.
For 29 years Ms Dullard’s whereabouts have been the subject of a sustained police investigation.