Gardaí investigating the murder of Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard 29 years ago are set to carry out a detailed review of responses to questions given by a suspect in the case when he was in custody.
The arrested man was released without charge yesterday, and the Garda investigation into the killing of the 21-year-old in November 1995 is set to continue.
The suspect’s release was anticipated as his detention was regarded as a strategic move by gardaí, rather than with any expectation he would face any charges. Instead, detectives wanted to put to him evidence they have gathered on the case in recent years.
It’s understood that gardaí chose to arrest him and carry out searches this week as they believed he may have been put under pressure by the media’s attention to the case last weekend on the 29th anniversary of Ms Dullard’s disappearance.
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Searches that have been under way near Grangecon, Co Wicklow, since Monday morning, have continued at the site. Diggers were used there yesterday, with a team of gardaí examining a large area, including fields and a wooded location.
The search team was looking for any evidence Ms Dullard had ever been there, while also examining whether her remains or any personal items may be buried in the area.
Garda sources said the suspect’s responses to questions put to him during interviews would now be closely studied. They would be cross-checked against previous witness statements he gave to gardaí, including in 1995, and also against statements from other witnesses.
If a file on the case was ever sent to the DPP, his responses to questions while being interviewed under caution would be included, the sources added. However, such a stage in the investigation had not been reached, as more evidence must be gathered before a file could be sent recommending criminal charges against anyone in relation to the killing.
The suspect, a 55-year-old from the Wicklow-Kildare border area, was arrested on Monday morning under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, allowing for him to be questioned for up to 24 hours without charge. He has been a suspect in the case since the mid-1990s.
In a short statement, Garda Headquarters confirmed the man had been released. “A search operation on open ground at a location in Co Wicklow near the Wicklow-Kildare border is continuing,” it said. “The investigation is ongoing, and further updates will follow.”
Ms Dullard vanished in Moone, Co Kildare, shortly after 11.30pm on November 9th, 1995, as she was making her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny. She had been socialising in Bruxelles Bar in Dublin’s south inner city.
She missed the last bus to Callan, so got a bus to Naas before hitching two lifts, firstly as far as Kilcullen, and then to Moone. At 11.37pm she called a friend, Mary Cullinan, from a phone box in the village to tell her she would be home soon and that a car had just stopped for her. That was the last time anyone heard from her.
Gardaí believe Ms Dullard was taken away from the roadside and killed, perhaps in an attack that was sexually motivated and opportunistic. The man arrested reportedly had a minor injury to his face in the days following the victim’s disappearance, and gardaí believe he was in Moone on the night in question.
While Ms Dullard’s disappearance was treated as a missing person case for 25 years, it was upgraded to a murder inquiry in 2020 after a Garda cold case review had been carried out.
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