Gardaí hope new search will provide closure in Jo Jo Dullard case after 29 years
Josephine 'Jo Jo' Dullard was last seen at approximately 11.37pm on 9 November 1995 when she left the village of Moone, Co Kildare.
Gardaí hope land, just 13km from where Jo Jo Dullard made a call to a friend minutes before she vanished, could finally bring closure to her family's 29-year search for answers.
The 21 year-old had made the call to Mary Cullinane from a phone box while making her way home from a night out in Bruxelles Bar in Dublin on November 9, 1995. She was never seen again.
A man in his 50s was arrested in Co Kildare on Monday and is being detained at a garda station in the county. His is the first arrest in the case.
Gardai upgraded the missing persons investigation to murder four years ago.
On Monday, gardaí confirmed they also searched two private residents as part of their investigation.
The area of land being searched is owned by one family, and is vast. However, gardaí are hoping that “concentrated searches” at a section of open ground will reveal forensic evidence and progress their investigation.
The search is based on “new information” that the garda investigation team has assessed.
It was significant enough for the team to recommend to garda bosses that it warranted searches.
It is not known if anything will be discovered in time to put to the man arrested, whose period of detention extends to just 24 hours, excluding sleep breaks.
The suspect has had previous dealings, on a voluntary basis, with gardaí in relation to providing assistance in their investigation.
On Monday, Superintendent Paul Burke from Kildare Division confirmed a man was being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice act 1984 in relation to the case.
He said: “This area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examination over the coming days.
“The arrest and search operation is being led by the investigation team from Kildare Division Serious Crime Unit, the Serious Crime Review team, and the gardaí of national bureau of criminal investigation.
“The search is being carried out by the Kildare Divisional search team, supported by the garda national technical bureau and local division scenes of crime unit."
At the time of her disappearance Ms Dullard was linked to a “missing triangle” in the area along with Annie McCarrick and Deirdre Jacob.
Larry Murphy who was convicted of the kidnap, attempted murder and rape of a woman in Wicklow and was released in 2011 was a suspect in all three cases – however he is not the man arrested by gardaí on Monday.
On the night of her disappearance Ms Dullard missed the bus home to Kilkenny and caught a 10pm bus to Naas in Co. Kildare, where she began hitch hiking the rest of the way to her home in Callan, Co. Kilkenny.
She hitched a lift to the slip road on the N9 in Naas and at 11.15pm got another lift to Moone in Co. Kildare.
She got out of the car and called her friend Mary Cullinane at 11.37pm from a phone box.
During the call she told her friend that a car had stopped, and she was going to take a lift.
That was the last time anyone heard from her again and her sister reported her missing the next day.
