A major excavation of land by gardaí searching for the remains of murdered woman Jo Jo Dullard has entered a second week, with gardaí moving very significant amounts of earth in one of the biggest dig operations of its kind in a murder inquiry.
Meanwhile, the senior Garda officer managing the investigation has said gardaí remained “resolute” in their determination to “bring Jo Jo home”, adding her family had now suffered for 29 years.
Gardaí moved on to the search site last Monday and the search, which is the most extensive to date in the investigation of the 1995 murder, was expected to continue for most of this week. The Garda team has used excavators to dig deep trenches as they try to find Ms Dullard’s remains or conclusively the rule out the location as her burial site.
Last week a suspect was arrested in the Kildare-Wicklow border region on suspicion of the murder of Ms Dullard, who was aged 21 years when she vanished from the village of Moone, south Co Kildare, in November 1995. However, after being interviewed the suspect, who is in his 50s, was released without charge.
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Since his release the search and excavation operation on lands near Grangecon, Co Wicklow, has ramped up and Garda sources said it was expected to continue for at least several more days. Though gardaí selected the site in the event Ms Dullard may be buried there, they are also looking for any physical evidence that would show she was ever in that area.
[ Jo Jo Dullard murder: What next after release of suspect without charge?Opens in new window ]
Supt Paul Burke on Monday made a fresh appeal for information, saying gardaí were convinced there were witnesses who could still come forward and help solve the murder, even though 29 years had now elapsed.
“No person has been brought to justice for the murder of Jo Jo at this time,” he said, adding the Garda was continuing to search lands in the Wicklow-Kildare border area.
“It’s hoped these searches will reveal evidence as to what happened to Jo Jo on the night of November 9th, 1995. Jo Jo’s family has now suffered from 29 years from her disappearance and murder. They continue to suffer not knowing where Jo Jo’s remains are.”
Supt Burke added the Garda investigation team was “resolute in its determination to provide answers for her family”.
“We want to bring Jo Jo home to her family. There are persons out there who know what happened to Jo Jo Dullard. Now is the time for those persons to come forward and speak.
“An Garda Siochana appeals to anyone, with any information, no matter how small or insignificant you might believe it to be to contact Naas Garda station ... or the Garda confidential line.”
Ms Dullard, from Callan, Co Kilkenny, vanished in Moone as she was hitching from Dublin to Callan. She got a bus from Dublin to Naas before hitching two lifts, which got her as far as Moone. She rang a friend from a village phone box just after 11.30pm and while on the call said a driver had just pulled in. Gardaí suspect she was offered a lift by a man who then killed her, perhaps in a sexually motivated attack.
Her remains were never found and for 25 years her death was treated as a missing person inquiry. It was finally upgraded to a murder investigation in 2020. Since then gardaí have had more resources, and greater powers, to conduct a larger and deeper inquiry.
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