Gardai are expected to question a west Dublin man they suspect of having made attempts to abduct girls and young women, about the disappearance of the Co Kildare student, Ms Deirdre Jacob.
The man was questioned about the apparent attempted abduction of three girls, all in their early teens, in the Rathfarnham area of Dublin in May last year. It is understood he was suspected of trying to entice the girls into a car or van. He was questioned but released pending further investigations. Ms Jacob (18) was last seen shortly after leaving Newbridge to walk to her home on the outskirts of the village on July 28th last year. It is believed she was abducted and has been murdered.
Gardai are understood to have evidence of a man, whose description closely fits that of the Dublin man suspected of the other attempted abductions, in Newbridge shortly before her disappearance.
It is suspected a man, fitting the Dublin man's description, may have been stalking Ms Jacob in the village as she visited the AIB and post office. She was last seen walking along the Barrettstown Road to her home.
As a result of Ms Jacob's disappearance detectives, based in Naas, last September reopened their investigations into the cases of a number of other young women who also disappeared and are believed to have been murdered.
Officers in this investigation are understood to be preparing to question the Dublin man suspected of the other attempted abductions. He is said to be unstable and fixated with capturing young women. In the initial investigation gardai discovered a number of unusual written messages, he had apparently intended handing to victims, which stated how attractive he found them and that he would like to have sex with them.
The gardai investigating Ms Jacob's disappearance are also investigating the whereabouts of Ms Jo Jo Dullard (21) who disappeared while walking home near Callan, Co Kilkenny on November 9th, 1995; Ms Ciara Breen (18) who disappeared near her home in Dundalk on February 12th last year; Ms Annie McCarrick (26) who disappeared in the Wicklow Mountains in March 1993; and Ms Phyllis Murphy (22) who disappeared on December 22nd, 1979 not far from Newbridge. No motive was established in relation to these disappearances and there are suspicions they could all be random victims of a killer or killers.
Detectives also examined the disappearances of Ms Fiona Pender (25) from Tullamore, Co Offaly on August 23rd, 1996 and of Ms Fiona Sinnott (19) from near Lady's Island, Wexford on February 8th last year; but believe there could be motives to link these disappearances to people they knew.
Last month gardai investigating Ms Jacob's disappearance discovered the identity of another man who had been sending letters to newspapers and Ms Jacob's parents saying their daughter had travelled to Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan on the day she disappeared. However, gardai arrested the man and were satisfied he was a mentally unstable hoaxer.