Dierdre Jacob

Deirdre Jacob, of Roseberry, Newbridge, Co. Kildare is missing since 1998. Deirdre, who was aged 18 at the time, was last seen at 3.30pm on Tuesday 28th July 1998 walking towards her home.

She is described as being 5’2" in height, slim build, black/brown hair (short style), grey/green eyes and when last seen she was wearing a navy NIKE jumper with white collar, blue jeans and blue NIKE runners.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Gardai at Newbridge, telephone number 045-431212 or the Garda Confidential Telephone Line 1-800-666111.

Following the dissapearence of Deirdre Jacob in 1998 the Gardaí set up a cold case squad named
Operation Trace to look into these and possible connected crimes. These were cases of three women whose bodies were found in the mountains in the past 23 years. Phyllis Murphy, 23, was found raped, strangled and partially hidden in bushes in the Wicklow Mountains in 1980 (this crime was solved in 1999 and a man named John Creerar was convicted). Eight years later, the decomposed body of Antoinette Smith, 27, was found in a boggy, shallow grave in the Dublin Mountains. She is thought to have been raped and strangled. Two miles away, in 1992, police uncovered the body of Patricia Doherty, 30, a mother of two, who vanished after going Christmas shopping. They also looked into the murder of Raoinaid Murray, 17, who was stabbed to death in Dublin as well as the murders o Maire Kilmartin and Imelda Keenan.

Using the OVID computer system the Gardaí established that commonality could be established in only the cases of:

Annie McCarrick, Jo Jo Dullard, and Deirdre Jacob.

With help from the FBI a profile was built up saying the killer was white, married, mid to late thirties. People convicted of violent sex crimes often involving murder were looked at but no evidence against them was found. Some of the Gardaí suspect double rapist Larry Murphy as he matches the description of a man seen with Annie McCarrick, and was in the area when Deirdre Jacob dissapeared and kidnapped one of his rape victims bringing her to two isolated locations.

In December 2001 TRACE closed concluding that there was no evidence of a serial killer, but all files remain open.

Its so sad that all these mothers never get justice for their children

Alpha wrote:Its so sad that all these mothers never get justice for their children

All these years of not knowing where a loved one is.
So sad.

snowflake wrote:

Alpha wrote:Its so sad that all these mothers never get justice for their children

All these years of not knowing where a loved one is.
So sad.

It's like mental tortue isnt it?

this might be of interest http://www.rte.ie/tv/crackingcrime/index.html . rte has an i player and if you try check out cracking crime which was on tv on the 3rd of nov .re all the girls who went missing if you have a map of ireland and seen were they disapeared from,the configuration is a triangle,,,

Rapist jailed for life offers to help locate missing teen
By TOM BRADY


Tuesday January 12 1999

GARDAI have interviewed a prisoner serving a life sentence for rape after he claimed he had vital new information about the disappearance of teenager Deirdre Jacob. GARDAI have interviewed a prisoner serving a life sentence for rape after he claimed he had vital new information about the disappearance of teenager Deirdre Jacob.
Two detectives quizzed convicted rapist Thomas Stokes in Arbour Hill prison yesterday afternoon after he indicated he could give a fresh impetus to their six-month investigation.

Stokes, who argued during his trial that he was a persecuted ``tinker'', is serving the life sentence for the abduction and rape of a prostitute in the Wicklow mountains.

During the 16-day trial in December 1996 the victim outlined details of her ordeal of sexual degradation by Stokes and an accomplice.

Last week Stokes wrote a letter to a Newbridge, Co Kildare-based detective who is now retired from the garda force, and suggested he could help the gardai with their search for Deirdre.

`UNSCRUPULOUS'

The ex-detective, accompanied by a serving colleague, travelled to Arbour Hill prison yesterday and interviewed Stokes at length.

Last night a senior garda officer involved in the Jacob investigation said they did not believe Stokes could help them with their enquiries.

Stokes, who has an address in Newbridge, was described in the trial as ``devious, dangerous, cynical, irreconcilable and unscrupulous''.

Mr Justice Michael Moriarty told him: ``Far from being a spokesman or apologist for the travelling people, it seems to me that in in this unhappy case you have brought considerable discredit to any persons who might wish to associate with you.''

Meanwhile, RTE's `Crimeline' programme last night broadcast a tape recording of a telephone call made by a Co Fermanagh man who claimed to have given Deirdre Jacob a lift in north Kildare on the day she disappeared, July 28.

The man has been in contact with either the gardai, the Jacob family or the Leinster Leader newspaper in Naas on nine separate occasions since `Crimeline' highlighted the investigation last September.

But he has refused to identify himself and in his last contact, a letter addressed to Deirdre's parents over a week ago, he claimed he was not making any further contact.

PUBLIC KIOSK

In view of his claim, gardai decided to forgo the standard promise of confidentiality for telephone calls on the basis that this was not a normal call and he could solve one aspect of their enquiries if he agreed to be interviewed.

Several claims made by the man, who makes his calls from a public telephone kiosk in Lisnaskea, are known to be false and gardai believe he is either a hoaxer or gave a lift to a different girl.

However, they are anxious to talk to him to eliminate him from their inquiries.

Since July 28, around 2,000 people have been interviewed by gardai here and in England, where Deirdre attended college. The case is also one of six missing women mysteries being probed.

- TOM BRADY