Disappearances stopped after rapist jailed
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THE unexplained disappearance of six women around Leinster in the 1990s led to gardai setting up a special cold-case investigation known as Operation Trace.
Larry Murphy was interviewed in connection with three of the disappearances, those of Jo Jo Dullard, Deirdre Jacob and Annie McCarrick.
Officers believed he could have been in the area around the time each woman vanished.
His modus operandi -- kidnapping a woman in a car park before bringing her to a remote location -- also made him a suspect in the three cases.
However, Murphy was never charged in connection with the disappearances and gardai have been unable to find any concrete evidence against him. The women at the centre of Operation Trace disappeared between March 1993 and July 1998.
The spate of disappearances stopped after Murphy was jailed for rape and attempted murder in 2001. Operation Trace was set up in the aftermath of Ms Jacob's disappearance in 1998. Its name is an acronym for tracing, reviewing and collecting evidence.
- Shane Phelan
Irish Independent
