2021 Kildare news review: 15-day search in Deirdre Jacob murder case

The senior garda in command of the 15-day search in October for evidence in the Deirdre Jacob murder inquiry vowed that gardaí “will never stop” investigating.

Over a dozen gardaí were involved in a painstaking examination of an eventual 4.9 acre woodland site at Taggartstown on the Kildare-Wicklow border which began on October 11 but it yielded “nothing of evidential value”.

Inspector John Fitzgerald said afterwards: “The team worked very hard, and we are disappointed, but we have to take the news as it comes.

“If there was something to be found, we would have found it.”

Missing: Deirdre Jacob

But the senior officer insisted that the investigation will continue into the disappearance of the 18-year-old student who vanished in Newbridge in July 1998. The case was upgraded to a murder investigation in 2018.

He said: “The Deirdre Jacob case is 23 years old and we’re still working it. The Jo Jo Dullard case is 25 years old and that’s still being worked as well. The gardaí will never stop investigating these cases until there is an outcome. We want to do the best we can as we go forward.

“This is a live investigation, and these investigations don’t go away until we get a resolution.”

The search was sparked after a report that unusual activity was seen in the Taggartstown area on the day Ms Jacob disappeared.

Insp Fitzgerald also declined to comment specifically regarding the possible charging of a suspect in the case. Convicted rapist Larry Murphy has always denied any involvement in the disappearance of Ms Jacob and other missing women in the Leinster area.

Gardaí addressing the assembled media on the first day of the search near Kilgowan

Insp Fitzgerald said: “The office of the DPP is a separate office and we respect the DPP’s authority. The office is staffed by very competent people and we have the utmost respect for them.”

The garda also thanked the public in the locality of the search and nearby landowners for their assistance and support in the investigation. The search was managed by a Crime Scene Manager from the Garda Technical Bureau while a forensic archaeologist was on site each day. A mobile incident room was set up in an adjacent field for the duration of the search and drones were also used.

Ms Jacob’s 42nd birthday fell on the fourth day of the search on October 14.