Unsolved Irish Mysteries.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850132#Comment_122850132

Whatever Mary believes, is up to her, the truth of the matter is that no one in the country thought anything bad about Jo Jo.

As I said I was her age and remember the incident well, no one I know ever mentioned anything bad about her, and I don't remember anything bad being said in the Media

The_Kew_Tour

I dont remember Jo Jo being painted in bad light myself although I was young.

However it is natural enough to suspect something might not add up when you read into other incidents down years like that Gentleman death in Bunratty, Fr Molly death and the famous missing gate in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case. I mean seriously!! How does that happen??

And the main course of Maurice Mccabe and what they did to him. Its tells you all you need know that nobody got charged with what they put that man through.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty but this case has some serious questions to answer just on form alone from previous incidents.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850717#Comment_122850717

the famous missing gate in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier case. I mean seriously!! How does that happen??

Because it doesn't.

The gate was never lost, it was offered to be returned to her parents as is process, but they didn't want it so it was destroyed by Forensic Science Ireland (not the local west Cork gardai) as it was deemed to be of no further evidentiary value.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/blood-stained-gate-in-sophie-murder-inquiry-was-not-lost-gardai-reveal/40647261.html

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122849098#Comment_122849098

Even the idea that she missed her bus because she was off drinking in the afternoon (whilst factually correct and information that needed to be released) would have unfortunately been interpreted as a character negative in some circles.

This is where hitchhiking back in the day was a option.

You could be doing something and even though you miss a bus or a lift there was always the thumbing fallback.

As I said before, a lone female thumbing that distance that late at night was not necessarily common but equally it was not unheard of.

alan partridge aha

I used to thumb in the 80s and the thought now would frighten me. Lucky never had an issue.

cute geoge

I remember been innocent 13 year old thumbing out of local town after missing bus home 25km at 5pm ,local old timer picked me up and went out of his way to bring me half way home to safer quieter area and warned me highly of the dangers. This ess back in 1987 before abductions and phido's were news to me but he was right

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850853#Comment_122850853

Was quite normal for us country folk, I was thumbing around the country from the late 80s, moved to Dublin in 93 and plenty of us thumbed home, saved the bus fare!

munsterfan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850949#Comment_122850949

There was always a few people thumbing out at Newlands cross, late 80's thumbed all over the country.

ittakestwo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850853#Comment_122850853

From listening to podcast on this case I heard she initially planned to go home to Callen but ran into a friend in Bruxells in the afternoon. Then she was going to stay with him in Dublin that night but then his GF arrived and that put an end to that plan. By the time that had happened she had missed her last bus to Callen so could only get a bus part of the way and hitch the rest. She probably never planned to hitch.

The_Kew_Tour

I wonder how long more they will keep searching for now. If they dont find anything you would sense that sadly we will never get to bottom of this unless a confession is made.

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122841404#Comment_122841404

"Around a yard you are at significantly disturbed ground depth of 8-10 feet in places, concrete yards sheds houses its a needle in a haystack"

It appears some killers like to keep their victims close, Satchwell, Pat quirke etc.

Here's the farmyard in 1995 on the right, and the one on the left is dated 1996-200;

1995-1996.jpg

New shed and some clearing done.

chicorytip

Whoever propagated the rumour about Jo Jo having had an abortion was certainly trying to damage her and sully her reputation. Back then there would have been far less tolerance and sympathy for any woman who had taken the boat, so to speak.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122850330#Comment_122850330

I wonder why Mary Phelan became fixated on the individual now regarded as the main suspect, from the very beginning.

Day Lewin

Its easy enough to get fixated on a pet suspect, without any material evidence. And then every little detail seems to confirm your idea.

Some of those miscarriages of justice are quite spine-chilling; the poor guy gets released from jail twenty years later, with just some lame apology, after modern techniques have re-analysed the DNA and found that it points to somebody else altogether. Scary stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_miscarriage_of_justice_cases

paddyisreal

Nobody find it strange that Larry Murphy and this other guy lived practically a few miles apart and are the same age group are the main suspects in the disappearance of two women in the general locality....

paddyisreal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122859486#Comment_122859486

Not one of them cases is after 2010, it has Joan of arc in the article !

Day Lewin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122859597#Comment_122859597

Human nature has not changed, though.

And there are many more modern cases, you don't have to look very far to find them.

I was just making a point about mistaken suspicions; so easy to get bogged down, investigating only that suspicion.

Gangu

nice that this mystery of what happened this young fisherman has been resolved for his family

Remains of Cork fisherman found by chance two decades after he disappeared, inquest hears

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/11/19/remains-of-cork-fisherman-found-by-chance-two-decades-after-he-disappeared-inquest-hears/

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122857849#Comment_122857849

Gardai according to herself told her this. The circumstantial evidence again the suspect is overwhelming. Unfortunately without a body, forensic evidence and newer evidence such as mobile phone cell tower data etc is not available in this case so a conviction is remote. At the time though a conviction may well have been possible. Too much time has passed.

This was a case handled extremely poorly by AGS at the time. There would have been plenty of evidence available to them back then.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862074#Comment_122862074

At the time though a conviction may well have been possible.

How? If the only evidence is circumstantial, how could there have been plenty of evidence?

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862092#Comment_122862092

Evidence now is circumstantial. At the time the car and possibly even himself would have been covered in forensic evidence.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862181#Comment_122862181

If it is circumstantial evidence now, it was circumstantial evidence then.

If the car had forensic evidence such as DNA belonging to JoJo, it proves she was in his car, which was known, as he gave her a lift, wouldn't prove anything else.

LunaLoo

The search in NCD for William Maughan and Ana Varslavane has been finished with nothing found

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122859981#Comment_122859981

remember hearing about this a few years ago. Amazing how he was so close to where last seen.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862244#Comment_122862244

Yea but if blood was found or anything else which suggested something violent had taken place in the car. I presume he didn't just cuddle her to death.

suvigirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862288#Comment_122862288

Cuddle/throttle?!

Will_I_Amnt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122862288#Comment_122862288

That's what I was thinking. Could the car have had blood, clumps of hair, or could fluids of a sexual nature been discovered. Could there have been evidence that she was in the back seat or even the boot? None of this was done (that we know of).

It is curious though as to why they are particularly fixated on a relatively small patch of land on a large farm. They must have some intel that a certain kind of suspicious activity was undertaken on that patch at that time.

cute geoge

Is it not also a bit curious Alan Gillis MEP cutting short his holidays and rush back to his homestead ,it was like this case was going to explode and macgiver shows up and saves the day

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122866604#Comment_122866604

When was this, was it when he first went to the gardai voluntarily or at another time when he was arrested?

If it was when he was arrested it's not surprising that a father would cut a holiday short to get home and try help their son.

Edit:

So this guy was spoken to before but never arrested.

So I'll ask is it a surprise that a parent would return home from holiday if their child was being spoken to by the gardai about a missing person case?

chooseusername

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122867491#Comment_122867491

Alan Gillis died in 2022.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122867828#Comment_122867828

Yes I know that.

But I also believe that his son came forward when the news of Jo Jo's disappearance first went public and was arrested at various times after that.

I'm not talking about the recent arrest.

Actually we don't know for sure who was recently arrested