Mystery of ‘Vanishing Triangle’ missing women as arrest made after 30 years

Fresh searches have been carried out in the Irish countryside to try and trace a woman who went missing almost 30 years ago in an area dubbed Ireland’s ‘Vanishing Triangle’.

Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard went missing on November 9, 1995, while on her way home to Callan in Co Kilkenny after socialising in Bruxelles bar on Dublin’s Harry Street. A phone call to a friend when she said she was getting a lift was the last anyone heard from Jo Jo. 

Ms Dullard is one of at least eight women who disappeared during the 1990s in an area west of Dublin, the region has been likened to a mystery triangle because of the shape made by plotting the places the different women went missing. 

As well as Ms Dullard, Fiona Pender, 25, went missing in 1996, American Annie McCarrick, 26, vanished in 1993, Dierdre Jacob, 18, and young mum Fiona Sinnott, 19, both went missing in 1998, Imelda Keenan was just 22 when she wasn’t seen again in 1994, Ciara Breen, 17, vanished in 1997 and 39-year-old Eva Brennan has not been seen since 1993.

Because of the number of women involved and the relatively close distances and times involved with their disappearances some fear they could have been targeted by a serial killer. 

It comes as a search continues at the Wicklow border as part of a significant development in the investigation into the disappearance of Ms Dullard. However, Irish Police, the Gardai, said a man arrested over Ms Dullard’s disappearance has been released without charge.

Gardai confirmed that the man was released without charge on Tuesday. They said investigations will continue. A search operation is being carried out on open ground in Co Wicklow near the border with Kildare over the coming days.

The land is being searched and excavated before a technical and forensic examination is carried out, gardai said.

Gardai launched a fresh appeal from Ms Dullard’s sister Kathleen Bergin on Saturday to mark the 29th anniversary of the young woman’s disappearance. Ms Bergin appealed to anyone with knowledge to help “bring her home”.

None of the women who went missing in the Vanishing Triangle have ever been found by police and there is little to link the disappearances except for geography and the sudden nature of their going missing. 

Despite theories about a serial killer no one has ever been convicted of the disappearances or deaths, and all the women remain missing to this day.

According to Irish women’s news magazine site RSVPLive, some of the most notorious cases are still being investigated. 

Jo Jo, or Josephine, a Kilkenny native, disappeared on the 9th of November 1995 at the age of 21.

At the time, she was living in Harold’s Cross in Dublin, and was planning to return home to Kilkenny on the day and hitchhiked part of the way. As she made her way along the journey, she received a lift from the Dublin area to Kilcullen in Kildare and then from Kilcullen to Moone.

She was last seen at 11.37pm on November 9, 1995 at a phone box in Moone, where she made a phone call to her friend Mary Cullinan. She ended the call as she told her friend that a car had pulled up and she was going to take the lift. She was not seen or heard from again.

On Friday 10 November 1995, her sister, Kathleen, reported her missing and a missing persons investigation commenced.

Fiona Pender was from Tullamore, Offaly, and went missing in August 1996.

She was 25 at the time of her disappearance, and she was seven months pregnant.

The model and hairdresser was last seen leaving her apartment by her boyfriend.

An extensive garda investigation took place following Fiona’s disappearance from her flat on Church Street and searches have taken place at a number of locations.

In 2008, a small wooden cross with “Fiona Pender” written on it was found on The Slieve Bloom Way at the border between Laois and Offaly, leading many to believe that she was buried in the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

Annie McCarrick, 26, originally of of Long Island, New York, disappeared on the March 26, 1993.

The last confirmed sighting of her was that morning near her home in Dublin, where she was recorded on CCTV. She was reported as being sighted in Enniskerry, County Wicklow.

She had planned to meet with friends the following day, but was not at home when they came to her home, and did not show up for work on March 27, and was reported missing that evening.

On March 24, 2023, authorities announced that they upgraded her missing person’s case into a murder inquiry.

Imelda, from Mountmellick in Laois, was 22 when she went missing on January 3, 1994.

At the time, she resided in Waterford City with her partner.

On that day of her disappearance she was wearing a pair of leopard-skin trousers and a denim jacket.

She told her boyfriend that she was heading out to collect her dole, and left the apartment at 1.30pm and walked down William Street onto Lombard Street.

She was spotted crossing the road by a local doctor’s secretary who knew her well, and was never seen again.

Gardai say: “She is described as 5’3” tall, of thin build, with long brown hair and blue eyes.”

Deirdre Jacob vanished from near her home in Newbridge on the July 28, 1998. Her case was upgraded to a murder case by Gardaí in August 2018.

The 18-year-old was last seen after going to the AIB bank in Newbridge, where she applied for a bank draft to pay for her student accommodation at university in London.

The last sighting of Deirdre on CCTV was as she passed by the Irish Permanent.

She also stopped in to her grandmother who owned a shop in the area, and was last spotted close to her home on Barretstown Road. She was near the gate of her home when she was last seen, on a Tuesday afternoon.

She was seen wearing a dark T-shirt with white shoes and carrying a black bag with a yellow Caterpillar Inc logo. 

Fiona was was 19 when she went missing in 1998, had an 11-month-old daughter.

On February 8, 1998, she was out for a night out with friends at Butler’s of Broadway in Wexford, and after leaving the pub to walk home, was never seen again.

She left the pub at midnight, after telling the barman she would be back next weekend for a Valentines Day celebration.

In 2005 her case was upgraded to a murder case from a missing persons one.

In 2005 gardaí arrested and detained a man on suspicion of Fiona’s murder. At the same time five other people, including three women and two men, were arrested and detained in connection with the investigation.

However, no person has been charged to date.

Eva, aged 39, from Rathgar in Dublin went missing on July 25, 1993.

She disappeared after leaving a family lunch at her mum and dad’s house in Rathgar, and it has been reported that she felt depressed in the run up to her disappearance.

Her father went to her apartment as she had not come to the family home for two days. She was not there, but he found the jacket she had been wearing on the day she was last seen, so she mist have returned to her apartment that day.

There was no initial Garda investigation known to the family for around three months, which prompted the Brennan’s to criticise how Gardaí dealt with Eva’s disappearance.

“At the time of her disappearance Eva was described as being 40 years of age but looking younger, 5’7″ ,of slim build and having short mid brown hair and blue eyes,” says Gardai.

“When last seen she was wearing a pink tracksuit and leggings, she wore a man’s wristwatch with a brown strap and carried a red leatherette handbag about 8″x10″ with a flap to the front.”

Teenager Ciara Breen was last seen on February 13, 1997, and disappeared when she was just 17 years old.

The Dundalk, Louth native was last seen by her mother who at the time said they had both gone to bed just after midnight.

When he mum got up in the night to use the restroom, she noticed that her daughter was not there.

The window was left on the latch and it is believed Ciara did this so that she could climb back in.

In 2014, two witnesses came forward to say they saw Ciara the night she disappeared. In 2015, a man in his 50s was arrested but was released without charge.

Gardai say: “Ciara is described as being of slim build, sallow complexion, long dark hair and blue eyes. When last seen she was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans, wine coloured sweatshirt and a white t-shirt with an image of her own face on same. Ciara was also wearing a black leather wrist watch with a square face and green background.”