Search underway as man, 50s, arrested on suspicion of murder of ...
A search is underway after a man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard, who was last seen alive 29 years ago.
The man, who is aged in his 50s, was arrested in Co Kildare on Monday morning. He is being detained, under the provisions of section 4, Criminal Justice Act, 1984, at a Garda station in Co Kildare.
It is the first arrest in the case, which was upgraded from a missing persons to a murder inquiry in 2020.
It comes as a search of open ground is underway on the Kildare and Wicklow border while gardaí have also searched two private residences in relation to the investigation.
Ms Dullard went missing from the town of Moone in Kildare in 1995. She was 21 years old at the time. She had been working in Callan in Kilkenny and had travelled to Dublin city on the evening of November 9, 1995.
Ms Dullard missed the last bus home from Dublin that night, so she instead got on a bus to Naas. She then hitched two separate lifts before arriving in the town of Moone. She was phoning a friend from a phonebox in Moone when she said that a car had stopped for her. She has not been seen since.
In a statement on Monday, Superintendent Paul Burke said investigating gardaí "are today commencing a search operation on open ground at a location in Co Wicklow, on the Kildare/Wicklow border".
“This area of land will be searched and subject to excavation technical and forensic examination over the coming days," he said.
“The arrest and search operation is being led by the investigation team from Kildare Division Serious Crime Unit, the Serious Crime Review team, and the gardaí of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“The search is being carried out by the Kildare divisional search team, supported by the Garda National Technical Bureau and local division scenes of crime unit.
“The search operation has the support of other state expertise if required including the attendance of a forensic archaeologist on site.
Mr Burke said gardaí "has been and continues to keep the family of Ms Dullard fully updated in relation to the investigation and they have been fully appraised of all of today's developments".
Gardaí are appealing to anyone with any information, no matter how small or insignificant you might believe it to be, to contact Naas Garda Station on 045 884 300 or any Garda station. Anyone who wishes to provide information confidentially should contact the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner last week, Kathleen Bergin, Jo Jo Dullard's sister, urged anyone with information on her disappearance to come forward.
Jo Jo Dullard's disappearance has been the subject of a sustained Garda investigation. File Picture: RollingNews.ie"This is not about revenge — at this stage, 29 years later, all we want is to bring her back and lay her to rest alongside her mam and dad," Ms Bergin said.
She deserves that now after all this time. It would be the best gift that somebody could give us.
"I know people are probably afraid to come forward but we are hoping and praying that they realise that we would just give them a hug if they came forward and helped us. Honestly, it would be the best present ever."
Ms Bergin said that, during the pandemic, "people couldn’t hug their loved ones and were only able to do it when restrictions lifted".
"We can’t hug Jo Jo ever again but at least if we had her resting place, if we knew where she was, we could go and lay flowers and take care of her resting place," she added.
"At least we could do that for her.”
Last Saturday, November 9, the 29th anniversary of Ms Dullard's disappearance, a remembrance gathering took place at the monument for the missing in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, where prayers were said for Jo Jo.
