Category: unsolved

93 – Never Forget: The murder of Marioara Rostas

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Cold Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, murder, Organised Crime, sex crimes, unsolved

In January 2008, 18 year old Marioara got into a car on Lombard Street in Dublin City centre, where she and some of her family had been begging for change. She was never seen again. During the garda investigation it became clear that this was an unusual crime – a seemingly random act of violence, likely committed by a member of one of Dublin’s criminal gangs.

After 6 years, a man went on trial. But would there be justice for Marioara?

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88 – Unknown Location: the Murder of Meg Walsh

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Cold Case, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, love triangle, murder, unsolved, Wrongly Accused

In October of 2006, Meg Walsh went missing. She wasn’t at her home, and she didn’t turn up for work. The garda investigation that followed revealed that Meg had had some troubling experiences recently in her private life. Her body was found in the river Suir two weeks after she was first reported missing.

But without a crime scene, would it be possible to get justice for Meg?

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84 – Dark Saga: The Murder of Philomena Gillane

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Cold Case, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Landmark Case, love triangle, murder, unsolved

In May of 1994, Philomena Gillane was 7 months pregnant. On the morning of Wednesday the 11th, she left her home early to head to work. But she never arrived. She was found dead in the boot of her own car 25 miles away, at Athlone Train station.

Her family would spend the next 3 years in and out of courts dealing with the fallout from her brutal murder, and in a search for justice that was never fully achieved.

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83 – The Disappearance of Philip Cairns

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Child Victim, Cold Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, murder, unsolved

On Thursday the 26th of October 1986, Philip Cairns left his Ballyroan Road home after eating his lunch. He was headed back to school. But he never made it there. An intensive search followed, but there were no signs of the 13 year old.

A week later, his school bag was found in a nearby laneway, left there by persons unknown. Despite searches of the Rathfarnham area, including rivers, overgrown areas, large parklands and in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, there was no further sign of the school boy.

What became of Philip Cairns?

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76 – House of Horrors: Cork’s missing men

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Cold Case, Controversial Case, Drug-related, Irish Crime, Mental Health, murder, Public Inquiry, Serial Killer, unsolved

Just before Christmas 1994, Patch O’Driscoll went missing from his bedsit in Cork City. When the garda investigation began into his missing persons case, it was discovered two other men had also disappeared from the very same house on Wellington Terrace. Though there was no evidence of a crime scene inside the large dilapidated building, the cause was certainly within.

But there would be few answers and no justice in the case.

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72 – The Missing Postman: Larry Griffin

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Cold Case, Controversial Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, murder, unsolved, Vintage murder, Wrongly Accused

On Christmas Day, 1929, postman Larry Griffen went to work in the small village of Stradbally, Co Waterford. As he called into homes with the post, he was thanked with tips and a few drinks. That night, Larry never made it home. His bike was found abandoned in the middle of the road.

A conspiracy of silence kept the truth of what happened to Larry Griffin from his family, and still does to this day.

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68 – Mountain Mysteries: The murder of Phyllis Murphy

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Cold Case, Controversial Case, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, Landmark Case, Life Sentence, murder, Serial Killer, sex crimes, unsolved

Just before Christmas 1979, 23 year old Phyllis Murphy disappeared while waiting on a bus in Newbridge, Co Kildare. Her body was found in an isolated spot 25 miles away at Turlough Hill, Co Wicklow a month later.

After a huge search and investigation, the gardai had no leads as to who was responsible for her death. But in 1998, DNA in Phyllis’ case was tested as part of Operation Trace. As a result of that, 53 year old John Crerar – a neighbour of Phyllis’ remaining family – stood trial at the Dublin Central Criminal Court.

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67 – Honor Bright: Murder in the Free State

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn affair, Capital Punishment, Controversial Case, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, Intimate Partner Violence, Irish Crime, Life Sentence, love triangle, murder, sex crimes, unsolved, Vintage murder, Wrongly Accused

In 1925, while the Irish Free State was still in its infancy after the close of the civil war, the body of a young woman was found dead lying at a lonely cross roads in South County Dublin. Her name was Honor Bright, a woman who made her living as a sex worker in town.

Two men were tried for her shooting death, but was her killing a the result of her “unfortunate” status, or part of an attempt to keep scandal away from the halls of power in a newly-independent Ireland?

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64 – Hostage at Derrada Woods: The story of Don Tidey

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Controversial Case, Human Rights, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, Kidnapping, Landmark Case, Organised Crime, terrorism, torture, unsolved

In the early 1980s, there was a series of kidnap-for-ransom crimes committed in the Republic by the Provisional IRA in order to raise funds to finance their organisation and its terrorist operations here and in the UK.

One of the victims of these abductions was prominent businessman, Don Tidey, and Englishman who was the senior executive of the Quinnsworth group of supermarkets. Tidey was held for 23 days in Derrada wood, Co Leitrim. He as rescued by the gardai and the army, but a garda probationer and an army private were killed during the operation.

Though a number of people were charged in relation to the kidnap, no one has ever been charged in relation to the two killings.

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57 – Unsolved: The murder of Grace Livingstone

On By mensreapod@gmail.comIn Controversial Case, IRA/Paramilitary links, Irish Crime, murder, murder for profit, Organised Crime, unsolved, Wrongly Accused

In 1992, a murder unlike any other happened in the quiet seaside town of Malahide. Grace Livingstone (56) was bound and then shot in the head in her own home. 

Gardai initially suspected that the culprit was someone close to her – Grace’s husband, Jim. But Jim himself suspected that whoever was responsible had taken their displeasure for him, and his position at the Irish taxing authority, out on poor Grace.

Her murder remains unsolved.

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