Fresh search begins in Dullard and Jacob investigations, Kildare and Carlow gardaí involved
Deirdre Jacob and Jo Jo Dullard. Image: Irishexaminer.com
A new search operation got under way today, 15 June 2026, on open ground near the Wicklow/Kildare border as part of the ongoing investigations into the disappearance and murders of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob.
In a statement issued this morning, An Garda Síochána said gardaí were assisted by the Defence Forces last week, under Aid to Civil Power arrangements, in completing a technical ground survey of the area. That land will now be searched and subjected to excavation and forensic examination over the coming days.
The operation is being led by the Serious Crime Review Team attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, working alongside gardaí from the Kildare/Carlow Division, and supported by the Garda National Technical Bureau and the Wicklow Garda Division.
Gardaí said the families of both women "have been and continue to be’"kept updated on developments and have been fully briefed. A Garda spokesperson was not available to comment further, and An Garda Síochána has asked the media to give the operation "the space and time to carry out this search operation sensitively’" A UAS Geographic Zone - restricting drone flights - remains in place over the site, with further details available on the Irish Aviation Authority’s website.
Anyone with information, "no matter how small or insignificant" it might seem, is asked to contact Kildare Garda station on 045 527 730 or any Garda station. Information can also be passed on in confidence through the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
Jo Jo Dullard, from Callan, Co Kilkenny, was 21 when she went missing on 9 November 1995 after becoming separated from friends on a night out in Dublin. She called a friend from a phone box in Moone, Co Kildare, at 11.37pm to say a driver had stopped and she was taking a lift home. She was never seen again, and the case was upgraded to a murder investigation in 2020.
Deirdre Jacob was 18 and home from London, where she was training to be a teacher, when she disappeared on 28 July 1998. She had gone into Newbridge, Co Kildare, to sort out a rent deposit before vanishing close to her family home at Roseberry. Her case became a murder investigation in 2018.
This latest operation follows a major search at a quarry at Castleruddery Upper, between Dunlavin and Baltinglass on the Wicklow/Kildare border, which ran for around two weeks in February. That search was based on credible information about a suspicious burial at the site, possibly involving human remains in a vehicle, dating back to the late 1990s. Gardaí concluded that ‘current search phase’ in late February without confirming whether any evidential material had been found, saying further assessment of the site would continue.
While today’s operation forms part of the same wider investigations, gardaí have not stated whether the new site is connected to the February search. Investigators have indicated they continue to keep an open mind and follow up all information brought to the Serious Crime Review Team.
