Man (50s) arrested in Kildare in connection with 1995 murder of Jo Jo Dullard

Gardaí investigating the disappearance and killing of Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard have arrested a man on suspicion of her murder.
The case was upgraded from a missing persons inquiry to one of murder in 2020 and the man being questioned has long been the key person of interest in the Garda investigation.
The 55-year-old was arrested in an early morning operation in Kildare and is being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He is the first person to be arrested in connection with Ms Dullard’s disappearance since she vanished 29 years ago.
Searches are also being conducted at two houses and at open ground on the Kildare-Wicklow border as part of the inquiry as those properties are linked to the arrested man, who is from a well-known family.
Gardaí believe Ms Dullard was murdered around the time she vanished and her body was disposed of in a bid to conceal the crime. The man being detained has been examined for many years as part of the inquiry and all of the evidence collected to date was expected to be put to him during interviews while he remained under arrest.
Detectives have a maximum period of 24 hours to interview him, at which point he must either be released without charge or charged with an offence.
The open ground being searched is located at Ballyhook, Grangecon, Co Wicklow, where the Irish Aviation Authority has imposed temporary restrictions; an effective no-fly zone aimed at ensuring drones are not flown above the site while it is being searched.
“This area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations over the coming days,” Supt Paul Burke told members of the media at Naas Garda station on Monday afternoon.
The searches are being carried out by the Kildare divisional search team, supported by the Garda Technical Bureau and the local Scenes of Crime Unit. The services of a forensic archaeologist are also available to the Garda team if required.
Supt Burke said the family of Jo Jo Dullard had been informed of Monday’s operation and had been “fully appraised of all of today’s developments”.
The disappearance of the Kilkenny woman, who was last seen in Moone, Co Kildare, on November 9th, 1995, was classified as a murder investigation in 2020 with gardaí concluding she had “met her death through violent means”.
Speaking on the 29th anniversary of her disappearance, on Saturday, gardaí said they continued to appeal to the public for any information.
“Gardaí continue to appeal to any person who may have previously come forward who felt they could not provide gardaí with all the information they had in relation to this matter, to contact the investigation team again,” they said.
“Jo Jo’s family have now suffered from her disappearance for 29 years. An Garda Síochána is resolute in our determination to provide answers for Jo Jo’s family and bring her murderer to justice.”
Ms Dullard had been socialising in Bruxelles Bar in Dublin on November 9th before starting her journey home to Callan in Kilkenny.
She missed the last bus to Callan so got a bus to Naas before hitching two lifts to Moone. At 11.37pm she called a friend from a phone box in Moone to tell her she would be home soon and that a car had just stopped for her. That was the last time anyone heard from her.
At the time she was wearing blue jeans, black boots and a small rucksack. She was also carrying a black Sanyo cassette player and matching headphones.