The Human Lost & Found, week of January 15, 1999
Chester1851
out Friday, so it may not include the latest news on some items. Updates
will appear in next week's edition of the HLF, as will many new items, of
course.
---------------
From: "Chester Cat" <chest...@my-dejanews.com>
THE HUMAN LOST & FOUND
For January 15, 1999
This is the first official post to the Human Lost & Found mailing
list. The post is divided into three parts: Updates, Lost and
Found. To subscribe, go to http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/hlf
or to http://www.onelist.com, type hlf in the search field and follow
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to h...@onelist.com . A website will soon be in service as well. Enjoy.
-- Chester
---------------------------
UPDATES
Stanton, California: 01/14/99 --An update on the body found buried
near the mobile home of 86-year-old Katherine Poindexter. The Orange
County coroner has positively identified the body as that of Poindexter.
Her 62-year-old son Robert Poindexter has been charged with murdering
her. The manager of the mobile home park where both Poindexters
shared a trailer alerted authorities after the old woman vanished
for several months. Her son claimed she was visiting relatives,
but police searched the tiny residence anyway and discovered a body
in a shallow grave. Cause of death has not been ascertained.
Montreal, Canada: 01/12/99 - Detectives are going to compare DNA
from the corpse of Hollywood producer/pedophile David Leigh Macleod
with evidence in other Montreal sex crimes. MacLeod, a fugitive
from U.S. charges of sex with underage boys, was found dead Dec.
6 under a railway bridge MacLeod was a cousin of Warren Beatty
and his sister Shirley MacLaine, and was coproducer on "The Pick-Up
Artist," "Reds," and ``Ishtar."
LOST
Kildare, Ireland: 01/09/99 -- A local newspaper received a letter
from an unidentified man who said he gave a ride to Deirdre Jacob
last July 28, the day the 18-year-old girl vanished. It was the
latest media contact from the mysterious man. He also telephoned
the girl's parents but the "line went dead", suggesting he hung
up. According to the man, he picked up a girl resembling Deirdre
at Clane/Maynooth Road. They stopped in a town called Ardee for
a drink, where the girl allegedly told him she was running away
from a man in England. He dropped her off in another town called
Carrickmacross. In response to the man's letter, Deirdre Jacob's
parents have offered to meet him anywhere, even outside the country.
Police reportedly suspect Deirdre Jacob may be the victim of a
serial killer who is responsible for the disappearances of several
other Irish girls, though police say they still officially consider
Jacob a missing person and not a murder victim. (hlfid = 20)
Mesa, Arizona: 01/11/99 -- Though 11-year-old Mikelle Biggs has
not been found, police say they are now looking for a transient
who attempted to molest another 11-year-old girl on Christmas.
Described as a grimy, 40ish white male with blond hair, brown eyes,
acne scars and decaying front teeth, the suspect is said to have
been riding a blue mountain bike. Police also set up roadblocks
around the scene of the abduction and interviewed people driving
through, presumably in the hope they traveled the area regularly
and saw something the day Biggs disappeared. The story was aired
on the television show "America's Most Wanted" and generated about
20 tips. (hlfid = 21) See addendum below.
Addendum, According to the National Missing Children Organization,
13 Arizona children including Biggs have gone missing since 1974,
either due to stranger abduction or unknown circumstances, and have yet to
be found.
Following are details on some of them, from the Arizona Republic:
"1. Mikelle Biggs, 11. Disappeared Jan. 2 while waiting for an ice
cream truck at El Moro Drive and Toltec Street in Mesa. Her bicycle
and two quarters were left behind. 2. and 3. Cynthia Ardina Leslie,
15, and Jackie Lynn Leslie, 13. Disappeared July 31, 1974, after
briefly visiting a friend's birthday party in east Mesa. Cynthia
would be 39 now, Jackie 37. 4. Brian Bleyl was 12 when he disappeared
in February 1981 while collecting for his newspaper route in Glendale.
Authorities say Brian likely is dead, but his body has not been
found. Stephen Wilson, a Phoenix man, was tried in the case in March
1990, but he was acquitted, in part because investigators could
not produce a body. 5. Diana Shawcroft, 19, along with her roommate,
Jenny Leuth, also 19, disappeared May 24, 1996, while on a short
walk from their Glendale apartment to a nearby convenience store.
Their remains were found in August 1996 by bow hunters in the desert
near Cordes Junction. No suspects have been arrested. 6. Sarah
Skidmore, then 3, was abducted by a bearded stranger Oct. 7, 1986.
Sarah's mother had left her and two other children in the car at
a Mesa elementary school parking lot while she ran in to drop off
clothes for her son. A quail hunter found Sarah three days later,
wandering alone in the desert near Saguaro Lake. Sarah told her
parents that she saw an angel and the angel led her to the hunter.
Sarah is 16 now. No one was arrested in the case. 7. Myron Traylor
was 13 when he disappeared in south Phoenix on July 27, 1988. He
and his mother were crossing a field near home when Myron went to
buy a soft drink. Debbie Traylor went ahead, telling him to meet
her at his grandmother's home. He never did. He is still missing." - The
Arizona Republic
Oakland, California: 01/12/99 - Police are hunting for a mysterious
sniper who fatally gunned down police officer James Wilkinson, 41,
on Interstate 580. Wilkinson and his partner had arrived on a crime
scene to search for evidence when the sniper fired on them from
a nearby overpass. Whatever weapon the sniper was using it was
powerful enough to pierce Wilkinson's bulletproof vest. His partner was also
wounded. (hlfid = 22)
FOUND
Monterey, California: 01/12/99 -- A plant surveyor who was surveying
a natural habitat preserve discovered the remains of a human body
around 3:15 pm Tuesday. FBI and local criminalists have descended
on the area, scouring a 1,000-acre patch of scrub brush and oak
trees for clues. The site lies three miles from the home of Christina
Williams, 13, who disappeared seven months ago. The remains were
heavily decomposed and may have been scattered by weather or animals,
but authorities found strands of long black hair like Williams',
and said dental evidence may be sufficient to determine whether
it is Williams, who had no fillings. Friday, January 15, it was
officially determined the body was that of Williams. Williams vanished
while walking her dog early one evening in one of the decommissioned
army bases that dot the area. A witness said they later saw a frightened
Williams in the back of a car with two men, nicknamed "Skinny" and
"Fatty" by investigators. Hundreds of people, dogs and high technology
were utilized in the fruitless search for Williams, and an Internet
site, http://www.cmwilliams.org , was set up to help find her. (hlfid = 23)
Washington D.C.: 01/07/99 -- At 1:18 am on Monday, January 4, firemen
arriving to put out an SUV on fire found an unidentified man burned
beyond recognition inside. Strangely, this was the third such murder
in the D.C. area. In the pre-dawn hours of December 16, firemen
arriving to put out a car fire in the 16100 block of Holly Hill
Drive in Accoceek discovered a body in the car. Though burned beyond
recognition, the body was identified through dental records as Javal
Pierre Mathis, 18, reported missing the next day by his family.
Mathis' death was determined to be a homicide, though police have
not released the exact cause of death. Similarly, back on May 5,
Galen Wade McLaughlin, 34, was found burned in a Jeep Cherokee on
Eastern Avenue and S Street. He had been shot to death. (hlfid = 24;
source: Washington Post)
Sherman Island, California - A park worker discovered a body near
a boat ramp on this tiny island in the delta of the Sacramento and
San Joaquin rivers. The middle-aged male perished from a gunshot
wound to the torso. (hlfid = 25)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: 01/11/99 -- On January 3, Royal Canadian
Mounted Police came across an auto accident. The driver of the
car was taken to the hospital in critical condition. His passenger,
25-year-old Sherry Ann Upright, was even less fortunate. She was
apparently thrown from the car and pronounced dead on the scene.
An autopsy and on-scene investigation, however, determined that
she had been strangled to death. The driver has been charged with
first-degree murder. (hlfid = 26)
East Ridge Tennessee: 01/12/99 - A security guard found Johnny Pritchard,
31, of Georgia, shot to death in an alley behind a hospital. Police
believe the body was dumped there. (hlfid = 27)
Solano County, California: 01/13/99 -- Farm laborers working along
a road in these rolling, oak-dotted Central California hills discovered
a woman's body in an irrigation ditch Wednesday morning. The woman
was fully clothed and had been lying in the ditch for several days.
The Solano County Sheriff's Office has not identified the woman
but says she was definitely murdered. The crime scene is not far
from Pittsburg, where a serial killer has slain four women, but
Pittsburg detectives say they have not explored any connections. (hlfid =
28)
Saline County, Arkansas: 01/12/99 - Lavern Charles,24, of North
Little Rock, was found murdered. Police have no leads as yet. (hlfid = 29)
Manassas Park, Maryland: 01/14/99 -- James Berkley Moore, Sr., 35,
ended a 53-week investigation into the disappearance of his wife,
Lisa Maureen Maitland Moore, by leading detectives to her grave.
Her skeletal remains were uncovered in a grove beside an unlit,
semi-rural road. The owner of a house about 600 yards away had
noticed a foul odor coming from the grove last summer but attributed
it to chemicals or animals. Moore had recently attended a vigil
for his wife. Previously, he told police his wife went to sleep
on a couch one night and was gone when he got up the next morning,
but appeared at the police station yesterday and led investigators to her
body. (hlfid = 30)
Philadelphia, Mississippi: 01/14/99 -- Neshoba County authorities,
searching for a month for 59-year-old Willie Roberts, finally found
his body in a pond. Roberts, a drifter, was seen near the pond
before he disappeared December 8th. Police say they didn't "see
any signs of foul play," but the pond owner, a woman named Gustavia
Roberts, said she saw a stranger standing near the pond throwing
paper into it for several days, doesn't believe Roberts "got into
the pond by himself." (hlfid = 31)
Bangkok, Thailand: 01/12/99 - A heavily decomposed and headless
body was found in shallow water along the southern coast of Thailand.
Forensic specialists, however, say the body is too decomposed to
identify by any means other than comparing DNA to a parent, nor
to determine the cause of death. On December 28, an Australian
tourist, Mr. Elijah Yeo, disappeared from the nearby resort island
of Koh Pha-ngan after going for an evening stroll on the beach,
and police suspect the body may be him. But as to what happened
to him, no one at this point knows. (hlfid = 32)
Sayreville, New Jersey: 01/12/99 - A man walking his dog discovered
a teenage girl's body in some woods near this quiet suburban town.
By Wednesday, the body had been identified as Nancy Kathleen Noga,
17, who vanished Thursday evening while walking home from her cashiers
job at a shopping mall. Later on Wednesday, the Middlesex County
Prosecutor's Office announced they were looking for a young Hispanic
man seen near the woods Tuesday evening. The man was described
as as 5'6", 150-160 lbs. Noga is said to have been a cheerful girl
who did well in class, sang in the school chorus and planned to
join the Air Force after high school. The community is reportedly
in a state of fear, with husbands driving their wives to work and
scrutinizing their neighbors for possible murderous tendencies.
"It's scary. It could be anyone," remarked one resident. (hlfid = 33)
Vacaville, California: 01/11/99 - At 10:30 a.m., Monday, someone
on Interstate 80 found the body of Erik Keller, 41. The body lay
a mile from Keller's Saab sedan. Keller, a San Jose resident, was
reported missing by his wife on Monday, after he failed to return
from a Lake Tahoe skiing trip on Saturday. Authorities are calling
the death suspicious. (hlfid = 34)
Waukesha, Wisconsin: 01/13/99 - A suspected child killer led police
on several wild goose chases, a sheriff's sergeant told a jury.
Norbert "Bill" Ellis first told police that 12-year-old Jennifer
Wallace jumped off a bridge over the Peshtigo River during an argument
with her monther, Lola Bock, with whom Ellis was romantically involved.
He insisted they would find the Green Bay Packers jacket the girl
was wearing at the time. But police combed the river and found
nothing. Norbert "Bill" Ellis then called detectives from his prison
cell and said he wanted to get the truth off his chest because he
was troubled by the girl's disappearance. This time he gave them
the name of a different river where he said they would find the
girl's boots. Divers searched the second river and found some boots,
but no body. Finally, Ellis summoned the detectives and led them
to a swamp near Amberg, where they did indeed find the girl's naked,
strangled body. In his trial this week, Norbert "Bill" Ellis pled
not guilty to first-degree homicide, saying he awoke to find his
hand on the girl's throat as she was sleeping on the floor beside
the couch where he was lying. (hlfid = 35)
Fresno, California: 01/13/99 - Tuesday morning, farmworkers pruning
a vineyard noticed a knee jutting up from the dirt. The knee belonged
to a young boy, no more than three years of age, who had been deliberately
buried, and who appeared to have perished within the last 90 days.
Police are treating it as a homicide. (hlfid = 36)
Foxboro, Massachussetts 01/13/99 - The case against a murder suspect
rests on a palm print from the thigh of the murder victim. Irene
Kennedy, 75, was stabbed 29 times, bludgeoned and bitten while taking
a morning walk in Walpole park on December 1. Forensic specialists
manage to lift a palm print from her thigh, which prosecutors hope
to compare to that of Edmund F. Burke, 48, a local eccentric. Burke
was arrested December 10, after bloodhounds led police from the
murder site to his dilapidated home. Burke, however, claims the
dogs were drawn to his house because he takes care of more than
30 cats. Police did search the house and found bloody clothing,
but tests on some of the bloodstains indicated it did not come from
the victim. DNA tests on saliva collected from bite marks also
excluded him. Police denied a news report which claimed an FBI
profiler ascertained the killer was "an unemployed man who lived
with his mother and abused animals," and said the FBI is not involved.
(hlfid = 37)
Westland, New Zealand: 01/04/99 - Tourists exploring lonely Kakapotahi
beach on this South Pacific island discovered the murdered, partially
clothed body of a man. The man, a loner named David Robinson, had
lived a hermit-like life on the island for the last eight years.
Although he had some unidentified legal troubles in past years,
Robinson was remembered as a good man. Police and civilian searchers
found remnants of Robinson's clothing and belongings at several
nearby campsites, including boots and a thin, blue-foam mattress
which Robinson carried on his back. The mattress was found on a
reef near the waterline, and a boot was found on a beach a kilometre
north of the body. From this detectives have concluded Robinson
was shot while still clothed and was thrown into the ocean afterward.
His knapsack and other items have not been found. The officer
in charge of the murder inquiry, Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne
Stringer, says a flyer with a photograph, information about Robinson,
and a questionnaire will be distributed in the mail to every house
on the island in order to learn Robinson's movements in the days
before his death. Police have also entered the details of the
murder into an intranet that allows every police precinct in New
Zealand to be updated about the investigation. (hlfid = 38)
Ridgefield, New Jersey: 01/06/99 - Police are trying to identify
a body found in a reed-filled meadow near the New Jersey turnpike.
The body, a middle-aged man wearing only bluejeans, had a scar
behind the ear that "looks ike it's from brain surgery," according
to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. The man also had a large
scar across his back, another one on his shin, and was missing 11 teeth as
well. (hlfid = 39)
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The Human Lost and Found
Chester1851
<16380-36...@newsd-222.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...
CHESTER CAT: Do you have any details and/or info re the serial killer in
IRELAND you mentioned ??? TKS !!!
Here are some stories from, I believe, The Irish Times, which has been
covering the case of Deirdre Jacob since August 1998. The details do
suggest a rather menacing serial killer haunting the Irish moors,
particularly the details of the young woman murdered and dumped in a bog
with a cement slab on top of her. Also interesting that the mysterious man
who claims to have given Jacob a ride the day she died said she was running
away from a man in England. Perhaps he got that from the newspaper accounts
which say she had a boyfriend in Britain, or perhaps he really did have a
drink with her on their way to Carrickmacross, although that sounds
unlikely. A picture of Jacob:
http://www.irish-times.com/irish-times/graphics/0898/hom/thumb/d_jacob.jpg
------
Irish Times: September 26, 1998
Serial killer theory gains ground
There is good reason for a re-examination of the cases of missing women
believed to have been abducted and murdered. People living in Dublin,
Kildare and Wicklow have suspected for years that gardaí reviewing the
disappearance of several women may be coming around to the same opinion,
writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent.
The disappearance of Deirdre Jacob (19) this July near her home in
Newbridge, Co Kildare, quickly raised suspicions in the minds of seasoned
gardaí that there may be a serial killer of women in the area. Ms Jacob's
disappearance was a reminder of a similar event in virtually the same place
almost two decades before when another young woman, Phyllis Murphy, was
taken off a main road while making her way home in December 1979 and
murdered.
Ms Murphy (23) was believed to have taken a lift from someone as she left
her grandmother's house in Newbridge en route to her home in Kildare. A
large-scale search of the Curragh and surrounding countryside was begun, but
some gardaí felt i that it was badly co-ordinated.
Four weeks after her disappearance, officers familiar with the Wicklow
Mountains searched the Wicklow Gap above Hollywood and found Ms Murphy's
naked body partially hidden among trees near Ballinagee Bridge. She had been
raped and died from a form of strangulation known as vagal inhibition, where
death is caused by cutting off the blood supply to the brain.
Detectives believed insufficient resources were dedicated early on, and by
the time the body was discovered, the investigation was unlikely to succeed.
A single man living near Kilcullen emerged as the main suspect, but there
was insufficient evidence - or the genetic fingerprinting technology
available - on which to base charges.
While Ms Jacob's disappearance is still officially a "missing person"
investigation, gardaí fear she has been abducted and murdered. The Garda
Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, virtually conceded this on Thursday when he
announced the establishment of a special detective unit to re-examine the
cases of missing women believed to have been abducted and murdered.
There is good reason for a reexamination of such cases. In April 1995,
during an examination of cases of missing women arising from the
reinvestigation of the high-profile case of an American, Ms Annie McCarrick,
who disappeared in June 1993, a remarkable oversight came to light.
Detectives found that two of the women concerned had had a relationship with
Michael Bambrick, a known sex offender from Dublin.
Bambrick was arrested and admitted the strangulation and rape of both Ms
Mary Cummins (36), who had a 12-year-old daughter, in July 1992, and Ms
Patricia McGauley (43), a mother of two, who disappeared in September 1991.
Bambrick admitted he had raped, strangled and dismembered both women and
buried them on waste ground in Ronanstown, west Dublin. The remains were
exhumed. Murder charges were dropped and Bambrick is serving a 10-year
sentence for manslaughter.
The cases showed how little coordination there has been in Garda missing
persons investigations.
There is no proper computer cross-referencing system and no proper central
unit to deal with missing persons cases. With hundreds of missing persons
reports annually (20 to 50 usually remain unaccounted for each year), it is
inevitable that murders can remain undetected until bodies appear.
And bodies do, literally, reappear. On April 3rd, 1988, the decomposed body
of Ms Antoinette Smith, a mother of two from Clondalkin, was found in a peat
bog in the Dublin Mountains at Glendoo, Kilakee.
Ms Smith was last seen leaving Dublin city centre on the night of July 12th
the previous year after coming from a David Bowie concert at Slane Castle
earlier in the day. It is believed she, too, was raped, strangled and buried
in a shallow grave. No suspect emerged in this case.
The suspicions about a serial killer taking women from the
Dublin-Kildare-Wicklow area and burying their bodies in the Dublin and
Wicklow Mountains have some foundation in fact. Since Phyllis Murphy's body
was found in January 1980 up to eight women have disappeared and could have
been abducted, murdered and some, at least, buried in the barren bogland and
forest of the mountain range.
There is the still unsolved case of Ms Patricia Furlong, in her early 20s,
who was found raped on July 24th, 1982, in a field at Glencullen. She had
been at the Fraughan Beer Festival in Glencullen the previous evening.
Gardaí questioned everyone at the dance where Ms Furlong had been, including
Vincent Connell.
Connell was re-arrested in May 1990 and, on the basis of an alleged verbal
admission to detectives, charged with murdering Ms Furlong. The trial jury
accepted the statement but the case was later thrown out on appeal. Connell,
who had a history of violence towards women, died of a heart attack, having
always protested his innocence.
On June 23rd, 1992, yet another body appeared out of the bog only a mile or
two from the site where Antoinette Smith was found. This time it was that of
Mrs Patricia Doherty, in her 30s, who worked as a prison officer and had two
young children. She disappeared two days before Christmas 1991 after leaving
her home in Allentown, Tallaght, for last-minute Christmas shopping. She was
found in a collapsed peat bank at Glassamucky Breakers, Kilakee, on June
23rd, 1992.
On March 3rd, 1993, an American literature student, Ms Annie McCarrick, who
had come to Dublin some years earlier and fallen in love with the city and
its adjoining hill country, left her flat in Sandymount for a trip to
Glencullen and disappeared.
A major investigation was conducted. Ms McCarrick's family petitioned the US
ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, which spurred the Government and gardaí
into the wider examination of missing women cases that led to the
discoveries about Patricia McGauley and Mary Cummins - and to the door of
Michael Bambrick.
However, there has been no sign of Ms McCarrick, who was described as
trusting to the point of naivety. It is believed she, too, was abducted and
killed and lies buried somewhere in the mountains.
ANOTHER unsolved disappearance which fits into the geographical and general
picture of the suspected killer or killers is that of Josephine "Jo Jo"
Dullard (20). Ms Dullard was last seen at 11.30 p.m. on November 9th, 1995,
at a telephone kiosk, having left company in a public house in Callan, Co
Kildare. It is believed she hitched a lift as far as Castledermot, never
making it home to the village of Moone.
There has been no sign of her since. It is believed she, too, is buried in
the mountains which loom to the east of the road from which she was taken.
Gardaí suspect, but have no evidence, that Ms Eva Brennan (40), from south
Dublin, who disappeared on July 23rd, 1993, was also murdered and buried.
She disappeared after leaving her parents' home in Terenure to return to her
flat in Rathgar.
The latest feared victim, the student teacher, Deirdre Jacob, was last seen
walking home along Brennanstown Road, after having gone to Newbridge to post
a money order to England on July 28th last.
Ms Jacob is described as a conscientious young woman. When her parents
returned home at tea time the day she disappeared, they immediately feared
for her safety and contacted gardaí. The gardaí quickly began to share the
parents' fears and believe she, too, is the victim of an abduction and
murder.
There are other unsolved disappearances and seemingly random murders outside
this area. Ms Deirdre Mulcahy (19) was found raped and strangled on
September 14th, 1989, in Midleton, Co Cork. A 25-year-old Cork man was
subsequently charged and acquitted four years later. Ms Mulcahy's murder
remains unsolved.
Ms Marie Kilmartin (36) disappeared from Portlaoise on December 16th, 1993.
Her body, too, was found in a remote bog at Pims Road, half-a-mile off the
Mountmellick-Portarlington road, six months later. A concrete slab had been
placed on her chest, submerging her in the bog hole.
Ms Fiona Pender (25), from Tullamore, was seven months' pregnant when she
disappeared on the evening of August 23rd, 1996. She was last seen leaving
the flat which she shared with her boyfriend in Church Street, Tullamore.
A Dundalk woman, Ms Ciara Breen (17), was last seen when she left home at
Bachelor's Walk in the town on February 12th, 1997. She took no possessions
and, at the time of her disappearance, was in the middle of protracted
orthodontic work to replace her front teeth.
Ms Fiona Sinnott (19), of Lady's Island, near Rosslare, Wexford, is also
believed to have been murdered and secretly buried. Ms Sinnott was last seen
in early February leaving a pub in Broadway, Wexford. Gardaí have drained
lakes and trawled across farmland but have found no trace of her.
-------
The Irish Times: January 18, 1998
Father in new appeal to caller
By Catherine Cleary
The father of missing woman Ms Deirdre Jacob (19) appealed again yesterday
for an anonymous male caller to contact gardaí.
More than 100 people have contacted gardaí, some calling from Northern
Ireland, since a recording of the man's voice was played on radio news
reports and on the Crimeline programme last Monday. Most of the callers
believe they know the man. However, the man himself has not contacted the
Gardai.
The man has made eight phone calls: three to the Leinster Express, two to
gardaí in Newbridge, Co Kildare, one to gardaí in Carrickmacross, Co
Monaghan, one to Northern Sound radio and a final call to the Jacob house
outside Newbridge. This last call, in October, was brief, with the caller
saying he was "the man from the North" before the line went dead.
The family's last contact was a letter purporting to have been written by
the man two weeks ago.
In each of the calls he has said he gave a young woman matching Ms Jacob's
description a lift to Carrickmacross on the day she disappeared. She had
attended a disco in the town some weeks before she disappeared, a fact which
had not been disclosed.
Mr Michael Jacob said yesterday he believed there was nothing to indicate
that the caller was a hoaxer. "All I can go on is that I've spoken with
everyone who has had a phone conversation with him and all those people -
seven of them - feel he was genuine. We have made it known in numerous ways
that he has nothing to fear from us."
Mr Jacob said he and his wife spent seven weekends in Co Fermanagh handing
out leaflets and putting up posters. "We have at this stage sent out
hundreds of appeals to him."
Local papers in Co Fermanagh are due to publish appeals this week for the
man to come forward.
Mr Jacob said if the man had given a different woman a lift on the day his
daughter disappeared and had mistaken her for his daughter, then it was
surprising that this young woman had not come forward.
Ms Jacob disappeared from near her home outside Newbridge on July 28th. The
calls from the man, who has a pronounced Northern accent, are the only lead
in the investigation.
Insp Seán Lavin said gardaí were sifting through calls made to them after
the tape was played. "It will take some time to go through them all and we
won't know until we go through them."
----------
The Irish Times, early January:
Letter prompts appeal on missing daughter
PAPER ROUND/Kathryn Holmquist
The Leinster Leader's exclusive lead had all the tension and enigma of good
thriller. Except that it was real and it exposed the suffering of parents
who have been going through torture for the past five months, since their
daughter disappeared.
Michael and Bernadette Jacob, the distraught parents of missing Newbridge
woman Deirdre Jacob (19), appealed to a "mystery man" who may have vital
information to come forward after a tantalising unsigned letter was sent to
the newspaper last week. The man first contacted the Leinster Leader
newsroom by phone on September 8th, 1998, and since then has made several
more phone calls to media and gardai, and one short call to the Jacobs
themselves, the newspaper said. In the latest letter, which was posted in
Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, on Monday, January 4th, he repeats his claim that
he gave a woman matching Ms Jacob's description a lift from Clane to
Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan on July 28th, the day she disappeared. "I ask
the people of Carrickmacross to take it from here and help you. Someone in
Carrick knows something," said the anonymous letter-writer.
"We are a family in grave difficulties," said Michael Jacob. "We have lost
our daughter. There is this man, a family man, in Co Fermanagh who seems to
have some information about a girl.
"There were a number of calls and now the letter and we're still no nearer
to knowing one way or the other whether it was Deirdre or another girl.
"What we want this man to do, one family to another, is to meet us anytime,
anywhere on his own terms, just to sit down and talk," said Mr Jacob. ...
<rest snipped>
------------
Leaflets aim to help search for woman
By Paul Cullen
An Post will distribute leaflets today seeking information about the missing
woman, Ms Deirdre Jacob (18), to 6,000 houses near her home in Newbridge, Co
Kildare.
Local gardaí say they have had a good response to a reconstruction of the
student teacher's lastknown movements on July 28th which was broadcast on
RTÉ television news on Tuesday evening.
The incident room in Newbridge Garda station received dozens of calls,
according to a spokesman, but yielded no new information.
Ms Jacob was last seen about 300 yards from her home on the Barrettstown
Road, a mile outside Newbridge. Gardaí say they are "baffled" at by her
disappearance.
Her father, Mr Michael Jacob, yesterday renewed his appeal to farmers and
land-owners to check their premises for any clues. "Someone out there could
have a tiny piece of information that might be exactly what the gardaí
need," he said.
Gardaí are still anxious to talk to anyone who walks the Hawkfield Bog,
about a mile from Ms Jacob's home. A girl roughly matching Ms Jacob's
appearance was seen walking there at about 5 p.m. on the day she
disappeared. But she was believed to be wearing a tracksuit and carrying a
rucksack. Ms Jacob was probably wearing navy jeans and carrying a shoulder
bag with the CAT logo.
Garda underwater teams yesterday continued their search of the Liffey
nearby, while Civil Defence and local volunteers searched fields and
hedgerows.
Anyone with information should contact the Garda in Newbridge, tel: (045)
431212, or the Garda confidential number 1-800666111.
-------------
Gardai 'baffled' by disappearance
By Paul Cullen, in Newbridge, Co Kildare
Friend retraces last known movements in Newbridge
Just like the road which leads from the bustle of Newbridge's town centre to
the home of Ms Deirdre Jacob in quiet countryside a mile away, the Garda
investigation into the young woman's disappearance appears to have come to a
dead end.
Ms Jacob walked along this route a week ago yesterday, chatting with friends
on the way home. Beyond the housing estates, the Liffey and the grandeur of
Newbridge College, the Barrettstown Road narrows into a country lane,
twisting past a small evangelical church into dark treelined solitude. It
was here that Ms Jacob was last seen, at about 3 p.m. on July 28th.
The Garda is "baffled" by her disappearance, which is considered "totally
out of character".
Before the staging of a reconstruction of Ms Jacob's last movements by a
friend, Insp Seán Lavin conceded yesterday there were no new developments in
the case and renewed his appeal to the public for fresh information.
A student teacher in Britain, Ms Jacob (18) had just returned from a weekend
with friends in Cavan.
Mr Michael Jacob describes his daughter as "cheerful and outgoing", and the
broad smile that looks out from her photograph appears to confirm this.
Dozens of neighbours and friends have joined Civil Defence teams, the Garda
sub-aqua unit and sniffer dog teams in the search for clues into her
disappearance. But intensive combing of the fields, hedgerows and rivers in
a 31/2-mile radius has failed to turn up any clues.
Less welcome helpers have also offered their services, such as clairvoyants
who have claimed to know her whereabouts. But their testimony has proved
vague and often contradictory.
In the town centre, posters relating Ms Jacob's disappearance stand in
sombre contrast to the "Welcome Home Kildare" banners erected after the
county won its first Leinster GAA football championship in 42 years at the
weekend.
Many volunteer helpers forsook the match and last Sunday's celebrations to
stay with the search.
Yesterday was children's allowance day at the local post office, and a queue
of mothers and children snaked out of the building. A week earlier, video
cameras showed Ms Jacob sending a £180 sterling bank draft to pay for a flat
she plans to share next year with other Irish students attending her college
in Britain.
The postmaster, Mr John Normile, says An Post has offered to distribute
leaflets seeking information about Ms Jacob's case to 6,000 local homes.
Locals say the Jacobs are a quiet and reserved family, inclined to keep to
themselves.
Nonetheless, they have strong links with the area. Deirdre's uncle farms
next door and her grandmother runs a sweet and toy shop, O'Grady's, on High
Street. This was closed yesterday, its display of toy guns and tin whistles
kept firmly under wraps.
For yesterday's reconstruction, a friend of the missing teenager traced her
last-known movements. At about lunchtime, she visited her grandmother's shop
on High Street.
At about 2.20 p.m. she appeared on the closed-circuit television in the AIB
bank nearby. Ten minutes later she visited the post office, before walking
home.
She was seen talking to a friend near the pedestrian crossing, and then
observed a number of times on her way back home, the last about 300 yards
from her gate at about 3 p.m.
Ms Jacob is described as 5ft 2in to 5ft 3in in height, of slim build, with
dark brown hair not quite shoulder-length, and grey/green eyes.
When last seen she was wearing navy jeans, Nike white runners with some
blue, a navy polo shirt with white on the collar and short sleeves. She may
have been wearing a navy sweatshirt with the Nike logo on the front, with a
beige colour and a red stripe on the edge. The black bag she was wearing
carried a distinctive CAT logo in yellow on the flap.
Gardaí are still anxious to talk to a young woman of similar build seen
walking at the Hawkfield Bog about a mile from Ms Jacob's home at about 5
p.m. on the day she disappeared.
Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí at Newbridge, telephone
(045) 431212 or the Garda confidential number 1800-666111.
Gardai think missing woman
may have taken lift
By Catherine Cleary
Gardaí in Newbridge, Co Kildare, are investigating the possibility that the
missing student teacher Deirdre Jacob may have taken a lift shortly before
she disappeared.
Supt Seán Lavin said gardaí have had no reports of sightings of Deirdre (18)
walking the 11/2 miles into Newbridge, Co Kildare, on Tuesday, July 28th.
This has led i them to believe she might have been driven into the town,
although so far there is no evidence that she was given a lift. Deirdre was
seen by a number of people returning from Newbridge later that afternoon,
and was last seen about 300 yards from her home in the townland of Roseberry
on the Barretstown Road around 3 p.m.
Supt Lavin said gardaí had taken 300 statements and were anxious to talk to
anyone who may have given her a lift or seen her walking into Newbridge.
Gardaí also want to speak to anyone in any part of the country who may have
seen anything unusual or been approached by anyone on the roads.
Deirdre's father, Mr Michael Jacob, appealed again last night for anyone
with the "slightest shred of information" to contact gardaí. "The phone is
going all the time with offers of help, and my wife Bernie, Deirdre's sister
Ciara and myself, we've been carried along with that."
Mr Jacob said he believed it was "very, very unlikely" that his daughter
would take lifts from strangers. "She'd certainly have to know the people
very, very well. She was always quite happy to walk into town. It only took
half an hour. "We feel so hopeless in the whole situation. We feel so
inadequate and we feel there must be something we should be doing, somehow
to reach her in someway," he said. Deirdre was wearing navy jeans and white
Nike runners with blue trim, a navy polo shirt with white trim and short
sleeves. She was carrying a black bag with a distinctive yellow CAT logo.
"From Bernie, Ciara and myself we would send out the appeal to anyone that
might have the slightest shred of information," Mr Jacob said. "It might be
vital and it might be the piece of information that would get Deirdre back
safe and sound." Any information can be passed to Newbridge Garda station on
045-431212.
Father appeals for aid
in tracing daughter
The surveillance photos which trace Ms Deirdre Jacob's last-known movements
eight days ago reveal a confident, self-possessed young woman, her stance
erect and her face seemingly untroubled by any concern.
Her father, Mr Michael Jacob, yesterday described her as "very organised
within herself. She was very travelwise. If she was delayed or anything, she
would always notify us".
Mr Jacob remembers his daughter being in good spirits the evening before she
disappeared. "She had been in Cavan for the weekend with friends. She was
very cheerful when she came back, after she was picked up in town by her
mother."
The Jacobs live in a modern bungalow a mile outside Newbridge, just where
suburbia and the countryside meet. He works in Teagasc, his wife in the
local health board. A younger daughter, Ciara, was with a friend on last
Tuesday week, the day that Ms Jacob failed to return home.
Ms Jacob (18) attended the local Holy Family secondary school before
enrolling in St Mary's College in Twickenham, London, a favourite
destination for Irish students wishing to train in Britain as primary school
teachers.
She was due to repeat an exam, but gardaí say there was nothing to suggest
that she had academic worries. Indeed, the purpose of her trip into town was
to secure her accommodation for next year, when she planned to share a flat
with a number of other Irish students attending St Mary's. She had planned
to start vacation work as a hotel receptionist a few days ago.
British police have been assisting in the search for the missing teenager at
the request of local gardaí. Ms Jacob had a boyfriend in Britain, who was
also attending St Mary's.
"Deirdre had no more concerns than anyone else of her age. She had no major
worries," said Mr Jacob yesterday. "If someone, somewhere, knows her
whereabouts, could they please talk to the gardaí? And to Deirdre, if you
read this and you're aware there is a search, please contact us," he
appealed.
chest...@my-dejanews.com
"Chester1851" <chest...@spamblocktext.my-dejanews.com> wrote:
> CAP...@webtv.net wrote in message
> <16380-36...@newsd-222.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...
> CHESTER CAT: Do you have any details and/or info re the serial killer in
> IRELAND you mentioned ??? TKS !!!
>
> Here are some stories from, I believe, The Irish Times, which has been
> covering the case of Deirdre Jacob since August 1998. The details do
> suggest a rather menacing serial killer haunting the Irish moors,
> particularly the details of the young woman murdered and dumped in a bog
> with a cement slab on top of her. Also interesting that the mysterious man
> who claims to have given Jacob a ride the day she died said she was running
> away from a man in England. Perhaps he got that from the newspaper accounts
> which say she had a boyfriend in Britain, or perhaps he really did have a
> drink with her on their way to Carrickmacross, although that sounds
> unlikely.
I should have identified the man who gave her a ride the day she VANISHED --
not "died" -- since it is not established she has even been the victim of
foul play.
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