Man arrested in connection with murder of Jo Jo Dullard as gardaí search land

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard, who has been missing for almost 30 years.

Gardaí said a man in his 50s was arrested on Monday morning on suspicion of the murder of Jo Jo Dullard.

The man is currently detained under the provisions of section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 at a Garda Station in Co Kildare.

A search operation is taking place on open ground at a location in Co Wicklow near the Kildare border.

Gardaí said this area of land will be searched and subject to excavation, technical and forensic examinations over the coming days.

Officers also searched two private residences on Monday morning.

The Dullard family are aware of the developments, gardaí said.

Saturday marked the 29th anniversary of when Ms Dullard was last seen.

Ms Dullard went missing on November 9th, 1995, after spending an evening socialising in Dublin. She had been in Bruxelles bar and later missed her last bus home to Kilkenny.

She instead boarded a 10pm bus to Naas, Co Kildare.

Ms Dullard had intended to hitchhike the rest of the way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny.

She hitched a lift from Naas to the slip road on the M9 motorway at Kilcullen, Co Kildare, and at 11.15pm got another lift to Moone in the county.

There, Ms Dullard called her friend Mary Cullinan at 11.37pm from a phone box.

During that call, Ms Dullard told Ms Cullinan that a car had stopped for her and she was going to take the lift.

This was the last known interaction with Ms Dullard.

She was 21 when she disappeared.

Ms Dullard’s father, John, died before she was born and her mother Nora died from cancer in 1983.

She was the youngest of five siblings, her sisters Mary, Nora and Kathleen and brother Thomas.

The disappearance of Ms Dullard has been the subject of a sustained Garda investigation, by the investigation team based at Naas Garda Station.

The investigation is subject to ongoing review by the Serious Crime Review Team, National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Her disappearance was confirmed to be classified as murder in November 2020, with investigators believing that serious harm came to her around the time of her disappearance.

No person has been brought to justice for her murder.