The Cold Case Files (26 page)

At the Garda archive of unsolved murders in Santry in north Dublin, there are many other files from the 1980s. They include a 34-year-old man shot dead in Dublin on St
Stephen’s Day in 1983. The victim was shot in the head with a shotgun at a flats complex at Dunne Street, off Portland Row on Dublin’s northside. Two men were arrested the following day
and held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act on suspicion of the murder. However, both men were later released and the murder would eventually become a cold case. This was the
last murder of 1983, but there had been a number of others. For example, in April of that year a man was murdered in Ballymun in north Dublin. There was no link between the St Stephen’s Day
murder and the April murder, but the one similarity is that no-one would ever be brought to justice for either killing.

Indeed the year 1983 bore witness to a number of murders in Ireland which would never be solved. On 16 December 1983 recruit Garda Gary Sheehan and Army Private Patrick Kelly lost their lives as
they assisted in the rescue in Co. Leitrim of
IRA
kidnap victim Don Tidey. The
IRA
killed a number of other people in the 1980s in crimes for which
no-one would be brought to justice. John Corcoran was shot dead in Ballincollig in Co. Cork in March 1985 and the
IRA
killed two off-duty
RUC
officers in separate attacks in Co. Donegal. Samuel McClean was shot dead at Ballybofey on 2 June 1987, and fellow off-duty officer Harold Keys was killed in an
IRA
ambush
at Ballintra in Co. Donegal on 15 January 1989. In August 1985 a Northern Ireland businessman was shot dead by the
IRA
at his family’s second home, a bungalow in
Donnybrook in south Dublin. Forty-six-year-old Seamus McAvoy was a well-respected business figure who normally resided at the family’s estate at Coalisland in Co. Tyrone. At the funeral mass
Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich described the killing as an attack on the very fabric of Irish Catholic people. The murder was never solved.

In June 1980 a former member of the
UDR
was shot dead by the
IRA
while he was visiting a cattle-market in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan. One man was
later jailed for life for the killing, but more than one person must have been involved. Two months later, another
UDR
member was shot dead by the
IRA
in the Republic of Ireland. The 59-year-old victim was ambushed 400 yards inside Co. Donegal near the border village of Pettigo. Gardaí made some progress in their
investigations, but not everyone involved in the killing was brought to justice.

Another murder which is blamed on the
IRA
is the shooting dead of Eugene Simons, whose body was found buried near Knockbridge in Co. Louth in May 1984. The victim was
from Co. Down and had last been seen on 1 January 1981. His body was only discovered because soil had shifted at bogland and a man out walking his dog made the shocking discovery. A forensic
examination showed the 26-year-old had been shot in the head. The Gardaí who carried out the investigation suspected Eugene had been killed by the
IRA
, who then
buried his body in bogland just off the Dundalk to Carrickmacross road. The
IRA
never admitted responsibility for the killing. However, unbeknownst to everyone but
themselves, the organisation had at that stage killed and secretly buried a number of other people in the 1970s and early 80s.

The 1980s also saw a number of murders linked to an
INLA
feud. In January 1987 Mary McGlinchey, who was the wife of
INLA
leader Dominic
McGlinchey, was shot dead as she bathed her sons in the family home in Dundalk. In February 1994 the McGlinchey children also lost their father, when he was shot dead at a phone-box in Drogheda.
Neither the murder of Mary McGlinchey nor Dominic McGlinchey has ever been solved. Similarly no-one has been brought to justice for the double-murder of two
INLA
members
shot dead at a hotel in Drogheda in January 1987, nor for the shooting dead in Dublin in 1991 of a hairdresser who was a former prominent
INLA
member. In 1982 a 37-year-old
man from Co. Armagh was shot dead outside a pub at Dublin’s North Strand. The attack was blamed on the
INLA
. In October 1983 a Belfast man was shot dead and his body
was left by a roadside near Redhills in Co. Cavan. Again the
INLA
were linked to the killing, and again no-one was ever brought to justice for the murder. In 1985, a
28-year-old man’s body was found just north of the border in Co. Armagh. It’s believed he was killed by the
INLA
at Ravensdale in Co. Louth. The murder was never
solved, and if it ever is it will involve ongoing close co-operation between both police forces on the island.

The concept of the work of the Cold Case Unit is that every unresolved murder is considered on its merits. If there is evidence to be pursued it will be pursued without fear or favour. The Unit
recognises that every homicide victim has left grieving relatives and friends, all of whom deserve the very best from the State. No matter whether a murder victim was themselves involved in
criminality or subversive activity, if their killer or killers can still be caught at this stage, they will be pursued.

Elsewhere in the archives there are files on a number of innocent women who were murdered in the 1980s and whose killings were never solved. A 38-year-old woman was found
murdered in her home in south Dublin in 1985, and another woman, aged 35, was found dead on open ground in the south of the country in 1984. There is no link between these crimes. The woman found
dead on open ground had been missing for two months, and State Pathologist Dr John Harbison came to the conclusion that the woman had been strangled and her body then hidden in a ditch. And there
were other murders of women which would never be solved. In 1987, 76-year-old Lilly Carrick was murdered as she walked home in Dublin city, and in September of that year 79-year-old Nancy Smyth
(see Chapter 2) was murdered in her Kilkenny home by an attacker who then set a fire in an unsuccessful attempt to hide his crime.

In January 1985, an elderly woman was murdered at her home in Mallow in Co. Cork. The victim sustained broken ribs and injuries to her face and throat during the murderous attack. A suspect was
identified and later stood trial at the Central Criminal Court, which heard that his fingerprint was found on a broken glass in the victim’s home and a bloodstain matching his blood group was
discovered on a chair. The suspect’s wallet was also found at the scene. After an eight-day trial a jury found the accused not guilty. Having been found innocent the man left Ireland to live
in England, but five years later he was jailed for life for killing a man in London. The prisoner was later repatriated to Ireland and died in an Irish prison. The circumstances of this entire case
clearly show that behind every ‘unsolved’ murder there is a story, a bigger picture. The case of the woman murdered in Mallow is still officially unsolved, but no other suspects have
emerged since her body was discovered over a quarter of a century ago.

On 11 July 1987 29-year-old mother of two Antoinette Smith disappeared in Dublin city. She and a friend had earlier been to the David Bowie concert at Slane Castle. The two women had later gone
into Dublin city and Antoinette’s friend had last seen her in the city centre. Almost nine months later, on 3 April 1988, a man out walking in the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains spotted a body. The
weather over previous weeks had caused the soil at bogland to shift and Antoinette Smith was finally found. Her killer or killers had placed two plastic bags over her head and had buried her body
in bogland at Glendoo Mountain near Glencree. Antoinette was still wearing her t-shirt from the David Bowie concert which read ‘David Bowie, Slane 87, Big Country, Groovy.’

The failure to catch the killer of Antoinette Smith is very worrying, not just in terms of getting justice for Antoinette, but also given the fact that a number of women disappeared in Leinster
in the 1990s. Gardaí often speak about the need to establish a crime scene to gather any traces which a killer may have left behind. Detectives often say if they could find the bodies of
missing people who have been murdered, not only would they bring some solace to grieving families, but they would also have much more evidential material to work with. The detectives who
investigated Antoinette Smith’s murder carried out extensive enquiries but ultimately failed to catch the killer. So, someone who was adept at abducting a woman, murdering her and burying her
body in the mountains continued to walk free, and many people have wondered if he, or they, have struck again since.

The 1980s saw a number of other unsolved murders. In 1986 a man was strangled to death in his home in Kells in Co. Meath. The 46-year-old victim lived alone and his body was
found in the kitchen. Elsewhere, a 39-year-old man from Bray suffered fatal head injuries in an attack on Dublin’s northside in 1987. Later that year the body of a missing Dublin man was
found in the Dublin Mountains. The discovery was made by a Garda search party, which was actually searching the mountainous terrain for the Beit paintings which had been stolen from Russborough
House in Co. Wicklow. The man had been shot dead, and it’s believed his body lay undiscovered since early 1986. The decade ended as it had begun, with an innocent publican dying following an
attack. In October 1981 Lorcan O’Byrne was murdered when armed gunmen burst into the living quarters above his family’s pub, The Anglers Rest near Dublin’s Chapelizod (see Chapter
1). In 1989, a publican was beaten during a robbery elsewhere in Leinster. He was treated in hospital but died some days later. His attacker was never brought to justice.

At the Forensic Science Laboratory, in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, Dr Martina McBride is the official liaison with the Cold Case Unit, and it is through her that many items
have been submitted for forensic re-examination. As well as investigating all unsolved murders since 1980, the Cold Case Unit has also decided to re-examine many unsolved sexual assault and rape
cases. Detectives have found that there is a possibility that semen or blood which an attacker left at a crime scene in the 1970s or 80s may still be available to be retested. At the time of these
attacks, all that could be identified was a person’s blood group, but with advances in forensic science those same samples may now unmask the
DNA
of each attacker. A
special Cold Case investigation, known as Operation Fiach, has been established to see if any long-term unsolved rape cases may finally be solved.

The possibilities that forensic science now provides for catching killers is immense. Every contact leaves a trace, everything from sweat, dandruff, saliva, nasal discharge, ear wax, hair, skin,
blood, semen. It is a certainty that, in the future, more criminals will be caught as a result of their
DNA
. The work of the Cold Case Unit, and that of detectives around
the country, could only be made easier by the establishment of a
DNA
database of all known criminal offenders. Such a database has long been promised by successive
governments.

As well as liaising with the Forensic Science Laboratory, the Cold Case Unit also works closely with State Pathlogist Dr Marie Cassidy and with Clinical Anthropologist Laureen Buckley. The Unit
has asked Dr Cassidy to review medical notes and crime scene photographs on a number of unsolved cases, and on two occasions has asked her to carry out post-mortem examinations on bodies which have
been exhumed. The Unit also works with a forensic psychologist. Unlike fictional television programmes, real-life cold cases are never solved in a day, or even a week. But real-life cold-case
investigations do avail of all the latest investigative methods, including profilers.

There are dozens upon dozens of unsolved murders from the 1990s which the Cold Case Unit is tasked with reviewing. Among those cases are a number of murders of men who lived
alone and who were killed during robberies. Late on the night of 31 December 1990 66-year-old John Kennedy was stabbed to death during an apparent robbery at his home at Pearse Park in Drogheda.
It’s believed that after killing his victim the culprit stole John’s bike to make his getaway. There was widespread revulsion in Drogheda at the murder of a quiet and well-regarded man.
The possibility that the murderer was local to Drogheda has always been a strong possibility. The Cold Case Unit is currently reviewing this case.

In June 1995 a man who lived alone was murdered at his home at Stapleton Place in Dundalk and the following September a Co. Limerick farmer was shot dead outside his home. In May 1998
83-year-old Eddie Fitzmaurice was beaten, tied up, gagged and left to die in his home by a gang who broke into his home at Bellaghy, Charlestown, on the Sligo-Mayo border. Eddie lived alone above
his drapery shop. He was attacked sometime on Friday evening 1 May 1998 or early on Saturday morning 2May. The investigation by Gardaí in Mayo was massive, with 59 people being arrested and
questioned in connection with the case. It’s believed Eddie was targeted by a gang of travelling criminals.

One of the most shocking aspects of the murder is the suffering which Eddie Fitzmaurice was subjected to. His attackers had tied his wrists together and his ankles were also bound so tightly
that his circulation was severely restricted. Over a number of hours if not days Mr Fitzmaurice used his elbows, knees, buttocks and shoulders to slowly move himself along the ground towards a
window in an attempt to summon help. By the time his body was found, five days after the attack, he had managed to move from one bedroom, across a hall and into another front-facing bedroom close
to a window looking out on the street below. However, having made it that far, Eddie simply had no more strength. Because his killers had dragged him from his bed, Eddie was dressed only in his
pyjamas and at some stage during those five days and nights, as he lay on his back with his hands tied behind him, Eddie Fitzmaurice froze to death.