THE “CURRENT SEARCH phase” in Co Wicklow as part of the investigation into the disappearance and murders of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob have concluded.

Gardaí have said that a further assessment of the site remains ongoing.

The search is taking place at the area of land near the Wicklow/Kildare border.

An Garda Síochána has provided an update to the families of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob in relation to this phase of the search and they have been fully appraised of these developments.

Gardaí also wished to acknowledge the “ongoing cooperation and support of the landowner”.

Deirdre Jacob (left) and Jo Jo Dullard (right)

Deirdre Jacob was 18 years old when she disappeared on 28 July 1998 in Newbridge, Co Kildare. Her disappearance was upgraded to a murder investigation in 2018. 

Jo Jo Dullard was 21 years old when she disappeared from Moone in Co Kildare on 9 November 1995. 

Her disappearance was just a ten-minute journey from where Deirdre Jacob was last seen. The case was upgraded to murder in 2021. 

Deirdre and Jo Jo are two of at least six women who vanished in the east of the country in the 1990s.

The other four were Fiona Sinnott, Ciara Breen, Fiona Pender and Annie McCarrick. None of the women have ever been found. 

Operation Trace was set up in 1998 to investigate the cases of the six missing women.