A SEARCH IS resuming in Co Wicklow today as part of the investigation into the disappearance and murders of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob in the 1990s. 

An excavation is taking place at the area of land near the Wicklow/Kildare border, which will also be technically and forensically examined.

The search began yesterday and is expected to last for a number of days.

Deirdre Jacob was 18 years old when she disappeared on 28 July 1998 in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

She was last seen at around 3pm within yards of the driveway to her parents’ house on the Barrettstown Road, Roseberry. Deirdre never made it inside. 

Her disappearance was upgraded to a murder investigation in 2018. 

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

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

She was on her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny. At 11.37pm, she made a telephone call in a phone box to her friend Mary Cullinan. During that call, Jo Jo told Mary that a car had stopped for her and she was going to take the lift.

This was the last known interaction with Jo Jo.

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.

An Garda Síochána said it continues to “keep an open mind into these investigations”.

A spokesperson added that gardaí will follow up any information that is brought to the investigation team based at the Serious Crime Review Team.

The search operation is being led by the Serious Crime Review Team, Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, supported by the Garda National Technical Bureau and local resources from Kildare Division as required.

The search operation also has the support of other state expertise, if required.

A temporary ban on drones has been put in place in the area for the next three weeks.