CRACKING CRIME
RTÉ ONE – TUESDAY, 12TH JULY AT 9.30PM
SERIES 3 – PROG 5
The Murder of Carol Carpenter (15) – 26th August 1988 – Tallaght, Dublin – by Joseph Dowling (20)
On the 26 August 1988 – fifteen year old Carol Carpenter left her home in Tallaght to run an errand – her battered body was discovered two days later in the bushes in the centre of Killinarden Park – just 100 yards from her home.
It became apparent that Carol had been involved in a sexual assault and had been strangled. A Garda investigation was immediately begun and a number of suspects emerged. To the community’s shock – top of that list was Joseph Dowling – a friend of Carol’s brother. Carol would have known Dowling well as a neighbour and would have trusted him. He had been house-sitting for her brother further down the street on the night of her disappearance. Joseph Dowling admitted during preliminary inquiries that he had seen Carol on the night of her disappearance but had nothing to do with her murder.
When one of Carol’s shoes was found a few doors up from her brother’s house – the Garda decided to focus their investigations here. The Garda team and forensic science lab carried out tests on the house and found a number of bloodstains. Tests proved that the blood in the house matched Carol’s blood. The particular pattern formation of bloodstains in the kitchen on the fridge door could only have been made when a victim had been lying down while being attacked. It was the first time DNA profiling was used in a criminal case in the Republic. Dowling was charged with her murder and committed suicide in prison in 1994.