MISSING: Beyond the Vanishing Triangle
2 x 50“
Episode Two Tx Monday May 15th 9.35pm RTE ONE
It’s 1995 and more women such as Jo Jo Dullard, Deirdre Jacob and Fiona Pender go missing. The public is afraid. Gardai are under pressure to get results. Could the same killer have been responsible for some or all of the missing women?
About the Series:
For decades, rumours of a so-called Vanishing Triangle, stretching from Dundalk in the North to Wexford in the South and across to Tullamore in the Midlands, have circulated in the media and the broader public at large. It suggests that the disappearances of young women during the 1990’s are somehow mysteriously linked by geography, circumstances and even perpetrator.
On the surface, some of these cases are remarkably similar. Others however are significantly different with suspicion often falling on alleged perpetrators known to the victims.
Without a body or a crime scene, a missing person case can be extremely difficult to solve. Each case has its own reality, and its own set of circumstances. What binds them all is the horrific disappearance of young women, and the trauma this leaves behind for families, for gardai and for the wider community.
For the first time, this landmark two-part series critically examines the idea of a Vanishing Triangle and raises fresh questions about the investigations. Often these missing women cases remain classified for decades as a missing person rather than a murder inquiry. Most remain unsolved to this day- leaving families in the dark, looking for answers, and calling for the cases to be upgraded to murder.
The series takes as its starting point the disappearance of Annie McCarrick in March 1993 (30th anniversary was in March 2023) at a location within the so-called Vanishing Triangle. It charts the multi-faceted and at times surprising ramifications of her disappearance -alongside others such as Deirdre Jacob, Jo Jo Dullard, Imelda Keenan and Phyllis Murphy- on the investigation of other cases of missing women and draws links between these disappearances. It also highlights other less well-known cases going back several decades such as Patricia McGauley and Mary Cummins.
Featuring in-depth interviews with investigating gardai, family members and journalists, it re-examines the question of whether a serial killer may have been at large and shines a spotlight on cases involving female victims of crime.
Episode One. Tx Monday May 8th 9.35pm RTE ONE
In 1993, 26 year old American Annie McCarrick disappears without a trace from her Dublin home. Thirty years later, her case remains unsolved. A recent upgrade of the case to murder gives her family renewed hope. But might vital clues have been missed?
