Irish police may have made a major breakthrough in their bid to find three missing women – including Irish American Annie McCarrick – feared to be victims of convicted rapist Larry Murphy.
Officers are currently digging up the concrete base of a remote hunter’s cabin near Murphy’s Wicklow home.
A forensic scientist pointed the police towards the cabin after discovering evidence that Murphy may have used it if he had succeeded in his attempts to kill a woman before she was rescued by two hunters in February, 2000.
Murphy abducted the young woman in Carlow and drove her to the Wicklow mountains where he repeatedly raped her. Reports say he had bundled her into his car and intended to kill her when the hunters came across him near the cabin.
Now released, Murphy served 10 and a half years of a 15 year sentence for the crime.
Officers investigating the case have always believed that Murphy had a remote location lined up to bury his victim.
The Irish Examiner reports that the hunting cabin now being searched is 800 metres from the scene of the rape and about five miles from Murphy’s Baltinglass home.
Murphy has previously been questioned about the disappearance of three women - Jo Jo Dullard, Deirdre Jacob and Annie McCarrick – in the area between 1993 and 1998.
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Detectives in charge of Operation Trace believe Murphy is linked to the disappearance of McCarrick, the 26-year-old from New York who returned to live in Ireland after her time there as a student.
She was last seen in the company of an unidentified man at a famous tourist pub in the Wicklow village of Enniskerry on March 26th, 1993.
McCarrick’s case is one of those under investigation as part of Operation Trace. Officers have confirmed that the current Wicklow search is linked to Murphy, now believed to be living in Holland after his release.
“There is information coming in very regularly regarding Operation Trace,” a source told the Irish Examiner. “This is just one of a number of searches. The majority don’t turn up anything; some do.”
Barry Cummins, author of Missing Without a Trace in Ireland, said people wondered where Murphy was going to bring his rape victim.
“One of the questions was what he intended to do with the body had he succeeded in murdering her, which by his own admission he had intended,” he told the paper.
“Where was he going next with the body in the boot of the car? Where was he bringing her?”
4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jburnette | Mar 29, 2013, 11:01 AM EDT
I wonder how many more victims there are scattered around Larry Murphy? Evil men like him do not change, because his evil urges are too great. He needs to be stopped like a mad dog. Too bad a bullet was not put into his head!
IrelandNorth | Jan 13, 2012, 08:31 AM EST
Whatever the facts about this case, the way the Irish authorities handled his release was nothing short of disgraceful. It was obviously leaked to the press, who then harried him like blood hounds. All because he wouldn't engage with prison counselling services. Justice?
merefalow | Jan 12, 2012, 02:24 PM EST
10.5 years for what he has done,ITS A VERY BAD JOKE.these people who release persons of his ilk prematurely to reofend should be held personally responsible when these people almost always reofend.
cuddlybuddly | Jan 11, 2012, 12:48 PM EST
Every time I look at that face I feel a shiver down my spine..This Guy has had a murderous Field Day and is walking free!!! What is wrong with us that we cannot protect people from this sociopath from striking again!!!