Deirdre Jacob

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

An Garda S Och Na Irish Police Kildare Garda (DISTRICT)

Missing From:

Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland

Summary:

Deirdre Jacob was an Irish woman who disappeared near her home in Newbridge, County Kildare on 28 July 1998 at the age of 18. She went to the AIB bank to get a bank draft, then to the post office, and was last seen approximately 3 p.m., crossing the road towards the entrance to her house on Barretstown Road. In August 2018 the Garda Síochána announced that her disappearance was being treated as a murder case.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Deirdre Jacob was last seen on the 28th July 1998 near her home, at Roseberry, Newbridge, Co Kildare at approximately 3 pm. On 28 July 1998, Jacob walked in to Newbridge town, where she went to the AIB bank to get a bank draft to pay for student accommodation for her second year at university. She was seen on CCTV footage walking along Main Street towards the bank at 2:14 p.m. She then went to the post office on Main Street to post the bank draft, and was seen on CCTV footage queuing in the post office at 2:26 p.m. She was observed on CCTV footage at 2:32 p.m., speaking with a friend outside the post office. She also visited her grandmother in her grandmother's shop. She was last seen approximately 3 p.m., crossing the road towards the entrance to her house on Barretstown Road. At the time of her disappearance, she wore a dark T-shirt with white shoes and was carrying a black bag with a yellow Caterpillar Inc logo.

Additional Details:

There has been a 20-year investigation into Deirdre's disappearance during which significant enquiries were carried out to establish her whereabouts and to investigate the circumstances in which she disappeared. As a result of new information being received, An Garda Síochána have re-classified the Deirdre Jacob investigation from a missing person investigation to a murder investigation. Gardaí upgraded the missing person case to a murder investigation last year, even though Deirdre's body has never been found. In October 2018, Gardaí stated that they had 'significant' new leads in the murder probe and identified Larry Murphy as 'a person of interest'. A prison inmate who shared a cell with Murphy in Arbour Hill Prison told Gardaí that Murphy had confided in him that he abducted a woman in Newbridge. The prisoner had come forward many years earlier, but was interviewed again over his claims. A witness also came forward to say that on the day Jacob went missing, he observed someone in the footwell of an oncoming car either crying or laughing. Convicted rapist Larry Murphy will not face criminal charges over the 1998 disappearance and murder of Kildare teenager Deirdre Jacob. Originally from Baltinglass, he was released from prison in 2010 having served 10 years of a 15-year sentence for the kidnapping, rape and attempted murder of a woman in the Wicklow Mountains in 2001. In 2016, her parents said that there was not as strong a link between their daughter's disappearance and the convicted rapist Larry Murphy as was often supposed. Gardaí were never able to place Murphy in Newbridge the day she disappeared. The only connection found was a piece of paper with Larry Murphy's name and phone number among the belongings of Deirdre's maternal grandmother after the latter's death. A large search operation has covered an isolated wooded area in the east of the county, near the Co Wicklow border and about 15km from Newbridge in an area known as Taggartstown. By 2018, Gardaí had conducted 3,200 lines of inquiry and taken 2,500 witness statements.

Case Last Updated:

Jul 26, 2026