Gardaí searching for human remains in McCarrick case
Gardaí investigating the murder of Annie McCarrick, who went missing in Dublin over 32 years ago, have begun searching for human remains.
A cadaver dog has been brought in to search a house in Clondalkin which has been sealed off for the past two days.
A 62-year-old man arrested on suspicion of the murder of the 26-year-old American woman is still being questioned at a garda station in Dublin.
The invasive search of a house in Clondalkin intensified on its second day today when gardaí brought in a cadaver dog.
The specialist dog, which is on loan from the PSNI, has been introduced as part of the search of the house, the front driveway and the 100ft back garden.
Gardaí have also been using heavy equipment, a mini digger, a concrete saw and a kango hammer to excavate in the search for evidence in the murder investigation.
Gardaí say the current residents are not connected in any way with Ms McCarrick or her disappearance.
The 62-year-old man, arrested yesterday morning on suspicion of murder by detectives from the Serious Crime Unit, is still being questioned at a Dublin garda station.
The businessman, whose home in Co Meath has also been searched, knew Ms McCarrick in the 1990s and is described by gardaí as an associate who moved in her circle.
He must be either charged or released later today.
Gardaí say they are keeping an open mind as to whether today's search will yield anything and point out the introduction of a cadaver dog is part of the process in cases like this.
The search at the Clondalkin house is expected to continue for a number of days.
Originally from New York, Annie McCarrick visited Ireland on a school trip as a teenager.
Her parents said that she had fallen in love with the country and its way of life.
In the late 1980s, she completed her third-level studies at St Patrick's College in Drumcondra and St Patrick's College in Maynooth before returning to New York to study at Stony Brook University.
She moved to Ireland permanently in January 1993 and lived at St Cathryn's Court in Sandymount in Dublin with two other tenants.
She worked as a waitress at the Courtyard Restaurant in Donnybrook and Café Java on Leeson Street.
On 26 March 1993, Ms McCarrick spoke to both of her flatmates before they left separately to travel home for the weekend.
She had invited friends to the apartment for dinner the following day and was making plans for her mother to visit the next week.
Ms McCarrick had bought groceries on the morning of 26 March in Quinnsworth on Sandymount Road - confirmed by a receipt found in unpacked shopping bags in her apartment.
Gardaí said the receipt showed the date and time of her purchases as 26 March at 11.02am.
This is the last confirmed activity of Ms McCarrick.
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
‘We we're full of hope': Aunt of Annie McCarrick says family disappointed after murder suspect released
Annie McCarrick's mother Nancy is used to waiting. She has been waiting for 32 years to find out where her only daughter's remains may be buried. When she received a 3am phone call on Thursday from the Garda team investigating her daughter's murder, it brought a new level of emotional intensity to the family's wait for answers. A man who knew Annie McCarrick had been arrested on suspicion of her murder . Fortunately, Nancy McCarrick's younger sister, Maureen Covell, was staying with her when the gardaí called. She has supported Ms McCarrick since 1993. READ MORE Annie McCarrick was nine years younger than Ms Covell, who is now 67. Both women were like best friends and spent lots of time together. From early on Thursday morning until the suspect was released without charge on Friday afternoon, an extended Irish-American family living in the Long Island area of New York had their fingers crossed. After all, this was the first arrest in a case whose narrative has changed completely since a new team of Garda investigators were appointed. 'Naturally, we were full of hope,' said Ms Covell. 'At last, it seemed there would be answers. There have been so many attempts over the decades to solve this case but there had never been any conclusive or definitive answers.' It was a case of disappointment once again for the family on Friday, as the man was released without charge . A search and excavation at a house in Clondalkin, Dublin, which was linked to him, is ongoing. Speaking to The Irish Times from her home in Long Island, Ms Covell said: 'All of us are quite disappointed as we were hopeful that some results would come of this arrest and interrogation. It is important to say that we haven't given up all hope as it seems the gardaí are getting close. We cautiously look forward to hearing if there are any findings with regards to the excavation. 'We appreciate the continued efforts of the gardaí as they follow some very recent leads.' She added that the family continues to hope for 'closure and answers along with a possible conviction to this 32-year- old nightmare'. Ms Covell said the family had been left deeply frustrated by elements of the original Garda team's approach to the investigation. 'Unlike my dear sister, who has remained so graceful and stoic throughout this ordeal, I still find it very frustrating that all the faxes our family and friends sent to the gardaí after Annie's disappearance about significant issues in her personal life were ignored at the time,' she said.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Search for remains of Annie McCarrick set to continue after main suspect released without charge
The search for the remains of Annie McCarrick at a house in Dublin was due to continue through the weekend after the man questioned on suspicion of her murder was released from Garda custody without charge on Friday afternoon. The businessman, aged in his 60s, who knew Ms McCarrick well, was interviewed for a total of 24 hours in the period since his arrest on Thursday morning when his home in the east of the country was also searched. He denies any wrongdoing in relation to the disappearance of New Yorker Ms McCarrick (26) from Sandymount, South Dublin, in March, 1993, or her murder. Annie McCarrick, who went missing in 1993. Photograph: An Garda Siochana/PA Wire 'The male aged in his 60s who was arrested on the morning of 12th June, 2025, and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 has been released without charge,' the Garda confirmed in a statement. READ MORE On being released from Irishtown Garda station at about 3pm he was met by waiting photographers and TV camera crews before being driven away. Gardaí on Friday afternoon brought a cadaver dog into the search at the house in Clondalkin in the event the dog may respond when checking the rear of the property where excavation had taken place. The Garda search team used diggers, a consaw and a Kango hammer to excavate in an area that includes some built structures. Gardaí remove a skip at a house in Clondalkin, west Dublin. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin Gardaí bring a cadaver dog into a house being searched in connection with the murder of Annie McCarrick. Photograph: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin Before the search began on Thursday morning, skips with construction waste were seen outside the house as renovation work was under way. However, The Irish Times has established that nothing connected to Ms McCarrick was found during the recent work at the house to prompt the Garda excavation. Instead, the search and excavation, and the arrest of the main suspect, were pre-planned on the part of the Garda investigation team. The house was being searched because the suspect was linked to it. . The current owners of the property, who bought it in 2011, have no connection to the murdered woman or the Garda investigation. The suspect was arrested by detectives from the Garda's Dublin south-central division's serious crime unit based at Irishtown Garda station. He knew Ms McCarrick and was at one time very close to her. [ Annie McCarrick: Cold case murder detectives must overcome poor investigations of 1990s Opens in new window ] He was flagged to gardaí as a possible suspect in the case in the immediate aftermath of the New Yorker's disappearance. Friends of Ms McCarrick were concerned about the man as she had told them she felt pressured and harassed by him and that he had struck her on one occasion. Ms McCarrick's friends outlined those concerns in fax messages to the Garda investigation team. They have always believed the information they supplied was not properly handled and was not factored into the initial inquiry in any meaningful way. However, in recent years – particularly since the case was upgraded from a missing persons inquiry to a murder investigation two years ago – the man arrested and since released became the key suspect. Gardaí are also very interested in a close associate of his and travelled abroad earlier this year to interview him. Detectives believe the two men were together on the weekend Ms McCarrick vanished. Both men were interviewed in 1993 and have been spoken to several times in the years since then. In March 1993, Ms McCarrick, from Long Island, New York, was living in rented accommodation at St Cathryn's Court, Sandymount, with two friends. They last spoke to her at the property on the morning of Friday, March 26th. Amid mounting concerns for her safety, Ms McCarrick was reported missing to gardaí that Sunday, more than 48 hours after her last confirmed sighting.
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dog that found Tina Satchwell used in search for Annie McCarrick
Gardai are using the same sniffer dog that found the remains of Tina Satchwell to search for those of missing Annie McCarrick, it has emerged. The dog, called Fern, has been lent to the Garda by the PSNI – and is specially trained to indicate the scent or presence of dead bodies. The dog was brought over the border on Friday morning to search a home in Clondalkin, south west Dublin as part of the hunt for Annie – while detectives continued to question a man on suspicion of the American student's murder. That suspect, who is a millionaire businessman, walked free from a Dublin Garda Station on Friday afternoon – after officers released him without charge. But sources say the man, who is in his 60s, is still the focus of the Garda murder investigation – and officers will continue to build a case against him. And PSNI cadaver dog Fern was on Friday playing a key role in that investigation – by using her special skills to examine the house in Clondalkin that was sealed off on Thursday morning, around the same time the suspect was arrested. Gardai stressed that the current residents of the house were not in any way connected with Ms McCarrick, 26, or the case of her disappearance. But Fern was brought in to examine if Annie, who was from New York but was living and working in south Dublin when she disappeared in March 1993, was secretly buried there. 'Cadaver dogs are specially trained for just that,' a source said. 'Their task is to indicate the scent of death or the presence of human remains in a location. 'The dog is looking for remains, or signs that remains were once there.' The house was sealed for a second day on Friday and gardai said the search would continue for several days. As well as Fern, gardai from the Technical Bureau and officers from Irishtown station – where the probe into the murder of Annie is based - were also carrying out an invasive search of the property. The gardai were using specialist equipment as part of their search. But sources told the Mirror that gardai did not expect any major developments in the coming days. 'It is a complex investigation and a slow burner,' a source said. 'This could go on for some time yet.' The warning came as gardai confirmed that the businessman suspect had been released without charge – and that the investigation would continue. The force said in a statement: 'Gardaí continue to investigate the disappearance and murder of Annie McCarrick in March 1993. 'The male aged in his 60s who was arrested on the morning of 12th June, 2025 and detained under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 has been released without charge. 'The searches in relation to this investigation remain ongoing and are being supported by a cadaver dog from an external agency. 'Searches will continue over the weekend. Updates will be provided as appropriate. 'Investigations ongoing.' Fern is one of three cadaver dogs used by the PSNI that are occasionally lent to the Garda force as they don't have their own. The same dog indicated the remains of Tina Satchwell, 45, buried under the stairs of her home in Youghal, Co Cork in October 2023 – more than six years after she was last seen alive. Her husband Richard, 58, murdered her at the house in March 2017 – before burying her there. He was last month convicted of Tina's murder – and Fern played a key role in bringing him to justice. Satchwell is now serving a life sentence – and is likely to spend more than 20 years behind bars. That case was a long running missing person's case – like that of Annie McCarrick and gardai are now determined to also bring the New Yorker's killer to justice. Thursday's arrest was the first in the long running probe into her disappearance – and comes two years after the case was upgraded from a missing person's hunt to a full blown murder inquiry, Sources have also told us that the suspect, who is now in his 60s, had an infatuation with Ms McCarrick. He has been interviewed by gardai at least twice – but as a witness and who had an alibi. But gardai always viewed him as a person of interest in the case and he became a suspect when the probe was upgraded to murder in March 2023 – the 30th anniversary of her disappearance. The man knew Annie, had an obsession with her and had even stalked and assaulted her. As well as searching for Mrs Satchwell and Ms McCarrick, PSNI dog Fern was also used in the initial investigation into March's disappearance of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine, 56. That case was upgraded to murder in April and last month Mr Gaine's remains were found chopped up in a slurry tank at his farm near Kenmare. Mr Gaine's former tenant Michael Kelley, 53, was later arrested on suspicion of murder. Mr Kelley vehemently denies any involvement in Mr Gaine's murder and was released without charge by gardai. That investigation is ongoing.
