Gardaí provide new update in search for missing Kilkenny woman Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob

Gardaí investigating the disappearance of Kilkenny woman Jo Jo Dullard and Kildare woman Deirdre Jacob have 'concluded their current search phase' at a site on the Kildare/Wicklow border.

A further assessment of the site remains ongoing and according to gardaí, the families of the two missing women have been updated with developments.

The search operation is being led by the Serious Crime Review Team, Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation supported by the Garda National Technical Bureau and local resources from Kildare Division as required.

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Josephine 'Jo Jo' Dullard went missing on November 9 1995 while on her way home to Callan in County Kilkenny after socialising in Bruxelles bar on Dublin’s Harry Street.

The 21-year-old missed her last bus to Kilkenny and instead boarded a 10pm bus to Naas, County Kildare, intending to hitchhike the rest of the way home.

She hitched a lift from Naas to the slip road on the M9 motorway at Kilcullen, Co Kildare, and at 11.15pm got another lift to Moone.

There, Ms Dullard called her friend Mary Cullinan at 11.37pm from a phone box.

During that call, Ms Dullard told Ms Cullinan that a car had stopped for her and she was going to take the lift.

Ms Jacob was last seen near her home at Roseberry, Newbridge, in Co Kildare at around 3pm on July 28 1998.

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She was 18 at the time of her disappearance and had just completed one year at St Mary’s University in London.

On the day she was last seen, Ms Jacob had walked into Newbridge town to get a bank draft to send to a college friend in London for their rent deposit.

At 2.14pm, she was observed on CCTV walking on Main Street, Newbridge, and shortly after was observed in the AIB bank.

At 2.26pm, Ms Jacob was observed again on CCTV queuing in the Newbridge Post Office and at 2.32pm was seen on CCTV speaking with a friend outside the Post Office on Main Street.

The last-known recording of Ms Jacob on CCTV was recorded at 2.35pm, walking outside the PTSB Bank on Main Street.

She was last seen shortly after 3pm near her family home.

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