24: TRIANGLE, PART 1

December 7, 2022·57 min·5 clips

Six women vanished or were murdered in an 80-mile area of Ireland, with police launching a task force to find a possible serial killer.

Host Jana opens with an overview of what a 'vanishing triangle' refers to in crime contexts, using examples like the Bridgewater Triangle and the Bennington Triangle, before introducing Ireland's version. She explains the Irish Vanishing Triangle covers an 80-mile area with multiple unexplained disappearances sharing similar characteristics, first named by the Irish media in the 1990s. The first case Jana presents is Antoinette Smith, 27, who attended a David Bowie concert on June 11, 1987, went to a club afterward, and was last seen walking toward O'Connell Bridge at 2:30 a.m. Her body was found nine months later in the Wicklow Mountains when heavy rains exposed her concealed remains; her head had been wrapped in two plastic bags. A taxi driver later described picking up a woman matching Antoinette's description with two men — one short and mouthy, one tall and quiet — near O'Connell Bridge at 3:30 a.m. and driving them toward the mountains. A dog walker also reported seeing two men behaving suspiciously near where her body was later found. The second case is Patricia Doherty, who disappeared on December 23, 1991, on a last-minute errand to buy Santa hats; her body was found by a grass cutter six months later in the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains bog, identified by a key in her pocket and dental records, with strangulation as the cause of death. Jana then introduces Annie McCarrick, 26, an American from Long Island studying in Dublin, who disappeared on March 26, 1993, during what appeared to be a solo hiking trip to Enniskerry. Her groceries were found unpacked on the table, and she was last confirmed seen boarding a bus toward the mountains. A security guard at the Johnny Fox pub reported seeing a woman matching Annie's description with an unknown athletic man around 9:30 p.m. that evening. Annie's friends reported her missing when she did not show up for a dinner engagement, and her parents flew from New York within days. Eva Brennan, 39, disappeared in July 1993 from the Rathgar suburb of Dublin after a minor family dinner argument; the Gardaí initially dismissed her disappearance due to her history of depression, suggesting suicide, until political intervention from the Irish head of state prompted a formal investigation. Eva's remains have never been found. Marie Kilmartin left her nursing home workplace on December 16, 1993, and disappeared without a trace; a payphone outside a local hospital was traced as the origin of a two-minute call to Marie's landline at 4:20 p.m. that day, but no arrest was ever made. Jana notes recurring patterns across these cases: bodies or disappearances linked to the Dublin-Wicklow Mountains area, descriptions of the same two male suspects, and the Gardaí's consistent failure to connect cases or act promptly.

As heard by us

A patient, unsettling look at a pattern that stayed in the dark too long.

The Archivist turns to the Irish Vanishing Triangle with a steady, unhurried eye, treating the cases of missing and murdered women in 1990s Ireland as something heavier than a mystery to be solved.

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Why you'd press play

You want a serious, two-part entry into the Irish Vanishing Triangle.

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