Irelands Vanishing Triangle

The area in Ireland has been identified due to missing people that are between their late teens and forties, all women and all have disappeared without any explanation or evidence. They appear around the eastern part around the borders of Leinster. The unofficial list gives 6 to 8 people that went missing and the popular hypothesis is that it may have been a serial killer (or killers) that operated in the area during this period. The women have been in the media periodically and Irish Police have an operation to try and resolve it but sadly nothing has come up as of yet.

Annie McCarrick went missing in 1993, she was 26 years old, an American student who was last seen outside Johnny Fox’s pub in Glencullen, County Dublin: After that in the same year is Eva Brennan, aged 40 who left her parents house to go back to her apartment and was never seen again. A year later, Imelda Keenan who was 22 years old went missing from Mountmellick, County, she went missing 3^rd January 1994 and the last sighting of her was in Waterford.

Josephine Dollard, aged 21 went missing in 1995 and was in the Moone area, she was hitchhiking back from Dublin to Kilkenny and a witness saw her using a payphone but that’s the last sighting. Then in 1996 Ciara Breen, aged 18, went missing from Dundalk and in the same year Deidre Jacob went missing without a trace. She was a few yards from her parents and her case is puzzling because she was also near passing motorists who witnessed her approaching her parents drive-way, however she never made it. In 1996 Fiona Pender was 7 months pregnant at 25 years old. She stepped out of her flat one evening and was never seen again. Then in 1998 came the disappearance of 19 year old Fiona Sinnott, who was last seen leaving a pub in Broadway, County Wexford.

In 2012 there was a renewed interest because news broke about a 30 year old pregnant woman named Aoife Phelan who disappeared as she walked home from her friends. Her remains were later found, sadly, and a 24 year old man was charged with her murder, he was not linked to the other missing women.

For many it seems that they fear it is the work of a serial killer, either alone or with an accomplice, police have looked at Larry Murphy for this and was convicted of murder in 2001 for indecent acts and trying to strangle a Carlow business woman. He was surprised by two hunters as he tried to do so and ultimately they saved the poor woman. He strongly maintains that he is NOT connected to the murders and a woman said she knew it was not Larry Murphy, others also say however that since his imprisonment the vanishing stopped, but this is conjectural and does not really answer anything about where the poor women are.

Old BBC Article on the matter

Mysterious Universe Article

Image: https://www.jfp.ie/

John Norman Collins

The Michigan Murders were committed by serial killer John Norman Collins, they were a highly publicized series of killings between 1967  to 1969. The murders began with Eastern Michigan University student Mary Fleszar on July 10th, 1967 and her body was found in August on an abandoned farm a few miles north of where she had disappeared.

Two days after her remains had been identified, minus her hands and feet, a young man arrived asking to take photo’s of the woman and was rightfully denied. They did not give a clear description of the man either.

A year later student Joan Schell was found dead with multiple stab wounds, she had last been seen with Collins, who was a failing student and when questioned he claimed he was with his mother just north of the Detroit border, police took him at his word.

March 1969, Denton Cemetery gave up another victim of Jane Mixer, a law student (University of Michigan) she was shot and strangled, alongside her were her shoes and a copy of Joseph Heller’s novel ‘Catch 22’. Originally it was thought she might be part of the murders but later on a 62 year old called Gary Leiterman was convicted in regards to her death.

26th March, 1969 gave up another victim, Maralynn Skelton who had been badly beaten, and there was speculation it might be drug related, she had spent some time near Collin’s place and then three weeks later a 13 year old, Dawn Basom was found strangled. She had last been seen along a dirt road where Collins rode his motorcycles on a daily basis. Public outcry was increasing, Alice Kalom was found in a field with a cut throat, stab wounds and a gunshot to the head.

The police then had another body to contend with, Karen Sue Beineman, she was beaten and strangled to death. It was this murder that led to his discovery, whilst waiting on Beineman the day she disappeared a woman in a wig shop had gotten a good look at the man on the motorcycle.  From then on the details unraveled  clues and testimonies led to him being placed on trial for the murders.

Collins was tried August 19th, 1970 and found guilty, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole due to Beineman’s brutal slaying.  In the early 1980’s he changed his name to Chapman, which was his mother’s maiden name, and is currently serving his life sentence in the Marquette Branch Prison, Michigan.

News Article on CBS

The Final Ripper Victim

I say final as this is how everyone else has identified it, but as per my previous comment unless he was caught, murdered or moved on there is little chance that the murders simply ceased if we place them all together as one serial killers work.

Mary Kelly was 25, the youngest of the victims and was also given the crowning trophy of all the murders that Jack committed for being utterly horrific.

Having worked in a mortuary and funeral home, I can safely say not a lot bothers you after a while. It’s a sad fact that we become desensitised to some of the horrors our fellow “man” commits. I believe she may well have been one of those cases that “you never forget” when you have a career in these fields.

Mary Kelly was often with two or three other prostitutes and was usually clean clothed. She does appear to have been well liked by the people in the area but was found on occasion to be tipsy. For 8 months she had been renting a room in Millers Court, and until two weeks before that had been living there with an unemployed fish porter, Joseph Barnet.

Lack of money from them meant more arguments when Mary Kelly turned to prostitution. This had led to a broken window by the door being covered up by newspaper, rag and an old coat. Joe Barnet left when Mary brought home a homeless prostitute to stay with them. Maria Harvey gave her occupation as “laundress” and told the police she stayed there Monday and Tuesday but took a room in New Court, Dorset Street however she spent Thursday afternoon with Mary in Mary’s room at Miller’s Court.

Around 7pm Joe visited, they were friendly enough despite the split and he had said he left her alive. He did say that another woman was there with her later on but it seems unlikely to have been Maria Harvey as he would have said her name, he did after all know who she was.

Whilst he was there with Mary they were visited by Lizzie Albrook, she left after a chat and according to Barnet he told her he was sorry that he had no money and could not help her out. He then went back to his own lodging house and played whist until around 12.30am.

Around 4am 9th November two neighbours reported they heard cries of murder but to them this was a regular occurrence. It was often a sign of a drunken brawl in the area or domestic violence. The local residents would not have liked to get involved and so nothing more happened.

10:45 the next morning Mary Kelly’s landlord, John McCarthy, sent his assistant, Thomas Bowyer, to get the rent from her. He banged loudly on the door twice, assumed that she was ignoring him and moved the curtain from the broken pane. He rang back to the shop and told him that he had seen a LOT of blood.

The two men hurried to Miller’s Court, McCarth looked in via the window and was met with a terrible sight. The wall behind the bed was splattered like a modern slash film, on the bedside table was bloody human flesh and what was on the bed was barely recognisable as human. Lovecraft would like have described the scene as “Unimaginable horror” and this seems apt enough. The virtually skinned corpse of Mary Kelly was burnt into McCarthy’s mind and most likely haunted his dreams thereon.

The police were brought in, Inspectors Walter Dew and Walter Beck were brought in, they said he was muttering and raving about the victim, Bowyer was very clearly in shock. Beck looked in and staggered back, he told his partner not to look but he did. Both of them recalled the barbaric sight very clearly even 50 years later. Dew was struck by her wide open eyes, fixed in terror and the mutilations to her face were so ghastly that poor Joseph Barnet could only identify her by her eyes and ears.

It strikes me that there is a lot recorded about this poor woman’s death and less so about her life. Dr Thomas Bond gives a succinct report, which gives it the harsh and cold reality it deserves.

“The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat, but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle & lying across the abdomen. the right arm was slightly abducted from the body & rested on the mattress, the elbow bent & the forearm supine with the fingers clenched.

The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk & the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubes. The whole of the surface of the abdomen & thighs was removed & the abdominal Cavity emptied of its viscera.

The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds & the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone.

The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus & Kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the Rt foot, the Liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side & the spleen by the left side of the body.

The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table. The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, & on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about 2 feet square…The face was gashed in all directions the nose cheeks, eyebrows and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched & cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features.”

The Fourth Ripper Victim

Catherine Eddowes, or “Kate” was being released from Bishopsgate Police Station around the same time as Elizabeth Stride was murdered. At 8.30pm the night before a drunken Eddowes had amused onlookers with an imitation of a fire engine, loudly and drunkenly. She took a bow, laid down and then went to sleep on the pavement. PC Robinson came and asked if anyone knew who she was, as no one did she was moved to the station. She had put up a fight and refused to give her name, every time the gaoler checked she had been asleep until the next day.

By 12.15am she was awake and singing softly in her cell, she was then asked if she could leave and was told that she would leave when she could look after herself. He asked for her name and address, she gave Mary Ann Kelly, 6 Fashion Street. She said good night and headed off, following a scolding about her drinking.

It would not have taken more than ten minutes to get to Mitre Square, during which time the murdered of Stride would well have been moving in that direction. At the time this was an enclosed area with three warehouses around it, there was uninhabited houses and a shop on the south west corner. There were two houses that did have occupants and one was Richard Pearse, a City Policeman.

Mitre Square had three access points and at 1.30am PC Watkins was walking through on his beat. He had his lantern on fixed to his belt and found it deserted as he carried on through towards Aldgate. Five minutes later three Jewish men passed nearby saying there was a woman with her back to them, her hand rested on a man’s chest. With the way things were in London and the fact it looked like they were “up to no good” a wide birth was given. One of the three men, Joseph Lawende, did not see her face but was sure the clothing matched Eddowes when he was later shown the articles at the police station.

He did say that the man was around 5’9 looked like a sailor and was aged around 30 years old. He did however explain that whilst he could give a description of his clothes and vague appearance he would not be confident to pick that person out again. If this was the person that killed Eddowes then it is most likely that Lawende saw the face of Jack the Ripper.

1.44am PC Watkins came back around on his patrol and was provided the horrific sight of Catherine Eddowes, left on her back in a pool of blood with her clothes above her waist. Retired Policeman George Morris worked in a warehouse nearby and was called out to assist, the night watchman grabbed his lantern and having taken a look raced off to find more assistance.

Dr George Sequira was brought to the scene by PC Holland, PC James Harvey followed Morris to the scene. Death would have been instant after her windpipe was cut. The doctor this time said there was no need for medical knowledge, anyone with a basic knowledge of human anatomy would know where to cut for this job. He also pointed out that it might not be the case the murderer was splattered with blood. With his work done he did not touch the body and waited for the arrival of the City Police Divisional Surgeon, Dr Frederick Gordon Brown.

Door to door enquiries were organised by Inspector Edward Collar, then came Superintendent James McWilliam who arrived with detectives. A thorough look through neighbouring Spitalfields was then carried out but the killer was gone by then. It baffled both Watkins and Morris about how quietly such a terrible crime had been carried.

In actuality it was a very bold! She was with her murdered and around her other police were on patrol which included plain clothes patrols. He has slipped in to commit the murder and slipped out of the area without detection. She was removed to the Golden Lane Mortuary and was added to the Ripper’s victims.

Contrary to the previous poor soul I mentioned, Elizabeth Stride, this particular murder does seem to fit the Ripper’s usual pattern. Her clothes were left disturbed and she was despatched in the same method as well. The disturbed clothing seems to fit the motive of the others and the brazen attitude of waiting between the police beats seems to be a fitting behaviour for what we would now classify as a serial killer. It is unusual as well for a killer to change his motive, this has very rarely been the case even with today’s modern detections the type of kill is very much how they are identified, the Green River killings and the Yorkshire Ripper etc being examples of this.

The Third Ripper Victim

“Long Liz” or Elizabeth Stride was born Elisabeth Gustafsdotter in Sweden. She died 30th September 188, and was the third victim in the Ripper canon five. That afternoon she was cleaning rooms in the lodging house, 32 Flower and Dean Street, where she had been on and off for the last six years. The deputy cleaner, Elizabeth Tanner, gave her six pence for the chores.

6.30pm she was drinking in the nearby Queen’s Head pub, she came back to the lodge house at 7pm and borrowed a clothes brush as she was ready to out. She chatted with a lodger and then headed out about half an hour later.

It rained that night, (trust me that’s no surprise in England) and she was then seen 11pm when she sheltered in the doorway of the Bricklayer’s Arms. She was with a man about 5’5 and he wore a black mourning suit with a billycock hat. The man was hiding and kissing her, as he was a respectable looking man the witnesses, two men, saw it as a little odd and shouted out a bit of banter their way. They told the woman to watch out as Leather Apron would be after them, this was the known name for the Ripper at that time. Apparently a little embarrassed they hurried off after that.

11.45 a man and woman were spotted kissing by a labourer, he made a remark and they again headed off. The height matched the previous chap but he said this man looked like a clerk of some kind with a round cap on, a small sailor-like peak. By 12.30pm that night PC William Smith was to come across them both as well at Dutfield’s Yard. He said the man he saw did not match either of those from the prior talks either. This time the man was 5’7, wore a dark overcoat and deerstalker hat. He also identified her but added she had been wearing a flower pinned to her jacket.

There was a period that cannot be traced for her actions but 30 minutes before the body was found a Hungarian Jew, Israel Schwarz, turned into the yard around 12.45am and stopped to talk to a woman standing in the Dutfield’s Yard gateway, he was very certain that it was Stride herself.

He spoke no English and he used an interpreter, he may well have been witness to the start of the events but the police didn’t scrutinise him too well. Another part I feel worth noting is that there were differences in the details given between interviews to police and journalists but more so I think it is worth noting he was around 5’5 and had dark hair, broad shoulders and was possibly slightly drunk.

He felt that he was witness to a domestic attack, a man pulled her into the street, spun her around and then threw her onto the pathway where she tried to scream three times, but says it was not loudly. He says he crossed the road to avoid ending up involved. He said he saw a second man nearby who called out Lipski to the man and then the second man followed Schwartz. By this time Schwartz panicked and ran. He says the second man was around 5’11 and looked quite fresh and clean, this has led to yet more speculation an accomplice was involved.

Yet another conflict arises with the details of the man not being identified officially, but according to Chief Inspector Swanson he was not a suspect. It is now know that another woman was killed around the same time, 12.45 – 1am Elizabeth Stride and the fourth victim, ‘Kate’ Eddowes (more on her another post in).

1am Louise Diemshutz, had come back from hawking cheap jewellery and turned the pony and cart into the yard. The pony would not more in and so he headed towards the bundle causing the issue. Striking a match for a better view he spotted a woman lying on the ground and thinking it was his wide he headed into the club, when he found his wife safe he said to the club members he could not tell if she was drunk or dead. Off they went to investigate.

Several men were witness to the horror, a woman lay with her throat cut. They arranged to get a policeman and Diemshutz with a companion shouted out Murder and Police to be heard along Fairclough Street. They met Edward Spooner who came with them and looked at her, tilting her head they saw how bad it was. The blood ran from the body to the door of the club and in the woman’s hand was a piece of paper with breath freshner in it. PC Henry Lamb was the officer brought over and the crowd was now around 20/30 strong.

Lamb got them to back off and said to get the Dr. In contrast to the other victims so farhe had also said that she seemed to have been laid down quietly and her clothes did not look disturbed. Dr Blackwell said he estimated she had been dead between 20 and thirty minutes. He could not tell if the scarf she had on was there before or after, had she been standing up the scarf could have already been on. He had cut through her windpipe and she had bled out, no residents had seem to have heard anything nearby and having interrogated the locals present found no further leads.

They tried a hiding place in a loft but found it empty, then they arranged the body to be moved and by 5am the blood was being washed from the yard.

From my perspective whilst she seems to have died on the same night, I actually find her the more dubious of the canon five as a victim. Here are my reasons (please note only MY opinion) is that the skirts were not moved and throat slitting is still, and was, a pretty simple method of removing a life. She also seems to be very closely timed to another Ripper Victim and with so much movement in a short space it is worth considering that this would not have been an easy movement to make.

The lack of lower mutilation and the fact the witness seemingly saw a lead up argument that might well be the murder with her, I have to wonder if she wasn’t merely a victim of a murder who’s escalation in fame is due to the others of the time. Again… this is my opinion, she is counted as Canon and I am just playing armchair detective with those ideas!