Deirdre Jacob

Deirdre Jacob is an Irish woman who disappeared near her home in Newbridge, County Kildare on 28 July 1998 at the age of 18.

At the time of her disappearance, Jacob had completed her first year as a student teacher at St Mary's University, Twickenham, London.

At the time of her disappearance, Jacob wore a dark navy v-neck T-shirt with white trim on the collar and sleeves, navy or black straight jeans, and blue Nike runners, and was carrying a black satchel bag with a yellow Caterpillar Inc logo. The bag has never been found.

In 2016, Jacob's 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. Her parents were satisfied that the Gardaí in Kildare were doing everything possible to locate their daughter, but that a dedicated unit would help investigations into missing persons cases. 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. Jacob’s family still live in Newbridge, and although they knew the reclassification of her disappearance as murder was to happen, they still found it "heart-wrenching and shattering to hear the hard, cold language of a murder investigation being used". The search was begun after a review of evidence and involved as many as 15 people, from the Garda Technical Bureau as well as a forensic archaeologist. In June 2026, Gardaí announced that they were again searching the same quarry site in connection with the disappearance of Jo Jo Dullard and Deirdre Jacob. Some media outlets reported the Defence Forces had performed a ground survey of the area, while diggers and a bulldozer were pictured moving earth at the site.

July 2022: "no prosecution" The Garda Síochána submitted a criminal file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2021. However, on 16 July 2022, it was reported that the DPP had returned the file with a direction of "no prosecution".