Sister of Jo Jo Dullard believes family is 'closest it has ever been' to finding her

Josephine 'Jo Jo' Dullard was last seen at approximately 11.37pm on 9 November 1995 when she left the village of Moone, Co Kildare.

A sister of missing Kilkenny woman Jo Jo Dullard who went missing 25 years ago this week does not want her children nor grandchildren to carry the burden of trying to find her remains for the rest of their lives.

Twenty-one-year-old Jo Jo was last seen at around 11.37pm on November 9, 1995 when she left the village of Moone, Co Kildare while trying to make her way home to Callan, Co Kilkenny.

Last month, gardaí upgraded the investigation into her disappearance to a murder probe, while this week they renewed their appeal for information.

Speaking from her home just outside Callan, Kathleen Bergin, now a grandmother and mother of several grown-up children, said: “We want to find her (Jo Jo) with all our being but it has been very tough at times. In the early years I found it difficult to visit the plaque that was put up in Moone, where JoJo was last seen.

"At times I found it difficult to speak about JoJo but I never gave up looking for answers and trying to bring JoJo home.

“It has been physically and mentally draining on all of us for so long and being honest we have been living on autopilot for a lot of theses years.

“It devastated them (Jo Jo's siblings Mary and Tom) and made them heartbroken. Mary, who died only two years ago kept saying she didn’t do enough to find Jo Jo even in her final days, but she honestly couldn’t have done anymore. Mary accepted that Jo Jo was never going to be coming home alive again, before I did, but she gave her life to finding Jo Jo again.

“I think of my own children and I don’t want them to carry on that burden of having to keep looking for Jo Jo and hoping that she will be able to complete her journey home. This has been such a weight on our shoulders and I and they don’t want to be here in the same position 20 years from now.

What has happened to Jo Jo has had a horrendous effect on all of our immediate and extended family as well as friends. 

"We have all dealt with her disappearance and now her acknowledged murder in our own ways and I don’t know how we get through it at times. It would be such a relief to bring her remains home."

Jo Jo was the youngest of five siblings and now just two are alive, Kathleen and her sister Nora who with their extended families continue to search for her.

When speaking about the upgrading of her sister being classed as a missing person to that of being murdered, Kathleen revealed she had “accepted” that she had been taken in a violent way a long time ago.

“It is bittersweet that Jo Jo is now classed as being a murdered person but it does give the gardaí more power to arrest individuals and more resources. I think Mary and Tom would be happy with this. The gardaí are working very closely with us now.

Mrs Bergin added that she believes the family is the "closest it has ever been" to finding Jo Jo but that “we are all trying not to get our hopes up too much and “but we really do hope we will be lucky this time.

“Jo Jo has missed so many milestones in her life and in all of ours. I do know that there are people out there who have been afraid to come forward due to whatever pressures they have been under.

“But all I can hope is that after 25 years their personal circumstances have altered and that they are not living in fear of coming forward to us or the gardaí which would be treated in complete confidence.

“We as a family are and were never out for revenge, there will be no backlash to them but please all we want to do is have Jo Jo finish her journey home.” 

Mrs Bergin revealed that the dedicated garda team have received an influx of calls since his sister’s disappearance was upgraded to a murder investigation last month.

Gardaí are appealing to anyone that met, saw, or has any information in relation to the murder of Jo Jo after 11.37pm on 9 November 1995 to come forward.

Officers are asking people to think back and see if they remember meeting Jo Jo at Bruxelles bar, if anyone saw the cassette player she had with her at the time - a Sanyo Stereo cassette player (model MGP21) or if anyone received such a cassette player from someone.

They also would like to hear from any person who was hitchhiking in the immediate area around Moone, Co Kildare at the end of October 1995 or the beginning of November 1995, or anyone who gave a lift to a hitchhiker around the same time in the Moone area.

Gardaí continue to appeal to any person who may have previously come forward who felt they could not provide Gardaí with all the information they had in relation to this matter, to contact the investigation team again.

Her family managed to have a national monument erected in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, to remember all missing people 20 years ago.

Mary and her family were driving forces behind Operation Trace, set up by former Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne in 1998 to investigate the cases of six young women who disappeared from the Leinster area over a five-year period.