Lines of Enquiry
Former Garda detective John Sweetman presents Lines of Enquiry, a GoLoud Original true-crime podcast examining some of Ireland’s most compelling crimes, uncovering how evidence, chance, and persistence can bring answers, and sometimes only more questions.
Episodes
Gerry McGinley: A Scandalous Affair
When Gerry McGinley was arrested for minor drug possession charges on the 6th of June 2000, he insisted upon his innocence. He said the drugs had been planted on him, and he was convinced someone was trying to get rid of him. By that time, McGinley had already received threatening phone calls at his home along with warnings from the IRA that he should leave town. He was a man with a lot
Celine Cawley: Veil of Deceit
In December 2008, a man calls 999 for assistance. His name was Eamonn Lillis, and his wife Celine Cawley had been attacked by an intruder at their Howth home in Dublin. Celine was rushed to hospital, and an alert went out to find the man who had attacked the business mogul. Gathering evidence, gardaí started to piece together what had happened at her home that cold December day, leaning on CCTV fo
Tina Satchwell: A Calculated Mystery
On the 24th of March in 2017, Richard Satchwell walked into a Cork Garda station to report that his wife, Tina, was missing. He told gardaí their relationship had deteriorated, and Tina had been gone for four days having taken €26,000 euros in cash from their savings. It seemed that Tina had made a concerted effort to disappear.For six years, Richard and Tina’s family pleaded for the Fermoy native
Patricia O’Connor: House of Secrets
In June 2017, a family out for a picnic discovered a human torso discarded in a ditch in the Wicklow mountains. Gardaí and army personnel came together to comb the area for any clues. The search recovered fifteen more body parts dumped in nine different locations across a 30km range. Initially, it was believed the body was that of a young man, after the recovered bones were measured. But this theo
Elaine O'Hara: Coercion and Control
Elaine O’Hara disappeared from her Dublin home in 2012, at the age of 36. She left behind no trace. Her family struggled to understand what had happened to their bright and friendly sister and daughter.One year later, a woman walking in the woods of Dublin discovered Elaine’s remains. As Gardai began to piece together her final moments and days they saw traces of a dark and sinister side to
Tom Nevin: Web of Lies
On the 19th of March 1996, gardaí were called to a pub in Co Wicklow after its panic button was activated in the small hours of the morning. Catherine Nevin, who owned the pub with her husband Tom, was found slumped in a hall with her hands tied and a gag around her neck. What initially looked to be a botched burglary at a time when Wicklow businesses were being targeted by Dublin gangs, soon
John recommends....A New Day with Gerry Hussey
If you're looking for an uplifitng start to your day, check out GoLoud's latest original podcast - A New Day with Gerry Hussey.Biteszie episodes released every Monday to Friday. Be sure to check it out and hit follow to stay up to date.
Incident Brief: The Harold’s Cross Hitman
When Bryan Kennedy became convinced his wife’s online friendship with a Canadian couple were a threat to his marriage, he turned to a man he believed could arrange murder.In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Incident Brief, John Sweetman examines a disturbing murder for hire plot that began in Harold’s Cross and targeting two unsuspecting women in Canada. Kennedy feared that his wife was having an
Kevin Lunney: Campaign of Violence
On the 17th of September 2019, Kevin Lunney, a director of Quinn Industrial Holdings, a company formerly owned by bankrupt billionaire Sean Quinn, disappeared near his home in Fermanagh. The 50-year-old father-of-six was taken across the Irish border to Cavan and what happened next would shock the nation and expose years of threats and intimidation against QIH directors and their families. In this
Rachel O'Reilly: The Botched Burglary
On the 4th of October 2004, Rachel O'Reilly, a 30-year-old mother-of two was found dead in her north county Dublin home. She had been murdered. Her mother, Rose Callaly, found Rachel's lifeless body in a pool of blood. It all pointed to a botched burglary and gardai began a hunt for her hiller. What followed was a rigorous investigation on matters closer to Rachel's home. In this episode Joh
Incident Brief: Stopping a Dublin terror attack
In June 2021, armed Gardaí carried out a search at a hostel on Gardiner Street in Dublin. They arrested a 37-year-old man named Mark Wolf. He had a sordid past. He was a wanted man in the UK. So how did gardaí find him? And what dark obsessions was he harbouring?Presented by John SweetmanCreated by Darren ClearyEpisode Written by Darren ClearyScript Edited by Eoin BrennanProduced by Siobhan WalshP
Ana Kriégel: An Unspeakable Crime
On the 14th of May 2018, Ana Kriégel left her home in Leixlip, Co Kildare, with a promise to her father that she wouldn't be long. But Ana never came home and her disappearance sparked a three-day search of a local park, the last place where she had been seen walking with another child. It was a missing person's case that gripped the nation as everyone hoped the smiling girl in her favourite
Case Notes #006: The Kelly Lynch Update
In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Case Notes producer Siobhan Maguire steps out from behind the scenes to share a significant update on one of season one’s most troubling stories, the death of 23 year old Kelly Lynch in Monaghan. Siobhan outlines new findings from an independent pathology review commissioned by the Katie Trust, including questions over the original cause of death, issues around
Case Notes #005: The Search for Jastine Valdez
In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Case Notes, retired Detective Superintendent Frank Keenaghan takes us inside one of the most shocking cases in recent Irish history, the abduction and murder of 24 year old student Jastine Valdez.Frank led the frantic 24 hour search in May 2018, from the first early morning briefing to the moment a member of the public spotted the suspect’s car, and the dramati
Case Notes #004: Capturing The Courtroom
In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Case Notes, renowned courtroom artist Mike O’Donnell takes us inside the hidden world of Ireland’s criminal courts as seen from his sketchpad. In his day to day, Mike sits just feet away from judges, juries, gardaí, families and some of the country’s most high profile defendants, capturing not only the people in the dock but the tension, emotion and fragile hum
Case Notes #003: Cold Case Breakthroughs
In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Case Notes, former Garda Detective Sergeant Alan Bailey takes us inside the hidden world of cold case investigation. With more than 200 unsolved homicides sitting on the desks of just eight detectives, he explains how and why an investigation goes cold, what it takes to justify reopening a case, and why there is always still hope.Alan talks through some of the
A Note from John
As season 2 comes to an end, host of Lines of Enquiry, John Sweetman reveals what to expect over the next few weeks from Case Notes. He shares the date for the return of the narrative episodes with 12 new stories already being worked on by the Lines of Enquiry team. If you would like to get in touch, follow the Instagram page @linesofenquirypodcast or email us linesofenquiry@goloudnow.com
The Hawe Family: Monster in a Mask
As students across the country prepare to go back to school after the summer holidays of 2016, Mary Coll arrived at her daughter Clodagh’s house in Castlerahan, County Cavan. Clodagh hadn’t shown up to meet her mother earlier that morning and Mary couldn’t get in touch. When she arrived at the house Clodagh shared with her husband Alan Hawe, and their three sons Liam, Niall and Ryan, Mary found a
Elizabeth Plunkett and Mary Duffy: Innocence Lost
In the August of 1976, a young Dublin woman named Elizabeth Plunkett, went missing while on holidays in Brittas Bay, Co. Wicklow. Her friends and family searched through sand dunes, forests and along the roads for a trace of her - All to no avail. Across the country, another young woman Mary Duffy read a newspaper article about Elizabeth Plunkett’s case with tears in her eyes. A few day
Philip Cairns: The Lost Boy
In October 1986, 13-year-old Philip Cairns became one of the most recognisable faces in Ireland.The boy left his home in Dublin to walk back to school after lunch and vanished without a trace. His disappearance gripped the nation, changed how parents viewed their children’s safety, and left a family living with unanswered questions for nearly four decades.In this episode of Lines of Enquiry, John
Trevor O’Keeffe: Hitchhiking Into Danger
In August of 1987, 19 year old Trevor O’Keeffe embarked his journey home to Ireland after a brief holiday France. He planned to hitchhike across the north of the country, through the vineyards of the world-renowned Champagne province. Trevor was unaware of the warnings against hitchhiking that had been made to young men across the region. He had not heard the local rumours about a serial kill
Esther and Jessica McCann: A Deadly Secret
On the night of September, the 4th 1992, Esther and Jessica McCann went to sleep and never woke up. The 36-year-old mother and her 18-month-old-toddler died when a fire swept through the house. It was a tragic loss of life. The young mother had been trying to adopt the little girl she had fostered since her birth. They were inseparable. And it followed a series of events in the home that baffled E
Case Notes #002: Inside True Crime
In this episode of Lines of Enquiry: Case Notes, John Sweetman is joined by one of Ireland’s leading true crime podcasters, Nules Ní Chléirigh, creator and host of Ireland Crimes and Mysteries.John and Nules reflect on what draws them to the stories of some of Ireland’s biggest crimes, the realities of working on cases with no clear resolution, and the importance of ethical storytelling when deali
Jasmine McMonagle: No Way Out
28 year old mother of two Jasmine McMonagle loved to write and longed to be a children's author one day. In 2019, a letter she wrote was sent to the Garda Technical Bureau for examination. In the letter, Jasmine wrote of being held hostage in her own home, of threats against her and her daughters, and of how she would no longer live in fear.In this episode of Lines of Enquiry, John explains how th
Antra Ozolina: The Set Up
When Antra Ozolina was found dead in her home in Kilnaleck, Co Cavan in June 2014, from the outset, the explanation seemed straightforward and the case moved quickly towards closure. But small details did not sit comfortably. The circumstances raised quiet questions. The timeline felt too neat and the version that was accepted left little room for doubt or for scrutiny. In this episode o
Seamus Ruddy: Hidden Clues I Part 2
The arrival of two detectives with very different backgrounds reinvigorates the search for Seamus Ruddy. As the new investigators search the darkest corners for information, they do it with a set of forensics skills never before seen in Ireland.The Ruddy family hold on to hope of finally ending their long nightmare, and a new source of information could prove to be the key. But there will be many
Seamus Ruddy: The Long Search | Part I
In May of 1985, Seamus Ruddy went to meet three men in Paris. They were men he knew from a past life, in Ireland. Seamus had left that life behind, to start a new one in the French capital. His family had asked him not to go to the meeting, but Seamus had been assured he would be safe.He was never seen again after that night, and his disappearance would lead to a search spanning decades. The Ruddy
Jastine Valdez: Abducted in Plain Sight
Jastine Valdez was abducted in broad daylight on a rural road in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, in May 2018. The 24-year-old had just stepped off a bus that dropped her only a few minutes’ walk from her home. Just moments later, a woman driving along that quiet country road spotted a man seemingly trying to force a young woman into his car.What followed was a frantic garda manhunt, as they re
Case Notes #001: The Inbox
In this, Lines of Enquiry’s inaugural ‘Case Notes’, John Sweetman introduces a new strand of his hit true crime podcast series. Stepping away from any one specific case in detail and instead revisiting past investigations and responding to listener questions, John takes us behind the scenes of Lines of Enquiry. This first episode of ‘Case Notes' is also the last in Season 1 of Lines of Enquiry. Re
Mark O'Sullivan: Terror on the Farm
When Anne O'Sullivan was diagnosed with terminal cancer, tensions within her family about who would inherit her substantial plot of farm land came to the surface.Soon, Anne would find herself awake before dawn, running through fields and ditches to a neighbour's house to get help as a terrible darkness descended on the family farm. This is a tragic story that saw a family torn apart as their home
Kelly Lynch: Beneath the Surface
On St Patrick’s weekend 2024, 23-year-old Kelly Lynch travelled from her home in Armagh to Monaghan to support her boyfriend after a sudden death in his family. Two nights later, on the walk home from the pub in the town, on the Friday night of a busy bank holiday, Kelly disappeared.She was found in the Ulster Canal on the Sunday morning. Gardaí said Kelly had drowned and quickly confirmed they we
Nora Sheehan: The Past Speaks | Part II
The prime suspect walks free for the murder of Nora Sheehan after the death of the pathologist left the DPP's case unable to proceed to trial. In this second chapter of a two-part investigation, John Sweetman looks at how four decades after Nora Sheehan’s disappearance and death in 1981, advances in forensic technology breathed new life into a long-dormant investigation. In this ep
Nora Sheehan: The Last Walk | Part I
In June 1981, Nora Sheehan left the South Infirmary Hospital in Cork and disappeared into the night. In the hours that followed, she was seen by witnesses walking alone after midnight, a familiar figure on dark roads and quiet streets.Days later, her battered body was discovered dumped in woodland far from the city. Her murder shocked Cork and marked the beginning of a case that would stretch acro
Barbara Walsh: Vanished after Dark
The Walsh house in rural Connemara is quiet by 4am on the 22nd of June 1985. Earlier in the night it was full of people celebrating the brief return of two family members who had emigrated. But now the friends, neighbours and even the local Gardaí who had attended the party have all dispersed. So, when 14 year old Jacquie Walsh wakes up in the middle of the night the only person she sees is her mo
Marie Dillon: Horror at Home
Gardaí are called to a house in north Dublin, where they make a grim discovery. 72-year-old Marie Dillon has been found murdered in a violent attack inside her home.As investigations begin, it becomes clear there are no suspects and no obvious clues. In this episode of Lines of Enquiry, John Sweetman revisits the case that brought him face to face with his first murder scene at just 26 years of ag
Robert Holohan: Robbed of Tomorrow
On 4 January 2005, 11-year-old Robert Holohan left his home to play on his bike in Midleton, Co Cork and never returned. What began as a desperate search for a missing boy quickly became one of the most emotionally charged murder investigations Ireland had ever witnessed. Thousands turned out to look for him. Gardaí deployed every resource available. For a week, the country hoped against hope. The
The Beast: The Midlands Letters
A sinister, disturbing handwritten letter arrives into Garda HQ. It has been sent anonymously to a school in the midlands. There are 23 pages, promising terrible crimes to come, and detailing the writer’s twisted plans to abduct and kill teenage girls. Soon after, two more arrive – again sent to schools across the Irish midlands. Gardai then realise this is not their first encounter with the anony
Mary Gough: Death on the Stairs
When 27-year-old Mary Gough was found dead in her home in Balbriggan in 2001, it looked like a tragic accident. Gardaí were called to what appeared to be a fall down the stairs. But as investigators examined the scene, small details began to raise doubts, marks that didn’t fit, timelines that didn’t match, and a story that started to change. In this episode, former Garda forensic detective John Sw
Trailer : Lines of Enquiry
Former Garda detective and expert crime scene investigator, John Sweetman presents Lines of Enquiry, a GoLoud Original true-crime podcast examining some of Ireland’s most compelling crimes, uncovering how evidence, chance, and persistence can bring answers, and sometimes only more questions.
