Skip to main content

MISSING OR MURDERED? DEAN ROCHE CASE - Radio Espial EP48

On Sunday, March 22nd, 2015, 31-year-old Dean Roche set out from his home at Hebron Park, County Kilkenny, Ireland by taxi to travel to Ballyfoyle, a journey north through the county of about 20 mins plus. Dean Roche had travelled there to purchase a cheap car he had spotted for sale on social media.

 He reached the car seller’s private property and after about an hour completed the sale and received the car logbook. After leaving the seller, he crashed the car a short distance away and headed back on foot in the direction he had come.

The events of the rest of that evening remain clouded in mystery as to what did and what specifically occurred. What is certain is that several incidents of trespassing and attempted house burglary were reported to local gardai that night, and an incident of a car stolen from the premises of a resident.

Dean Roche was reported by witnesses to have been in the general Ballyfoyle area that night after 9 pm.

 Later, a woollen Manchester United hat and a pair of runners (sneakers) were found in searched fields. It has never been established if the runners belonged to Dean. Dean Roche was formally reported missing by his family two days later when he still had not returned home to Hebron Park.

Despite extensive searches of the area over the next three years by skilled members of the gardai forces aided by search and rescue teams, as well as the army, also private searches by his family and friends, Dean was never found.

Nine years have passed and the case remains shrouded in limited information released by gardai and consistent local rumours and innuendo. The mystery of what happened to Dean Roche on March 22nd, 2015 lie embedded in the Ballyfoyle locale he visited that evening.

This is one of the most complex and bizarre cases Radio Espial has every covered with a Timeline Analysis. The timeline will be short for a reason. We want to keep basic facts, and while respecting the views of family members—we must try to decipher what was most probable and what was least likely to have happened.

 

Comments

POPULAR POSTS

WOKE: The Trope That Doesn't Work

WOKE - a word we now hear so often used in ridicule of others on social media commentary. But like so many tropes used against others, its user - by the mere act of using it - clearly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of its true meaning and origin. If anything, its usage, now defines more the user, than the intended reciprocate. And its not a new word by any stretch of 21st Century meaning. It dates back more than 80 years but has only in the past few years reignited its common and increasing usage in everyday English language. ORIGIN - THE WOKE It originally dates back to a comment from an African American United Mine Workers official in 1940 (USA), stating: "Let me tell you buddy. Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we'll stay woke up longer." Think of all the times in exchanges online (primarily social media) that you've been described as 'woke' in a derogatory way. Ask yourselves, have you noticed how often those throwing

The Case of Raonaid Murray

The body of Raonaid Murray (17) was found at Silchester Crescent, Glenageary, Dublin, less than 500 metres from her home on September 3rd, 1999. She was returning at approximately 11.20 pm from a night out at Scotts pub in Dun Laoghaire town centre. Her intention, made known to friends by mobile phone (using her friend's device at Scotts), was to return home, change, and head out to a local nightclub around midnight. She never got home. She was stabbed to death near her home (about 10 minutes away) while walking up a footpath with a one-and-a-half inch knife around midnight or shortly before. Forensics revealed that she was stabbed multiple times, but many initial wounds were not fatal or intrusive and would case death, as if punishment wounds. She staggered some 15 metres before the fatal stab wounds were delivered to her side and piercing vital organs. She bleed to death and about 20 minutes later and was discovered by her elder sister out with her friends earlier when they exite

Things That Happen (7)

Today blazed colours we dream of. Only the mountains and the sea—the sky anew, the earth anew—conduct the orchestra of music in our lives. We choose to let our hearts dance steps—giddily—or simply lie silent in mystery; unheard. We dare to step out in the rain and end up drenched in sunshine. We dare to step out in the sunshine and end up drenched by showers from the sky weeping uncontrollably above us. She must have wanted him to know... He must have wanted her to know... ...and now... no one knows. As we passed through all those paths in life—me holding your hand—I had to close my eyes, as fields of fire blazed when we passed so many memories. The gardens of our hearts outstretched with blossom and summer chores to be done and enjoyed. I saw him snatching a glance as I leaned over to his world. My hand in his—gripped—wishing I didn’t have to go. Knowing I wanted to haunt him for the rest of the days of his life. Fields of fire blazed when he spoke about a colour in the rainbow of my