Red Room

In the early hours of 9 June 1996, twenty-five-year-old Melanie Hall was last seen sitting alone beside the dance floor at Cadillac's nightclub in Bath. Thirteen years later, her remains were discovered beside the M5 motorway, approximately thirty miles away. For the final episode of our Unsolved season, we follow the investigation from the possible sightings that night to the discovery of Mel...

On March 31st, 1973, 18-year-old Marian Beattie was found partially clothed at the bottom of Hadden’s Quarry near Aughnacloy, hours after leaving a charity dance with an unidentified young man. More than fifty years later, her murder remains unsolved, despite original RUC investigators recording that they had “little doubt” one particular suspect was responsible. In this episode, we trace Marian’s...

In April 1988, eighteen-year-old German student Inga Maria Hauser boarded a ferry from Scotland to Northern Ireland during a solo InterRail trip. Fourteen days later, her body was found in Ballypatrick Forest, almost forty miles from Larne. Nearly four decades on, police have DNA, thousands of samples and a suspect they said was supported by a strong hypothesis, but nobody has ever been charged wi...

This episode was first published on Patreon on February 2025. In 1985 a local and beloved priest was found dead in the bedroom of a high-society couple in Offaly. These were no strangers, in fact Therese Flynn was Father Molloy's business partner. Together, they had built an equestrian empire. To everyone's surprise, when police were eventually called, there was a confession. Therese's husband Ric...

In January 2005, 36-year-old Shaun Duffy returned to his home in Meenacross, Donegal, after celebrating his younger brother’s birthday. Hours later, he was found dead in his ransacked sitting room, having been stabbed, repeatedly struck on the head and wounded with a crossbow arrow. More than 21 years later, no one has ever been arrested. This week, we examine the investigation into Shaun’s murder...

In May 1998, 83-year-old shopkeeper Eddie Fitzmaurice was attacked and left bound in the bedroom above his drapery shop in Bellaghy, where he remained undiscovered for five days. This week we will examine the violent rural robberies that shaped the investigation, the seven innocent members of the travelling community who were targeted during the corrupt Burnfoot operation and why, nearly three dec...

In the early hours of 11 February 1984, 23-year-old Patrick Nugent was found fatally injured after managing an anniversary party at Bunratty Folk Park. With two damaged cars, conflicting accounts from those who remained and Patrick’s final words, “He clocked me,” his family have spent more than forty years fighting to learn what happened that night. This episode was written, hosted and produced by...

On 30 November 1997, Galway taxi driver Eileen Costello O’Shaughnessy disappeared after accepting one final fare. Her bloodstained taxi, 17 unexplained miles and a series of unidentified witnesses gave Gardaí no shortage of leads, but almost three decades later, nobody has ever been charged with her murder. This episode was written, hosted and produced by Jenny Claffey, with research by Karl O’Rei...

This week we’re discussing the 1971 disappearance, and presumed murder, of 19-year-old Una Lynskey. We'll examine the deeply flawed Garda investigation that followed, and the devastating chain of events that left another man dead and two others wrongfully convicted. More than 50 years later, what happened to Una on Porterstown Lane remains unsolved. Sources Fresh Appeal for Information on 1971 Mur...

In May 1988, 25-year-old Priscilla Clarke disappeared after reportedly setting out on horseback near the Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow. This episode examines the official theory that she drowned in the River Dargle, the unanswered questions surrounding that day, and her family’s decades-long fight to find Priscilla, and ensure that Ireland’s unidentified dead are treated with dignity. This...

This week, we’re discussing the disappearance and suspected murders of William Maughan and his pregnant girlfriend, Anastasija “Anna” Varslavane. In April 2015, the couple were preparing to leave Gormanston and move back to William’s family home in Tallaght before their first child was born. Minutes before they were due to be collected, Anna made a final phone call in which she was reportedly hear...

21-year-old Paul Quinn was lured to a farm shed on the Monaghan-Armagh border in October 2007 and beaten to death in one of the most shocking killings in modern Irish history. This week we cover the details of the case, the allegations of IRA involvement, the politics that surrounded the investigation, and wh, despite 23 arrests and almost two decades of enquiries, the Quinn family still have not...

In 2019, 15-year-old French-Irish teenager Nóra Quoirin disappeared from a rainforest resort in Malaysia while on holiday with her family. What followed was a devastating search, a disputed investigation, and a family’s fight to challenge the idea that their vulnerable daughter simply wandered into the jungle alone. This episode was written, produced and hosted by Jenny Claffey, with research by K...

In 1973, seven-year-old John Horgan was murdered by his teenage neighbour in one of the most disturbing crimes in Irish history. This episode looks at the killing, the occult and religious imagery surrounding it, and the question of why the case seemed to almost disappear from public memory. It is a story about a child’s murder, but also about Catholic Ireland, secrecy, respectability, and the sil...

In 1992, Grace Livingstone was murdered inside her home in Malahide, Dublin, but the investigation soon became almost as controversial as the crime itself. With a husband under suspicion, an unidentified young man seen near the house, and a possible link to Revenue investigations into oil smuggling and IRA-linked crime, this is one of Ireland’s most frustrating unsolved cases. Presented, written a...

In this episode, I’m joined by bestselling author and crime journalist Barry Cummins to discuss his new book, Buried Secrets , the definitive account of the murder of Tina Satchwell . Barry takes us inside the case that haunted Ireland for six and a half years, from Tina’s disappearance in Youghal, how he came to be the first journalist invited into Richard Satchwell’s home, sitting, unbeknownst t...

In 1940, Mary “Moll” McCarthy was found shot dead in a field in rural Tipperary. Within months, Harry Gleeson, the farm labourer who reported her body to Gardaí, was convicted and hanged for her murder. Decades later, the Irish State admitted his conviction was unsafe, leaving behind the story of two victims, one unsolved murder, and a community shaped by silence. Written and hosted by Jenny Claff...

Anne Devlin was a woman long remembered as a loyal housekeeper to an infamous revolutionary, when she was really a courier, conspirator and trusted rebel operative. In this episode, we look at Anne’s role in Robert Emmet’s uprising, the women who helped keep the revolution moving in secret, and the brutal price she paid for refusing to talk. Written and hosted by Jenny Claffey. Researched by Karl...

25-year-old Honour Bright was found shot and killed in Ticknock in June 1925. Despite multiple eyewitnesses placing her in a car with a Doctor and a Garda Superintendent, the two men who would be charged and tried for her murder were acquitted by a Dublin jury in 1926. Honour was a single mother, and likely turned to sex work to support herself and pay for her son's foster care. After the trial, t...

Today we’re looking at the case of Annie Walsh, the last woman ever executed in Ireland. Convicted of murdering her husband in 1925, her story is often reduced to a scandalous love triangle, but there’s far more going on beneath the surface. Annie wasn’t the only woman sentenced to death in Ireland, she was just one of the very few who wasn’t spared. So in this episode, we’re breaking down the mur...

Burke and Hare are two of the most infamous serial killers in history, but they weren’t typical murderers. In 1828, Edinburgh, they killed at least 16 people and sold their bodies to medical schools in a booming underground body trade. This episode explores the real story behind the murders, the anatomy trade, and how they were finally caught. This episode was written & hosted by me, Jenny Cla...

An Irish Fenian bombing in Victorian London led to mass panic, a controversial trial, and the execution of Michael Barrett., who would become the last man hanged in Britain. Join Patreon for ad-free episodes & Wednesday Deep Dives Further Reading / Sources "The Irish invasion": how the Irish Famine changed Scotland Irish immigration to Scotland t18680406-412 | The Proceedings of the Old Bailey...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! To celebrate, I thought I'd rerelease an episode from 2024 when we did a series on Haunted Ireland . This episode covers some spooky, dark and haunting True Crime Cases from Ireland's Victorian era. Enjoy! To access bonus weekly episodes of Red Room join Patreon HERE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Christmas Day 1929, postman Larry Griffin rode into the village of Stradbally to deliver the mail and vanished. His bike was found abandoned the next morning, but his body was never recovered. Nearly a century later, the disappearance of Ireland’s “missing postman” remains unsolved. Sources  Mystery still surrounds 1929 disappearance of Co Waterford postman The strange case of the country...

Kyran Durnin was reported missing in 2024, but investigators later discovered he had not been seen since 2022, despite prior contact with child protection services. How does a child known to the system disappear for over two years without detection? Links Kyran: The Lost Boy Drogheda Mum pleads with her missing daughter to get in touch Man questioned in Kyran Durnin murder case found dead Drogheda...