In January 1996, Alpho O’Reilly — one of Ireland’s most celebrated designers and a respected figure in Dublin’s theatre world — vanished without a trace. Last seen in the early hours of the morning at a petrol station in Co. Wicklow, the 73-year-old drove off in his green Mitsubishi Colt and was never seen again. His car has never been recovered. His passport remained at home. His bank account was never touched. Nearly 30 years later, his disappearance remains one of Ireland’s most baffling cold cases. Who was Alpho O’Reilly, and what really happened on that winter night in 1996? This video explores the life, career, and mysterious disappearance of Alpho O’Reilly — from his groundbreaking work at RTÉ and in Dublin theatre, to the unanswered questions that still haunt this case.  

In January 1982, Charles “Charlie” Self, a talented stage and set designer with RTÉ, was found brutally murdered in his Monkstown home. Known for his groundbreaking work on The Late Late Show and many other RTE flagship programmes at the time, Charles was a rising star in Irish television before his life was cut short in a violent and still-unsolved attack. This Radio Espial timeline episode explores his life and career, the night of the murder, the Garda investigation, and the social and cultural climate of 1980s Ireland. More than 40 years later, Charles Self’s case remains one of the country’s most enduring unsolved crimes.  

In the early hours of Sunday morning, September 20th, 2009, a man parked his car outside Carlow Garda Station in Ireland. He sat in his car for a while penning a note on paper. A while later he entered the Garda station and slid the note across the counter along with his car keys to the attending female garda officer on duty. Written on the note, very clearly… ‘I’ve done something terrible […] Less than an hour later, around 6 am, Detective Brendan Murphy and members of An Garda Siochana made entry to a house at number 4, High Street, Leighlinbridge, Carlow, 13 kilometres away from Carlow Garda Station. There, they found the lifeless body of 24-year-old Lisa Doyle, an Argos retail supervisor, lying fully dressed in her bed with the sheets covering her. This is the Radio Espial Timeline into the murder of Lisa Doyle. #LisaDoyle #LisaDoyleMurder #IrishTrueCrime #truecrimedocumentary  

In 2009, 35-year-old chef Claudia Lawrence left work in York and was never seen again—what followed became one of the UK’s most baffling and high-profile missing person cases . #claudialawrence #claudialawrencemurder #truecrimeuk  

New Year’s Day, 2008 — 15-year-old Amy Fitzpatrick vanished into the night on Spain’s Costa del Sol. After leaving a friend’s house just before 10 p.m., she set off on a short walk home… but never arrived. No trace of her has ever been found. One moment she was there — the next, gone. But it is only the beginning of this bizarre case over the next 17 years.  

For this episode of Radio Espial, we have new case updates on the Tina Satchwell murder case and the trial of her husband; a case classification change and new search for Fiona Pender; an arrest and new search in the Annie McCarrick murder case; and further convictions in the Ashling Murphy murder case. There are two highly active and sensitive cases covered here. Please be respectful in the comments. You may feel by commenting that you are not responsible for what you say... but we are. Think before you blink... before you comment. We all want the two active cases to reach a successful prosecution. If you have new or relevant information... you go to the phoneline below... not the comment section for attention and to see how clever everyone else might think you look. To contact An Garda Síochána with a tip about a crime, you can call the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111. CASES #tinasatchwell #fionapender #anniemccarrick #ashlingmurphy