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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Sign up for your €1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.ie. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. It's early afternoon on a cold, crisp Monday, October 4th, 2004. At Balbriggan Garda station in North County, Dublin, a call comes in concerning a burglary in progress near the Nall village, eight kilometres away.
Detective Sergeant Pat Murray is one of the first responders. He grabs his keys and walkie-talkie and rushes from the station, not even pausing to get his jacket. In an unmarked Garda car, he hurriedly makes his way to Donal along twisting country roads that he knows well. Along the way, the radio crackles with updates from the first uniform member at the scene. A woman has been injured.
An ambulance is on the way. This doesn't sit well with Pat. A seasoned detective, he knows from experience that burglars are clever. They want to get in and out quickly, silently, usually in minutes. They have an escape plan and definitely don't want to get into any confrontation with a homeowner. Then another radio message comes through. The woman is dead.
If this is a burglary then it has gone terribly wrong. Minutes later, Pat arrives at the house. His superintendent, Tom Gallagher, is also there, waiting for him. Go in there, Pat, he says, and come back out and tell me what you see. Pat takes in as much as he can, surveying the scene, careful not to touch or disturb anything. Kitchen presses lay open. DVDs are scattered across the floor.
He makes his way to the hall. Blood is splattered everywhere. It's on the walls and the skirting boards. Even as high as the ceilings. On the floor near the bedroom door lies the body of a woman. She has been severely beaten around her head and face. Deep wounds show the exposed bone of her skull. This has been a vicious and sustained attack.
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Chapter 2: What happened to Rachel O'Reilly on October 4, 2004?
The O'Reilly's two dogs were outside. When the milkman left his delivery at the front of the house, he heard a noise like a door being slammed. At twelve o'clock, Joe tried ringing Rachel's phone for a chat and left her a voicemail. He wasn't too worried when he got no answer, telling her, obviously you're just in Jackie's chewing the fat and not listening to messages from me.
When Rachel failed to turn up at the creche to collect her son at 12.30pm, the principal of the Montessori, Helen Moore, tried contacting her by phone. But the call just went to voicemail. At around 1pm, she decided to phone Rachel's husband, Joe. He said that Rachel was supposed to be meeting a friend that morning. Perhaps she had been delayed. He told Helen he would try calling Rachel himself.
Chapter 3: How did the Gardaí respond to the initial report of a burglary?
When there was no answer, he tried Jackie O'Connor, who Rachel had plans to meet that morning. But Jackie told him Rachel had never shown up. At Rachel's parents' home, around 25 kilometres away in Dublin City, her mother, Rose Callowley, was preparing lunch. Rachel's father, Jim, who had a plumbing business, was working from home that day, doing some painting around the house.
Also there helping were Rose and Jim's three sons, Declan, Paul and Anthony. Jim and Rose Calloway had five children, two girls and three boys, all adopted. Each of the kids came to them as babies only a few weeks old. Rachel was born on the 10th of October, 1973, and when the Callalys first met her, she was lying in a cot in the ward. She stretched out her tiny arms to Jim.
That was the way she was, all through her life, full of love and affection. Jim used to think of her as a little girl out of the fairy tale books like Heidi or Alice in Wonderland. She had a head of blonde hair that shone silver white in the sun. She was a lively and adventurous child. Rose remembers one particular occasion when Rachel was still only a toddler.
She was pottering around the house between the kitchen and the living room. Then she went out of sight and things got very quiet. Concerned by the lack of noise, Rose rushed into the living room where she saw little Rachel in the process of trying to climb up the chimney. She was covered from head to toe in black soot with just her two bright eyes peeking out from behind all the dirt.
It wouldn't be the last time that she attempted this particular caper. Eventually, the chimney was blocked up, so she had to find other outlets for her inexhaustible energy. Later, as Rachel grew and attended school, she learned to play the harp and took up gymnastics.
When Rachel did not appear to collect her son on the 4th of October 2004, Jo called her parents home just as they were about to sit down to the mixed grill Rose had made them for lunch. Anthony, Rachel's brother, answered. Jo said that the creche had contacted him, telling him that Rachel hadn't picked up their youngest son.
He said that he was on his way to pick him up and would also pick up the older boy from school. Joe said that he had been trying to contact Rachel all morning, but she wasn't answering, and he was very worried. Rachel's father, Jim, wondered if it might be a good idea if someone contacted one of Rachel and Joe's neighbours to go and check at the house. Rachel did all of the DIY and gardening.
Perhaps she had fallen off a ladder or something. Jim contacted the creche and got a number for a friend of Rachel's, Sarah Harmon, who lived nearby. Rose had also tried reaching Rachel on her mobile and landline, but there was no answer. It was now around 1.20pm and Rose decided to drive out to Beldara herself.
If the traffic wasn't too bad, she would be able to make the journey in about 20 minutes. She told Joe she would meet him there. When Rachel and Joe had married, they had lived near her parents in a house in Alden Grange in Santry, but in March of 2000 they had welcomed their first child, a boy, and in October of the following year their second son was born.
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Chapter 4: What evidence was found at the crime scene?
Clothes were folded on the floor. One of the taps was running at full blast into the sink, and bits and pieces from the kitchen drawers were scattered on the floor. Rose continued deeper into the house, calling Rachel's name. In the living room, more cabinets lay open. Videos and DVDs littered the floor. Rose made her way into the hallway with a sickening feeling in her stomach.
Something was very wrong. Rose checked the boys' room. All seemed okay there, so she began to make her way across the hall to Rachel and Joe's room. As she got closer, Rose noticed the blood that was splattered in the hall and on the door. It was everywhere. On the walls, on the ceiling. Rose would later compare it to an abattoir.
Rose looked down just inside the door of the main bedroom she saw Rachel her blonde hair was completely matted with thick blood there was so much of it that her head was partially stuck to the floor Rose couldn't tell if Rachel was lying to the side or face down because of all the blood Rose knew that her daughter was dead
She knelt down beside her, repeating her name over and over, and rubbed her arms. She was cold to the touch. Through all the horror, Rose was still aware that she mustn't touch anything. She tried to phone Jim, but her fingers wouldn't find the right numbers. She couldn't even dial 999.
By complete fluke, she managed to get through to someone and frantically told the man on the end of the line that she thought her daughter was dead. One of Rachel's friends, Sarah Harmon, who had been called to look for her, arrived shortly after Rose. She could hear Rose's screams from the road outside. Sarah rang the emergency services and they asked her to check Rachel for a pulse.
She found none. Around twenty past two, another friend who had collected Rachel and Joe's older son Luke from school arrived. The boy had to be stopped from running into the house. Joe drove in just after with three-year-old Adam. Joe smiled at Rose. She quickly told him that she thought Rachel was dead. She couldn't bring herself to say murdered. Who's dead? asked the elder of Rachel's sons.
Rose reassured him that everything was okay and in his innocence the boy walked away with Rachel's friend blissfully unaware for the time being. Joe walked into the house and Rose followed telling him where Rachel was. When he saw his wife's body, he uttered, Jesus, Rachel, what did you do?
He moved the box of books that was near her head and knelt down beside her to place two fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. When Rachel's best friend, Jackie O'Connor, a nurse, arrived at the house to check up on her following Joe's call earlier that day, he told her to go down and see if you could do something. She could find no signs of life.
Two paramedics arrived on the scene shortly after, followed minutes later by Gardie. By 2.45pm, an hour after Rose had first arrived, they had sealed off the crime scene.
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Chapter 5: What were the initial thoughts on the nature of Rachel's murder?
Joe told Garda Thomas Cleary that he had touched Rachel and moved the box near the body. Joe said to Garda Cleary, I'm really sorry. I'm probably after ruining it on you. Detective Sergeant Pat Murray had responded to the call about a burglary in which a woman had been injured. On his way out to Beldara, it came across the Garda radio that the woman was dead.
When Pat arrived at Lambay View, he saw several uniformed Gardaí outside, as well as a small group of people, relatives of the victim, huddled together in the chill air, obviously in distress. Off to one side there was a tall, stocky, dark-haired man standing on his own. The husband. He seemed to be in a daze.
Superintendent Tom Gallagher was waiting for him.
Go in there, Pat, he said, and come back out and tell me what you see. Pat donned the scenes of crime suit and stepped through the back door. Everyone else had been told to stay outside. It was just Detective Sergeant Murray alone with Rachel's lifeless body. Pat's unease grew as he surveyed the scene inside.
His years of experience processed the scene and calculated what he saw and what it told him. The table lay askew. Drawers were pulled out, cabinets opened, bits and pieces of household items strewn across the floor. It didn't seem right. Burglars don't bother with kitchen drawers. They typically go for bedroom lockers, jewellery boxes and the like.
To Pat it looked like a non-burglar's idea of a burglary. Staged, unconvincing. He bent down to look at Rachel's body, ever careful not to touch or move anything. He noticed a small box with blood on it nearby. It seemed out of place. This was one of the boxes that Joe had moved minutes earlier. Pat saw the blood on the walls and skirting boards. Some of it went even as high as the ceiling.
When blood hits the surface it leaves a pattern and begins to dry. Pat could make out fresher blood spatter on top of dried blood. This told him that the attack on Rachel had been frenzied, that the assailant had assaulted her and then, after a period of time, had attacked her again. This couldn't be the work of any burglar who would be looking to get out of the house as quickly as possible.
Having carried out a preliminary assessment of the scene, Pat returned outside where his super was waiting.
Well, said Tom Gallagher, what did you see? Pat replied, I saw two things. Number one, it wasn't a burglary. Number two, the killer really hated that lady. The superintendent agreed and Pat added, I'd say the victim knew her killer. The super nodded, exactly. Then he told Pat to go and talk to the husband, Joe O'Reilly.
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Chapter 6: How did Joe O'Reilly react to Rachel's death?
He was asked to account for his whereabouts that day. He said that he'd gotten up at 5.20am, having slept in the spare room so he wouldn't disturb Rachel. He then drove his navy blue Fiat Marea estate the half hour to his gym on the Nanga Road, where he met with a work colleague, Derek Quirney. After the gym, Joe headed to work at Viacom in the Bluebell Industrial Estate, arriving at 7.15am.
At 8.15am, he drove to Fibsborough Bus Depot to talk with a particular employee. Derek Quirney had gone there too, in his own car. Joe said that when he arrived at the bus depot, he couldn't find the employee. And when Pat Mary asked him if he'd checked in the canteen, Joe replied, there's too many canteens. But later in the investigation, it was found that there were in fact only two.
Joe also said that he spoke to nobody other than Derek Quirney at the depot. Joe continued. He said at 11.20am he left Fibsborough and went back to Viacom. It was around midday when he got there. Then at 1.30pm Montessori Principal Helen Moore had phoned him saying that Rachel hadn't picked up their youngest son from the creche.
After ringing around to ask if anyone had seen Rachel Joe made his way home stopping to collect his sons along the way. Pat Mary and his colleagues took detailed notes of Joe's account. They would have to chase up on any CCTV to corroborate Joe's movements. But they seemed to have nearly four hours from 8.15am to midday in which his only alibi was Derek Querney.
Before the detectives left, Pat Mary once again asked for Joe's mobile number. And once again he gave Rachel's. Later that day, Gardie spoke to Derek Quirney and around 30 Viacom employees, both past and present. Derek Quirney's statement seemed to corroborate Joe's account of his movements, but also included other interesting details.
Quirney said that he'd heard Joe having rows with his wife over the phone. He also confirmed that Joe was having an affair with Nikki Pelly, and that it was known about by others. Investigating Gardie also questioned Nikki Pelley the day Rachel was murdered. She admitted to the affair and stated that Joe regularly stayed with her on Tuesday and Saturday nights.
But she didn't mention that she had had any contact with Joe on the day of Rachel's murder. The detectives had started to examine CCTV footage from the Phibsborough bus depot, where Joe had said he'd spent the morning on the day of the murder. No one there had seen or spoken to him that morning, and the CCTV that covered the yard area was out of service that day.
Only the internal cameras had been operational. Gardaí could see that Derek Quirney had entered an area with CCTV coverage at 9.26am, but no camera caught sight of Joe O'Reilly at any time. No one had seen the 6ft5 man in the bright blue jacket. There was no evidence to show that he had ever been there.
If O'Reilly had gone searching for the employee he'd said he'd been looking for, maybe in the canteen, he would have shown up on a camera. But he told Detective Sergeant Pat Mary that there were too many canteens to go checking them all. The day after the murder, on the 5th of October, Rachel O'Reilly's body was removed from the scene at Lambay View. Her car keys were found beneath her.
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Chapter 7: What role did the media play in the investigation?
One card stood out to her. It read, See you later. It was from Joe.
After the Mass, friends and relatives had gathered at the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra. Joe was laughing and joking with them. A friend of Rachel's, Fiona Slevin, spoke to Joe about the search for the murder weapon. Joe said to her, I don't know why they're searching in the fields. It's in the water.
Then, after Fiona looked at him in shock, Joe corrected himself, saying, If I'd done it, that's where it would be, because there's water all around, and it would have gotten rid of any DNA and all that sort of stuff. The day after the funeral, the guards returned the keys to Lambay View to Joe.
They told him that there was a special service that would clean up crime scenes, but he didn't want to wait for that. He wanted to move back into Lambay View as soon as possible. There was still blood on the walls and ceiling in the spot where Rachel had died. On the 13th of October, Joe invited the Callalys to the house.
He told them that he felt very close to Rachel there and had experienced a great sense of peace and calmness in their home. He wondered if they would like to come and see for themselves. Rose didn't want to go, but Rachel's father, Jim, urged her to go, in the hope it might be of some help to Joe as he struggled with his grief.
Reluctantly, Jim and Rose returned to the house where, just over a week before, their daughter had been brutally murdered. They went with their son Paul and his wife Denise. The Callileys arrived to the house and Joe took them down the hall to the bedroom, the same one in which Rose had found her daughter lying dead a week earlier. The blood was still on the walls.
Then Joe clenched his fist and raised his arm and brought it down quickly, as if hitting someone only he could see. She got a blow to the head, Joe told the group, and then she went down. The six-foot-five Joe then crouched down onto his hunkers and showed them how the murderer would have held Rachel on the floor as she was beaten.
After punching the ground over and over, blow by blow, he showed them how the murderer would have gotten up and stepped over Rachel's body. Rose felt physically sick. Jim left the room. He thought he might faint. Joe walked a few feet into the bathroom as the killer would have done, he said, to clean up.
In the bathroom, Joe pointed out a drop of blood which must have dropped off the murder weapon. He said that the killer must have heard Rachel making a noise, or gurgling or whatever, and had gone back to finish her off. Rose thought to herself, this is not happening. The Callalys turned to head out through the kitchen when Joe began to play the messages on the answering machine.
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Chapter 8: What were the key pieces of evidence presented at the trial?
She had said that all Joe had done was try to find Rachel's pulse. Joe told Jenny that the arrival of the paramedics on the scene was like something out of Holby City, the hospital-based television drama. In talking about the killer, he said, We firmly believe it was someone she knew. She was killed in the bedroom. The last room in the house.
She wouldn't have let that happen unless she knew who the person was. Joe spoke about his relationship with Rachel, their wedding and the difficult pregnancies, before the conversation turned back to the day of the murder. He asked Jenny Friel and the photographer that was with her if they would like to see where it had happened. Jenny thought she had misheard him.
In a matter-of-fact manner, he said, it's a bit of a mess because of the work the forensic people had to do, but you can see where we found her. Jenny and her colleague looked into the room from the hallway. Joe stood beside them, pointing out blood spatter on the walls, saying, there and there, and that's more blood there. Jenny thought Joe must have been in total shock to be acting this way.
She felt so nauseous she had to go to the bathroom to compose herself. Joe then posed for some photographs, making a big play of toying with a gold ring on his left little finger. He explained that it was Rachel's wedding ring. Following the interview, Jenny Friel noted that Joe had never talked about how much he had loved Rachel. He never said that he would miss her.
In and around the same time, another photographer, Ciarán O'Brien, who worked for the Herald newspaper, also met Joe O'Reilly at Lambay View. As Joe posed for photographs in the kitchen, he told Ciarán that the police were treating him as the prime suspect. He then asked Ciarán if he wanted to see where Rachel had been found. The blood was still there.
Joe began acting out the murder, raining down imaginary blows. He mentioned a dumbbell as the possible weapon. He mimed how the killer must have washed off the blood mentioning that a towel was missing from the house. Ciarán O'Brien made his excuses and left the house as soon as he could. He wasn't gone far when he had to pull over his car to compose himself.
Joe O'Reilly would carry out his macabre re-enactment again this time for Rachel's friend Jackie O'Connor. Jackie was alone with Joe at Lambay View when he laid out his theory of how the murder of her friend unfolded. As she listened to all of this stunned, Joe told her that he'd seen it in a dream he'd had after falling asleep in the spot where Rachel had died.
He said in the dream it was like he was the one killing Rachel. In the dream she was asking him, why are you doing this? When an old friend of Joe's, Alan Boyle, called to the house to sympathise, he asked if Rachel might have been having an affair. Alan was disturbed when Joe replied that he couldn't give a fuck what Rachel got up to.
As part of the ongoing investigation, Gardie gained access to Joe O'Reilly's email account. Five emails in particular, between Joe and his sister Anne on the 9th of June 2004, gave a glimpse into Joe's true feelings about his wife. In the emails, they discussed how Rachel had been reported to the Child Protection Services for allegedly being rough with the boys.
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