Elaine O'Hara

Elaine O'Hara (17 March 1976 – c. 22 August 2012) was an Irish childcare worker who was murdered in August 2012 by architect Graham Dwyer.

She was last seen alive at a public park in Shanganagh, Dublin, Ireland, on 22 August.

Elaine O'Hara was born in Dublin on 17 March 1976 and was educated in St. Joseph of Cluny secondary school.

She had been bullied at school.

She had many mental health issues from her teens, and was regularly hospitalised for psychiatric care.

She had been treated by Professor Anthony Clare, who diagnosed depression and borderline personality disorder.

She also had asthma, diabetes and dyslexia.

Her mother's death in 2002 was a major setback for her, as was the sudden death of Professor Clare in 2007.

In 2005 she moved out of her family home in Killiney to a flat in Blackrock.

In 2008 she moved to another flat in Blackrock, before acquiring an affordable housing unit in Belarmine Plaza, Stepaside.

O'Hara worked as a childcare assistant in Ballybrack and part-time in a newsagents in Blackrock.

She was taking night classes in the town of Dún Laoghaire with the hopes of becoming a Montessori teacher.

O'Hara went missing from her home on 22 August 2012, and it was initially assumed she had disappeared while volunteering at the 2012 Tall Ships' Races.

Inside her house, however, she had left her bag, purse, and mobile phone, and security footage showed her leaving her home with a different phone.

She was last seen by a jogger in Shanganagh Park in the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown just to the south of Shankill.

It was later determined that she had gone to Shanganagh Cemetery, where her mother was buried.

A woman was heard crying loudly in the graveyard by a witness.

The witness saw the woman, fitting O'Hara's general description, crying beside an old grave, but could not positively identify her as O'Hara.

Her car was later found nearby, and it was assumed she had, given her psychological history, committed suicide by jumping off the nearby cliffs.

The remains of her body were discovered on Killakee Mountain, south of Dublin, in September 2013.

The investigation of her disappearance and later of her death was widely reported.

On 10 September 2013, three days before the eventual discovery of O'Hara's body, anglers William Fegan, his brother, and another man spotted a bag lying in the water in Vartry Reservoir, near Roundwood, County Wicklow.

Normally, the depth of water at the bridge where evidence was found was 15 ft to 20 ft, but in 2013, following a long hot period, it was as shallow as 12 in to 18 in, exposing the items that would have otherwise been beneath the surface.

Inside the bag they found handcuffs, clothing, a ball gag, restraints, and leg restraints.

The following day, Fegan handed the items he had found in to Roundwood Garda station.

Garda James O'Donoghue conducted several further searches at the scene and on 16 September found handcuffs, keys, a leather mask, a knife, an inhaler and a chain with a ring on it.

A Dunnes Stores loyalty card found attached to the keyring was identified as belonging to O'Hara.

The Garda Water Unit searched the lake on 17 September and 7 October 2013, finding two Nokia mobile phones, two mobile phone batteries, a pair of glasses and sunglasses, and a rucksack.

A number on the frame of the glasses and the prescription matched the records for O'Hara held on file at a branch of Specsavers in Dún Laoghaire.

Dog trainer Magali Vergnet regularly walked dogs on wooded land near Kilakee in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains.

Starting on 21 August 2013, one of her dogs would regularly disappear and return with some bones during their walk, which Vergnet at first believed were from an animal.

On 13 September 2013, the same dog again retrieved more bones, this time accompanied by clothing.

Concerned that these might be human, she contacted the landowner, Frank Doyle.

They returned to the land with another man and within an isolated clearing, they found scattered and gnawed bones, including the remains of a rib-cage and jawbone.

Realising the remains were human, they contacted the Gardaí.

Only 65 per cent of her skeleton was recovered.

The 2015 trial and conviction of Dwyer led to the circulation of evidence concerning O'Hara's and Dwyer's involvement in the BDSM sexual subculture.

The evidence of Dwyer's sadistic sexual practices led to the murder being called one of the most shocking crimes in Irish history.

A subsequent appeal by Dwyer, which questioned the legal basis for retaining the mobile phone metadata (which was used in the prosecution case against him), was upheld by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The outcome of this decision could have "serious implications for the investigation of serious crime across Europe", and provided a basis for further appeal by Dwyer.