Skip to content
Melo Podcasts Home
CategoriesLanguagesFollowing

Episode notes

In this special episode of Unsolved, documentary maker Peter Mulryan of Pirate Predator joins Barry and Katja to exclusively reveal a new development in the case of missing schoolboy Philip Cairns, who disappeared almost 40 years ago, in October 1986. In 2016, a female witness gave a statement to Gardai alleging that in October 1986, when she was nine years old, she was in the company of Eamonn Cooke when he picked up a boy she identified as Philip Cairns in his car, brought him to the radio Dublin studios and physically assaulted him. Her witness statement was not pursued by Gardai in 2016…

Unsolved

by RTÉ · English · True Crime

Some crimes don't get solved. Some families never get justice. Unsolved, hosted by award-winning crime journalist Barry Cummins and RTÉ presenter Katja Mia, is a true crime podcast made in the hope that someone listening knows something. In each episode, we investigate Irish cold cases with the vict

More from Unsolved

  1. 7 Oct 2026 · 27 minNew

    Jo Jo Dullard - Part 1

    On a cold and windy Thursday evening, in November 1995, 21-year-old Jojo Dullard vanished without a trace while making her way home from Dublin to her flat in Callan, Co. Kilkenny. Jojo had recently gotten a new job that she was due to start the day after her disappearance. But she never started her new job. She never got the chance to pursue her dreams. Jojo was murdered - possibly the very same night she went missing, almost 31 years ago. If you have any information, please contact our tipline - unsolved@rte.ie See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  2. 30 Sep 2026 · 28 min

    Philip Cairns - Part 2

    In October of 1986, on an ordinary Autumn Thursday, 13-year-old Philip Cairns disappeared. He had just finished lunch at his house in Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 and was walking back to school for his afternoon classes down quiet suburban lanes when he vanished into thin air. To this day Philip is one of the most well-known missing persons cases in Ireland. Despite almost 40 years of nationwide searches and appeals, no one has ever been arrested and Philip has never been found. In Part 2 of our series on Philip Cairns we look at the biggest tangible clue in the case - Philip's schoolbag - and the…

  3. 25 Sep 2026 · 24 min

    Philip Cairns Part 1

    In October of 1986, on an ordinary Autumn Thursday, 13-year-old Philip Cairns disappeared. He had just finished lunch at his house in Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 and was walking back to school for his afternoon classes down quiet suburban lanes when he vanished into thin air. To this day Philip is one of the most well-known missing persons cases in Ireland. Despite almost 40 years of nationwide searches and appeals, no one has ever been arrested and Philip has never been found. If you have any information, please contact our tipline - unsolved@rte.ie See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…

  4. 16 Sep 2026 · 33 min

    Annie McCarrick - Part 2

    In January 1993, 26-year-old New Yorker Annie McCarrick moved to Dublin to build the life she'd long dreamed of. Two months later, she was gone, never to be seen again. As a crime journalist, Barry reported on Annie's case in good faith with what he thought were hard facts for over two decades. But those facts were called into question in 2023. Nothing in this case was as it seemed. In part 2 of our series on Annie McCarrick, we follow the full twists and turns of the investigation into the disappearance of Annie McCarrick from March 1993, up to and including the reclassification of her case…

  5. 9 Sep 2026 · 42 min

    Annie McCarrick - Part 1

    In January 1993, 26-year-old New Yorker Annie McCarrick moved to Dublin to build the life she'd long dreamed of. Two months later, she was gone, never to be seen again. In Part One, Barry Cummins and Katja Mia trace Annie's story from Long Island to Sandymount, from her Irish-American childhood to her years at Maynooth, and the ordinary Friday morning in March 1993 when she was seen for the very last time. They follow her final known movements and ask why sightings reported as fact for three decades are now in question. Plus: information sent from America in 1993 that never reached the…

  6. 2 Sep 2026 · 36 min

    Antoinette Smith - Part 2

    In the summer of 1987, Antoinette Smith went to see David Bowie in concert at Slane Castle and never came home. Aged just 27, Antoinette was a full-time mother of two, so the rare night out was extra exciting. Antoinette kissed her daughters goodbye on that sunny July day, not knowing she would never see them again. Her body was found nine months later in tragic and horrifying circumstances. In Part two of our series on the murder of Antoinette Smith, we delve into the murder investigation that has spanned almost four decades, starting with her body's tragic discovery during a child's game…

  7. 26 Aug 2026 · 36 min

    Antoinette Smith - Part 1

    On the 11th of July, 1987, 27-year-old Antoinette Smith went to see David Bowie in concert at Slane Castle and never came home. Antoinette was a full-time mother of two, so the rare night out was extra exciting. Antoinette kissed her daughters goodbye on that sunny July day, not knowing she would never see them again. Her body was found nine months later in tragic and horrifying circumstances. In Part One of our series on the murder of Antoinette Smith, we meet the real woman behind the headlines - her life, her beloved daughters, her last day on earth and the beginnings of a murder…

  8. 21 Aug 2026 · 24 min

    Fiona Pender - Part 3

    Fiona Pender was last seen alive in August 1996 in her Tullamore flat. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant. Fiona and her family had just come through a profound tragedy but were preparing for a new chapter in their lives. All this changed when Fiona disappeared. Her body was never found and no one ever got to meet the baby that Fiona and her boyfriend John were expecting. Part 3 of our series on Fiona Pender is the conclusion of Fiona Pender's story, from further searches in 2014 springing from a case in Canada to her case finally being reclassified as a murder investigation in…

  9. 19 Aug 2026 · 33 min

    Fiona Pender - Part 2

    Fiona Pender was last seen alive in August 1996 by her boyfriend John in their Tullamore bedsit. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant. Fiona and her family had just come through a profound tragedy but were preparing for a new chapter in their lives. All this changed when Fiona disappeared. Her body was never found and no one ever got to meet the baby that Fiona and John were expecting. In Part 2 of our series on Fiona Pender, we track the many twists and turns in the massive nationwide search for Fiona, from the arrest of five suspects in 1997 up to a mysterious cross being found…

  10. 12 Aug 2026 · 33 min

    Fiona Pender - Part 1

    Fiona Pender was last seen alive in August 1996 by her boyfriend John in their bedsit in Tullamore. She was 25 years old and seven months pregnant. Fiona and her family had just come through a family tragedy but were preparing for a new chapter in their lives. All this changed when Fiona disappeared. Her body was never found. No one ever got to meet the baby that Fiona and John were expecting. In Part One of our series on the murder of Fiona Pender, we meet the real woman behind the headlines - her life, her ambitions, her last day on earth and the beginnings of a murder investigation that…

Every episode of Unsolved →

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.

Get it on Google Play