182. Amy Fitzpatrick: Lost to the Night, Silenced by the Blade - Part 2 of 3 - Reverie True Crime

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Revery True Crime. I'm your host page.
In this episode, we will continue to follow the story
of fifteen year old Amy Fitzpatrick, who disappeared without a
trace after leaving her friends home. We'll go through a

(00:59):
few details I missed about what Amy actually had with
her the night she went missing, two break ins in
two different places that targeted her belongings, and the tragic
death of her brother Dean. This is a story of grief,

(01:20):
of questions that still need answers, and a family torn
by loss. If you have any information you'd like to
pass along, you can send an email to Cold Case
investigator Jared Adams at Cold Case investigations at proton dot me.

(01:42):
That's cold case investigations at pro tn dot me. I'll
also have this information in the show notes. So before
we get started, I need to clear up a few
things that I found since part one as I kept digging. First,

(02:03):
I read in many newspapers regarding what Amy had with
her when she left her friend Ashley's, that she left
with nothing. Other sources have stumbled across since say that
when Amy left Ashley's house, she was carrying a Bershka
bag with a tracksuit inside that Ashley had given to her,

(02:26):
and a pink cell phone. I also found that Amy's
phone was discovered in her home during one of the
early police searches. Her friend, Ashley Rose told the Harold quote,
it looks to me like Amy made it home. She
had that phone in our house, and then her mother

(02:50):
had it. In the interview, I remember she used the
phone to access her mother's number on New Year's Eve
and rang the number from our house end quote. Amy
had two phones, one she had brought with her from
Ireland and the other was a phone she had gotten

(03:11):
in Spain. The cell phone she got in Spain had
been broken after it was thrown against a wall, but
Amy kept her cell phone from Ireland with her. It
wasn't connected to a network, but that's where she had
all of her contacts and she listened to music on it.

(03:31):
Ashley told the Guardia Civil, but nobody followed up on
it or took it seriously. In twenty seventeen, Ashley and
her mother Debbie, talked to Dublin Live, both saying it
completely dismantles the theory of the Spanish police that she
was kidnapped on the way to her home and it's

(03:53):
plausible that she went missing after she got back home.
Ashley said, quote this phone was being held up in
the news on the television by Audrey Amy's mom. I
was with her nearly every day and she always had
it with her because it was the phone she listened

(04:15):
to her music on. The other Spanish phone was just
to make calls on if she had credit and people
could call her. But that phone had been smashed about
a month before or something like that. She had the
other phone to listen to music, and she had her
dad's number on it because we would go to the

(04:36):
internet cafe and maybe she would call her dad. I
remember that phone because we would be listening to music.
It was the time when Shane Ward had just come out.
I know she got back there to her home. We've
always said she got back. I'm one hundred percent sure

(04:56):
she got back. She had the phone on her when
she left here. I have had detectives from the Guardia
Sibyl from Madrid call me and ask about that phone.
I've made statements about it a few times. We referring
to herself and her mom, Debbie, both know she had

(05:17):
that phone with her. End quote. Audrey told The Late
Late Show after the host Pat Kenney held up Amy's
phone for all to see that it was found on
her bed under some of Amy's clothes. Audrey claimed it
wasn't out of the ordinary, and that they would also

(05:37):
leave their back door unlocked for her because she was
always forgetting her key as well. Also one of the
earliest and most bizarre developments I came across was in
the form of two break ins, one in May and
one in August of two thousand and eight, a few

(05:57):
months after Amy went missing. Someone forced their way into
Audrey and Dave's lawyer's office. The only thing stolen was
a file connected to Amy's disappearance. Nothing else was touched.
Their lawyer said the thief or thieves forced their way
into his property by prizing open a locked garden gate.

(06:22):
He said, quote The stolen documents included confidential police reports
about Fitzpatrick's disappearance. I believe the burglary was related to
Fitzpatrick's disappearance. It makes no sense that they took the documents,
which financially are worthless, and left behind all my expensive

(06:43):
valuables like TVs, computers and music equipment. End quote. Another source,
The Irish Independent, talked to Audrey. Not only was there
a break in at the lawyer's home, but a few
months later their home was broken into as well, and

(07:03):
Amy's cell phone was stolen. This was reported in August
of two thousand and eight, Just three months after the
lawyer's home was broken into, someone broke one of Audrey
and Dave's windows and crept inside while Audrey was out
with a friend. Dave claimed he had just gotten home

(07:24):
from the gym and saw that Amy's room had been
ransacked and flipped upside down. They stole a computer with
all of the missing poster designs and hundreds of very
important phone numbers that they'd been collecting since Amy disappeared.
They also took some of Dave's deceased mother's jewelry. The

(07:48):
robbery happened sometime between two and four pm. Dave said, quote,
they pushed in a window in the TV room to
get in. They ransacked the place. We haven't touched Amy's
room since she disappeared. It was a shrine to her.
They've turned it upside down and pulled all her clothes

(08:10):
out of the wardrobe. The worst thing is they've stolen
Audrey's laptop, which she'd been using in the search for Amy.
It had everything on it, poster designs, numbers of the
Irish ambassador in Spain, even the mobile number of Bertie Ahearn,
who we met in Dublin while he was still the Tatia.

(08:34):
Losing it is really going to set us back end quote.
Audrey added, if these people have a heart, I'd urge
them to return my laptop. There are numbers on there
will never be able to recover. In an interview from
a twenty seventeen article, Audrey stated, quote, the phone was

(08:57):
robbed when we had a break in at the house
in Spain. As stupidly as women do, you leave everything
in the top drawer. That's of value, and I had
actually stopped bringing it around with me because I was
afraid i'd lose it, and it had all her photographs
and text on it. I don't know how they can

(09:19):
say she had the phone at the time because she
had no credit on it, she added. She quickly moved
on to another subject, but she had to realize. Ashley
and Debbie said they knew Amy did not have any
credit on her phone, which means she couldn't make phone
calls or text, but she could still listen to any

(09:42):
music she had saved on it and see her contacts list. Okay,
I know that's a super long intro, but I always
want to make sure that I correct any mistakes and
add any information I happened to find even after the
episode of published, So please keep all of those facts

(10:03):
in mind as we go through part two. Let's get
into it. As we ended part one, it had been
exactly a year since Amy's disappearance. As we picked back
up on February sixth, two thousand and nine, the day
before Amy's seventeenth birthday, a letter arrived from Spanish Prime

(10:27):
Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. In the letter addressed to
Irish Tasia Brian Cowan, the Prime Minister offered words of assurance.
He promised Spain's commitment to finding out what happened to Amy.
He described the Spanish police's efforts as diligent and determined,

(10:53):
and asked Brian to pass along his solidarity to Amy's
grieving family. The Prime Minister's words were respectful and comforting.
He promised there would be updates from authorities, including the
Spanish police and the Irish embassy, and reassured them of

(11:13):
Spain's objective to advance the investigation. But to a devastated
mother who still didn't have her daughter back home, words
even from a Prime minister, let's be real can feel
empty and pointless. Audrey had never stopped believing that Amy

(11:33):
would come home. Despite more than a year of no contact,
no sightings, and no evidence, she kept preparing for her
daughter's return. On that night, as politicians traded letters, Audrey
spent her time doing what many would not understand. She

(11:55):
redecorated Amy's room, holding on to hope that Amy would
come through that door. On Amy's seventeenth birthday, Audrey publicly
begged Amy to come home once again. Her father Christopher,
also wrote a public plea quote, Amy, if you can

(12:16):
see this, I promised at the beginning of this nightmare,
I would never give up on the search for you,
and I will continue until I find you end quote.
In April of two thousand and nine, a man walking
near Mihaws, the same area where Amy was last seen,

(12:38):
made a gruesome discovery inside of a sewage pipe close
to the Meehaw's football stadium, only ten minutes from Audrey
and Dave's house. Were charred human remains, part of a
skull and torso. The scene had clearly been set on
fire the night before. Authorities believed gasoline was used. Everyone

(13:05):
speculated if this could be Amy, Was this the ending
her family had feared for so long. Forensic teams rushed
to the site. The body was so badly burned they
couldn't immediately determine the sex or age, but Audrey did
not believe it was her daughter. Quote, I've spoken to

(13:29):
the Guardia Civil They're telling me the body is that
of a man. I'm confident it's not Amy's. For me,
nothing has changed, I'm still praying nothing bad's happened to her.
And she'll come home one day soon end quote. Forensic
experts were working around the clock to find answers. At

(13:53):
the end of it all, Audrey was right. It wasn't Amy.
In June of two thousand and nine, a tip came
in from a builder named George O'Neill who lived in
the nearby town of Coen, and came forward with something
that he could not forget. He said that just a

(14:14):
few days after Amy vanished, around January third or fourth,
he was in a petrol station cafe, maybe a mile
and a half from where Amy lived, and he saw
a teenage girl sitting in the cafe who looked like Amy,
drinking her coffee and buying cigarettes. At the time, he

(14:38):
told police, but nothing came of it, not even a
follow up. So at this point it was a year
later and he decided to go public with the information.
He still believed it was her. Amy's mom took it seriously.
She said she'd bring it up at her next min

(15:00):
with the Guardia Sivil. She was having sit downs with
investigators every month. She felt it would be looked at again.
Maybe there was something they missed, maybe the man was wrong,
or maybe he actually did see something. That no one
else did. Audrey had been doing everything she could think

(15:23):
of to keep Amy's face out there. Posters were still
up everywhere. She kept giving interviews and always gave the
same details over and over in case the right person
finally heard them. As we know, sometimes all it takes

(15:43):
is one person remembering just one thing. Back in Dublin,
Amy's dad, Christopher, had hired a private investigator of his own.
He was not content with waiting forever for the police
to give him updates and more. Even local comedians were
stepping up and showing support. Dave Young, a well known

(16:08):
Dublin performer, was organizing a fundraiser to help the family
continue the hunt for Amy. Still in June, private detectives
from a firm in Barcelona who had worked on Madeleine
McCann's case, approached Audrey to investigate a pricey ultimatum she

(16:29):
had received. She accepted their help, even though she suspected
it was fake. There was a part of her that
needed to know for sure either way. She had not
told anyone, not even her family, that she'd been talking
to the detectives about the fishy ransom message she received.

(16:52):
The ransom demand reportedly came from an African man who
called Audrey and asked if she was Amy's mother. She
told him she was, and then the man said Amy
had been kidnapped and was now being held in Madrid.
He went on to tell her that in two hours

(17:12):
he would be calling her back with a name and
an address. Audrey told reporters quote, so I agreed, of course.
Five hours later I got a text saying can you
pay us five hundred thousand euros? Yes or no? Send

(17:33):
your answer now and we will send you all the
information you need. Two hours later he texted again, saying
he was still waiting for my answer. I'm almost certain
it was a con but there is a chance he
has something. There is no proof yet end quote. It

(17:54):
was reported that the investigators found whoever was calling was
using pay as you go cell phones that were untraceable,
and that it was all a scam. Audrey said, quote,
although I know it was a scam, I must admit
that if I had a suitcase of money worth a

(18:14):
half a million euro, I would have just said, okay,
where and when do you want it? My heart had
been in my mouth and I had been praying. End quote.
Christmas of two thousand and nine arrived, and Audrey refused
to give in to despair. She clung tightly to the

(18:37):
belief that Amy was still alive somewhere. Quote. She's very
stubborn and strong minded. She's independent and that's the one
thing I know will help her stay safe end quote.
Every month, without fail, Audrey met with the police. She

(19:00):
and Dave had made up their mission to keep Amy's
name alive. They brainstormed new ways to keep her story
in the public eye. They were determined to never let
Amy become just another forgotten face. A group of Irish
businessmen who chose to stay anonymous donated money for two

(19:23):
massive billboards along the motorway near where Amy disappeared. One
billboard was in Spanish, the other in English. Both had
a picture of Amy and a plea for information. Audrey said,
we are deeply grateful. Anything that helps find Amy is appreciated.

(19:47):
Audrey was also infuriated about the recent reports of attempted
abductions in the same area where Amy had gone missing.
Just weeks before, a teen age girl named Grace Preston,
who was around Amy's age, barely escaped being forced into

(20:07):
a van while walking home from school in Kalahunda. Grace
described the experience as terrifying. She miraculously got away and
ran right to a shopping center. Hiding in a bar,
Grace called her parents, who were in a nearby supermarket.

(20:28):
They called the police and they began an investigation. Officers
found the attempted kidnapping was tied to an underground sex trade.
Grace's father, an architect, Quentin Preston, said, quote, You'd never
think it's going to be your son or daughter until

(20:50):
it happens to you. But they are teenagers. We can't
watch them all the time. End quote. The Preston had
been living in the area for the last six years.
Quentin recommended to younger people that they should not go
out alone in Calihunda. Another incident followed. On November twenty third,

(21:15):
two thousand and nine. Two boys just twelve years old
were approached by men in a white transit van while
they were sitting on the side of the road drinking water.
The men sprang out of the van and attempted to
grab the boys, but they were so fortunate and got away.

(21:35):
The boys were able to fight them off and took off,
running to safety to call their families. The police were
notified about what happened, but by the time they got there, unsurprisingly,
the men were long gone. To Audrey, these cases were
not just alarming and frightening, they were maddening. Quote. I

(22:02):
have said it before, and I'll say it again. Whoever
took Amy is still out there. If it can happen once,
it can happen again. End quote. Now, as another Christmas
passed without her daughter, Audrey recalled stopping at a tiny
Catholic church during a drive with David, where they found

(22:25):
comfort and prayer. The priest, who happened to be an irishman,
even said a Christmas Eve mass for Amy. Audrey said, quote,
it doesn't get easier with the passage of time. It
just gets harder. Every day that passes does not ease
the pain, it increases it. End quote. On January second,

(22:51):
twenty ten, now officially two years since Amy went missing,
Audrey told the Evening Herald quote, I believe there's a
one percent chance she ran away and a ninety nine
percent chance she was abducted. For her not to have
made contact with me, with her brother Dean, who she

(23:13):
was so close to, is just unbelievable. End quote. She
knew Amy would never have stayed silent on her own,
saying quote, if she hasn't got in touch, I think
either she can't or she's not around. The pain of

(23:34):
uncertainty was made worse by other tragedies. Amy's cousin, singer
Beverly O'Sullivan, had just been killed in a car crash
two months earlier in India. Yet another heartbreak, and sadly,
as we later find out, it wouldn't be the last,

(23:56):
because someone even closer to home is murdered. A reporter
at the evening Harold asked Audrey if they had thought
about moving somewhere else, and she responded, quote, I will
never leave here while we don't know where Amy is.
I even get anxious going back to Ireland for a

(24:18):
few days because I fear that it might be a
time where Amy could have plucked up the courage to
come home and there would be nobody here end quote.
At the beginning of March, there was a heart stopping
phone call made to Audrey. A skeleton had been found.

(24:39):
It was discovered in a stream in the Costa del Soul,
not far just sixty kilometers, which is about thirty seven
miles from the place where Amy had disappeared. The headlines
spread quickly. Amy's aunt, Christine Kenney, was one of the
first here, all the way in Dublin, and as soon

(25:03):
as reports reached her, she called Amy's father, Christopher. The
thought the possibility shook him. After all this time of
not knowing any answers to the questions he had, of
blind hope, of wanting to know what happened to her,

(25:24):
facing the thought of possibly finding her remains was too
overwhelming and scary. Audrey heard the news too. At first,
there were few details, just that part of a skeleton,
a leg, they would later say, had been found in
a stream. The painful waiting to hear if it was

(25:47):
Amy began. Then the call finally came. A friend who
had been speaking with the local police got the confirmation
the remains were definitely not Amy's. It was a sigh
of relief for Amy's family because they could still hang
on to hope that they'd someday find her alive. Audrey

(26:12):
could still imagine her daughter out there somewhere waiting to
come home. On April sixteenth, Audrey and Dave announced they
were offering one million euro, which is around one point
one million US dollars that four friends came together to
give them an exchange for information leading to Amy dead

(26:36):
or alive. The reward would only be available for one month.
They said. Four of their friends in Ireland had given
two hundred and fifty thousand euro each, which Audrey and
Dave put in their lawyer's account in hopes of someone
coming forward. Dave said, quote, we believe someone knows some

(27:00):
thing about Amy's disappearance. We are going through hell and
we want to find out what's happened to her. Either way,
we think if they are not going to give Amy
up in a month, they never will. End quote. They
both said that whoever came forward could remain anonymous. Audrey

(27:22):
and Dave had not wanted to openly criticize the Spanish police, investigators,
Irish diplomats and politicians since the beginning, but they finally
let their feelings be publicly known. There was a tip
about a suspicious englishman who was going around supposedly boasting

(27:44):
to other expats that he had sex with a friend
of Amy's, a teenager, so technically, if true, he raped her.
This man was also said to have bragged about invited
Amy over to his house shortly after it was reported

(28:04):
that Amy had gone missing. He left Costa del Soul.
Dave said, quote when the Spanish police started their inquiries,
we were very happy with their work. More than two
and a half years later, we're not very happy with
a lot of things that are going on. All we've

(28:24):
had from the Irish government and diplomats are a lot
of empty promises. They're happy enough to pose for photos
and say they're going to help us, but then they
do nothing. End quote. The next year, May of twenty eleven,
Audrey was pissed. Recently, she and Dave were fighting back

(28:48):
against accusations that claimed they had allowed Amy to spiral
into an erratic lifestyle, one filled with drugs, alcohol, and
in late night parties and dangerous places. People suggested they
had neglected her so badly that she had to root

(29:09):
around in dumpsters for food and borrow clothes from friends,
but Audrey said those were all lies. She was furious.
Quote Amy didn't drink, she didn't smoke marijuana, and she
wasn't neglected. End quote. Audrey spoke out because she was

(29:31):
afraid that these damaging stories would stop people from searching
for her daughter. Quote people might think she ran away
on her own. And that would be a tragedy. We've
spent the last three and a half years trying to
find out what happened to her. This kind of thing

(29:51):
just makes it harder. It stops people from coming forward
with information. End quote Audrey to know if Amy's life
was really in such disarray as people claimed, why was
she babysitting the night before she disappeared? Why was she
helping someone else on New Year's Eve, the one night

(30:15):
teenagers usually want to be out having fun. A new
lead surfaced exactly one year later. In May of twenty twelve,
a tip came in through Facebook that claimed a dangerous man,
an Irish gangster named Eric Wilson also called Eric Lucky Wilson,

(30:38):
might be connected to Amy's disappearance. Audrey and Dave did
not waste a moment. They immediately reached out to Irish authorities,
begging them to investigate. A man had come forward saying
Eric Wilson had been going around bragging about killing Amy.

(30:59):
Audrey and Day they abe were desperate but hopeful. Quote
we are hopeful there will be movement on this, and
we believe the information we have is credible end quote
Eric Wilson, a convicted killer from Balley Firmit Dublin had

(31:19):
a violent past. He was serving a twenty three year
prison sentence for the cold blooded killing of a British
Man in Spain. At the time of Amy's disappearance, Eric
Wilson was living in the same area. He had rented
a farm in Coenn, less than thirty kilometers from where

(31:41):
Amy had been staying. According to the tip, he'd bragged
about what he'd done. Audrey and Dave went to the
exact area where Eric had been staying, hoping for some
sign that could bring them closer to the truth. They
also farmed Guardeye in Ireland and hoped the Spanish police

(32:04):
would join in the investigation. The information was so serious
that it was expected to be shared with Interpol. Amy's
disappearance wasn't the first mystery tied to Eric Wilson's name.
He had been linked to a string of unsolved killings
in two thousand and six and two thousand and seven.

(32:27):
In twenty ten, he shot a man dead in broad
daylight after a drunken fight over a girl. Now it
had been said that the girl involved in that fight
was one of Amy's friends. Even more unsettling, Amy had
been spotted near the scene not long before. She vanished

(32:51):
could there be a connection. The most damning suspicions weren't
about strangers at all. They were about someone much closer.
Amy had told friends she feared her mother's partner, Dave Mahon.
She said he was violent, that he scared her, that

(33:15):
she did not feel safe around him. That fear would
soon be validated. In early twenty thirteen, Dave got behind
the wheel in North Dublin after drinking too much. He
ended up being pulled over after a garda noticed him

(33:35):
driving erratically and dangerously. Dave had sped past the guarda's vehicle,
swerved through traffic and nearly caused a crash. When the
garda followed him, Dave ran red lights and sped through
a housing estate. He was hammered. In March of twenty thirteen,

(33:59):
the Dublin Dish Court sentenced him to four months in
jail and banned him from driving for five years, but
Dave appealed, hoping for leniency, and he got it. On appeal.
Judge James o'donahue suspended the prison sentence, but there was

(34:20):
one condition that Dave stayed out of trouble for the
next twelve months. The judge also shortened his driving ban
to the legal minimum of two years. Given the amount
of alcohol in his system ninety nine milligrams per one
hundred milliliters of breath, which is a blood alcohol level

(34:44):
of zero point nine to nine. The judge took note
of Dave's clean record, his cooperation with police, and pitied
him quote, I'm very sorry to hear about your personal tragedy.
I can understand how this whole thing happened end quote.

(35:06):
The next month, at the end of April, Dave looked
relieved in court. Outside the building, he said he was
grateful for the kindness showed to him quote I was
delighted with the sympathy shown to me. But how long
would that sympathy last. Tragedy struck Amy's family again. While

(35:30):
they were in Dublin. Amy's brother, twenty three year old
Dean Fitzpatrick, was in a relationship with his loving partner
Sarah O'Rourke, and he was a wonderful father of their
sweet two year old little boy Leon. As a refresher,
Dean Fitzpatrick moved to Dublin as soon as he turned

(35:53):
eighteen to be close to his biological father, Christopher Dean,
was found stabbed in the street by a passerby who
called for help. He was sent to Beaumont Hospital, where
he was sadly pronounced deceased. Now I will go through
this case and the trial of his killer that will

(36:16):
take us to twenty sixteen. I'd like to do it
this way for two reasons. I don't really want to
switch back and forth between topics, because it can get
confusing and a little overwhelming to keep up with. It
will also provide important information to keep in the back

(36:37):
of your mind when we come back to twenty thirteen
and pick up where we left off about Amy, because
what I feel like is a critical piece in the
paper about her came out shortly after her brother died.
But that will be for you to decide if it's
relevant in your opinion or not. Dean's killer turned himself

(37:02):
in at the Garda station in Coolock, but only after
Dean's body was found in the street in Northern Cross
on the night of March twenty fourth, going into the
morning of the twenty fifth. The person who killed Dean
was none other than his forty two year old stepfather, Dave.

(37:25):
Dave did not go to the station for at least
twelve hours after the stabbing happened. Audrey said she wasn't
there the night the stabbing occurred. Years later, she said,
quote that night I was staying with my dad because
he had Alzheimer's and we used to do shifts with him.

(37:47):
I couldn't leave my dad until I got someone else
to mind him. Of course it would just happen that
one night I wasn't in the apartment. Things could have
been different. Things would have been different had I been there,
but I wasn't. It's all ifs and buts and maybees,

(38:08):
and you can't change the past, you know. End quote.
Dave was arrested and only held for twenty four hours
without charge. The funeral for Dean Deno Fitzpatrick was scheduled
for Friday in Coulock. Audrey had made the arrangements, but

(38:29):
Dean's father, Christopher, had not been consulted. Neither had Dean's
partner and mother of their son, Sarah. Their names were
missing from the death notice. Christopher, blindsided, sought out legal advice.
He wanted to be part of his son's farewell. He

(38:52):
wanted Dean buried in a new grave. One where if
Amy was ever found, she could rest besides him. Audrey disagreed,
she wanted Dean buried with her mother. The disagreement escalated,
solicitors got involved, the funeral was called off. Dave, who

(39:15):
had said he wouldn't attend the funeral, planned to pay
his respects privately at the funeral home. That visit was
canceled too. In the end, there was no service that day,
no closure, just more waiting. A family found themselves further divided,

(39:36):
and Dean, the young man at the center of it all,
remained unburied. The dispute over Dean's funeral arrangements was eventually
resolved in the High Court. The judge ordered that Dean's
body be released to his darling partner, Sarah, the mother
of their eighteen month old son Leon. Both parents were

(40:00):
to have an equal say in the funeral arrangements. The
court's decision allowed the family to proceed with the funeral,
aiming to honor Dean's memory respectfully and bring some measure
of closure to his loved ones. The Church of the
Holy Trinity was filled with friends and family, all struggling

(40:24):
to comprehend the senseless loss. Christopher cradled his grandson as
he led the procession, followed closely by Sarah, who Dean
loved and was crazy about. Audrey couldn't make it to
the funeral because she had gotten sick the evening before

(40:45):
after attending her son's removal from the funeral home. Inside
the church, the atmosphere was heavy with grief. Father maccrystal
spoke of Dean's lively spirit, his devotion to his son,
and the impact his death had on those who knew him.

(41:05):
Personal items such as a baseball cap, a miniature bicycle, headphones,
and a cross were placed on Dean's coffin, symbolizing his
passions and the life he had lived. Dean's best friend,
Kevin Harris, delivered a moving tribute recalling Dean's infectious energy

(41:29):
and the love he had for his family and friends.
Quote he always had a big smile on his face
and was full of energy. He loved his partner Sarah,
he loved her daughter Sophie as his own, and he
doated on their son Leon end quote. As the service

(41:52):
came to an end, seven white doves were released into
the sky, a touching yet painful farewell to a young
man whose life had ended too soon, Dean was laid
to rest in Fingal Cemetery, a place his father hoped
would one day also be the final resting place for Amy,

(42:16):
should she ever be found. The family tried to find
comfort in the memories of happier times, even as they
faced an uncertain future. In court, it was learned that
Dean had confronted Dave multiple times about Amy's disappearance. He

(42:37):
believed that Dave knew more than he ever let on.
Dean had also told people that he was scared of
what might happen if he kept asking questions. Dave was
a heavy drinker, according to reports, and seemed to be
unhinged at times. Like I said before. Even Amy told

(43:03):
her friends that she was scared of Dave and hated
being at home. It was said in court that Dave
had been drinking a great deal the day the stabbing happened,
and that he quote plunged the knife into Dean Fitzpatrick
so hard that it went right through the victim's stomach

(43:24):
as far as his spine. The prosecution would later tell
a jury that Dean had been stabbed so severely that
his guts came out, adding quote in common terms, he
had been gutted. The prosecution said that the blade of

(43:45):
the knife went through Dean's muscles and bowel, slashing his
aorta and leaving a three centimeter groove on his spine.
The wound was fourteen centimeters or five inches long. The
prosecution laid out what they believed happened on the night

(44:06):
in question. Dean cycled to Dave's apartment, arriving just after
eleven pm. He'd apparently been called there. Video footage showed
him going inside the apartment, and only minutes later, Dave
was seen leaving the same building with another man hailing

(44:27):
a taxi. Inside the apartment, Dave had been drinking with
his friend, but at some point the vibe shifted and
an argument began. According to the prosecution, when Dean tried
to leave, Dave followed him out and in a moment
of violence, stabbed him in the abdomen with a carving knife.

(44:52):
Even though Dean was seriously wounded, he managed to run, stumbling,
but he didn't get far. He collapsed a short distance away.
He died the following day, March twenty fifth, in the hospital.
Dave's version of events was very different. His counsel told

(45:16):
the court that Dave claimed it was all an accident,
that Dean had brought the knife into the confrontation and
in the heat of the moment, had somehow walked into
the knife. There was even a suggestion that Dean was
suicidal and walked into it on purpose, but the prosecution

(45:38):
questioned that version strongly quote suicide by stepfather. One prosecuting
attorney remarked pointedly saying how difficult it would be for
the jury to accept that explanation given the severity of
Dean's injuries. There were also details of a confrontation just

(46:02):
days earlier. Dean had allegedly taken Dave's water bottle off
of Dave's bike outside of a gym, simply to annoy him.
He didn't do any harm to the bike, but their
relationship had been very tense. After the stabbing, the court heard,

(46:23):
Dave returned to his apartment, told a friend what had happened,
and hours later turned himself in to the police. On
the day Dean lost his life, tensions had already been simmering,
and for Sarah O'Rourke, the young woman Dean loved and

(46:43):
who he was raising a child with, it erupted into
fear Sarah stood in the witness box at the Central
Criminal Court recounting the frightening phone calls she received from
Dean's stepfather, Dave. It was a conversation she had not
expected and one she would never forget. She told the

(47:08):
court that Dave, a man she barely knew and had
only met a few times, had called her out of
the blue. His voice was sharp and angry. He was
demanding to speak to Dean. She recalled quote, I told
him Dean wasn't fair, but he just kept saying put

(47:30):
him on. He didn't believe me. Then she said, his
tone got really dark. Sarah testified that Dave threatened her
that if she didn't get Dean to return his call
or come to his apartment, that he would come to
her home and stab her. She remembered his words quote

(47:54):
he said he'd stick a knife in my head or
my neck end quote. Worried and shaken up, Sarah sent
Dean a text message. She told him what had happened,
that Dave had threatened her, that he'd been aggressive, and
that he seemed out of control. She didn't try to

(48:16):
sugarcoat it. She told Dean he needed to go to
Dave's apartment and deal with whatever was going on, just
to try to defuse the situation before it spiraled. Sarah
had no idea that that would be the last time
she talked to the man she loved. Later that night,

(48:38):
Dean Fitzpatrick would cycle over to his stepfather's apartment. Minutes
after arriving, he would be dead, and that phone call
to Sarah her warning would become a tragic marker of
the storm building behind closed doors. Taxi driver Carl O'Toole

(49:01):
had known David for some time. On the night of
May twenty fifth, twenty thirteen, Dave called him and asked
him to come over to his apartment on Dublin's Malahide Road.
When Carl arrived, what he saw immediately set off alarm bells.

(49:22):
The apartment was a mess. Dave was drunk, clearly agitated.
His words were slurred, his thoughts scattered. Carl noticed an
empty whiskey bottle swinging from a plastic bag behind the door.
Xanax packets were scattered everywhere, and then there was something else,

(49:47):
something really strange. Pictures Scattered among the clutter were pictures
of David's mother and of Amy Fitzpatrick. Shtruck Carl as
odd to see their photos carelessly tossed all around like trash.
It was unsettling. It felt symbolic, like something had broken inside.

(50:14):
Dave told Carl he'd had enough. He said things were
over between him and Audrey. The conversation soon turned to Dean.
He told Carl just days earlier, Dean had allegedly messed
with his bike, taking a water bottle from it outside
of a gem. It might have seemed like something small,

(50:38):
but to Dave it clearly bothered him so much that
it festered. Or maybe it was all the questions Dean
had been asking that made him so upset. Dave had
been texting Dean constantly, trying to confront him about the
water bottle, trying to get him to come and Quote

(51:00):
sorted out. Eventually, Dean did show up at the apartment.
Carl was there. He said. Both men were tense, but
it seemed like the argument had been settled. The bike
part would be returned. Dean got ready to leave, and
then everything changed. Barely a minute after Dean walked out,

(51:25):
Dave went back into the apartment holding a large knife.
Carl's heart dropped. Later, he would say, Quote, it was
a long knife. Everything went from zero to one hundred
in that short space of time. End quote. He was

(51:45):
in shock. It had all happened so quickly, too quickly
to understand. Dave wanted to get out. They left the
apartment and drove through the night in Carl's taxi. No destination,
just silence and then a confession. Carl said, quote he

(52:09):
says to me that he thinks Dean is dead, that
he thinks the knife went through him. End quote. For Carl,
it was a night he couldn't forget. For Dean's family,
it was another chapter and a story already touched deeply
by grief and tragedy. David Mahon, after twelve hours, walked

(52:35):
into Coolock guard a station in Dublin with tears streaming
down his face. He leaned on a walking stick, visibly shaking,
saying it was me. I didn't know he was dead.
I just heard it on the news this morning, the
man standing before the guard. I wasn't there under arrest,

(53:00):
not yet. As he sobbed, he said, quote, God forgive me,
but he's a little bastard. It's my fault. He's dead.
End quote. That moment became a central piece of the trial.
Now slowly unfolding At the Central Criminal Court. Dave claimed

(53:23):
the two had argued the night before about the bike,
about years of friction about Dean's choices. He said Dean
had pulled weapons on him before, even a gun once. Quote,
he was always putting it up to me, Dave claimed,

(53:43):
of Dean, who was no longer here to defend himself.
Some speculate maybe Dean got too close to answers, asked
too many questions, and maybe just maybe Dave silenced him.
Dave insisted their argument was different. This time. He said

(54:05):
Dean had walked into the knife. He described pulling a
knife from the kitchen. Not to use it, he said,
but to confront his step son, quote, what are you
doing pulling a knife on your father? And then, according
to him, it happened in an instant, Dean moved forward

(54:27):
and the blade went in. Afterward, Dave said he got
rid of the knife while a friend drove him around aimlessly.
He didn't want a solicitor. He just kept repeating it,
he walked into it. I didn't kill him. Detectives remembered
how distraught he was. Quote he was visibly shaking. He

(54:51):
kept asking if it was true. If Dean was really dead,
but Dave's words came off as a deep bitterness. He
called Dean a scumbag, a bastard, someone who sold drugs,
carried knives, robbed bikes. He said he'd told Audrey before

(55:12):
that he didn't want Dean around. Still, when asked if
he'd meant to kill Dean, he broke down. Ah, fuck
Jesus Christ. No, A waste of life, he called it.
That same day, deputy state pathologist doctor Michael Curtis took

(55:33):
the stand. He'd performed the post mortem examination. What he
found was devastating a single stab wound about fourteen point
five centimeters deep, slicing through muscle, damaging the abdominal aorta,
the body's main blood vessel, and piercing the small intestine.

(55:57):
The wound ended at the spine, where it left a
groove in the bone. Dean bled to death. Despite emergency care,
the injury was too severe to survive. Doctor Curtis was
asked whether someone could have quote run on to a
knife like Dave claimed. He said it was possible. The

(56:22):
track of the wound was almost straight, with only a
slight upward angle, something that could have happened by accident
or by force. He couldn't say for certain which. There
was one more detail on Dean's forearm, the pathologist noted
several old scars. Perhaps he suggested they were from self harm,

(56:47):
though he couldn't say for sure. It was just a possibility.
A forensic scientist, doctor Fiona Thornton, also gave evidence Dave's clothes.
His shirt had a jagged tear near the bottom, and
there was a hole in the back pocket of his genes,

(57:10):
the same pocket where Dave said he'd stuffed the knife
after taking it from Dean. She confirmed the damage matched
the story. But as the prosecution set in their opening remarks,
this was not just a fight or a tragedy. This

(57:30):
was a gutting. Even as the medical experts debated whether
the wound was accidental or deliberate, one thing was painfully clear.
Dean Fitzpatrick's life had ended violently, suddenly, and the people
closest to him were left to pick up the pieces.

(57:53):
The courtroom was quiet as Detective Sergeant Eddie Carroll took
the stand again. This time it wasn't just about what
David Mayhon had said. It was about what Dean had
lived through. Guard I after hearing Dave's accounts of a
difficult relationship with his step son, had secured Dean's mental

(58:17):
health records. They painted a picture of a young man
in deep turmoil. Long before his final night, Dean, the
court learned, had begun using drugs as early as eleven
years old, hash cocaine tablets. By nineteen, he told health

(58:38):
professionals that alcohol gave him a kind of invincibility, saying
he felt like superman, that nothing could happen to him
when he drank. But behind the bravado was a young
man spinning between highs and crushing lows. Quote, I have
three or four MoodSwing a day. I can't control it.

(59:02):
I need something to calm me down. By twenty eleven,
he'd admitted himself into a hospital, a crisis admission triggered
by everything from housing issues and family stress to legal trouble.
There were times that he self harmed. He cut his forearms,

(59:24):
he stabbed himself in the hand, saying he wanted to die.
Dean had told a medic that he had been convicted
in Spain for the attempted murder of a police officer
acclaim guard I couldn't verify, but which Dave echoed, saying
Dean had once stolen his car and run down an officer.

(59:48):
It was a portrait of someone carrying enormous psychological weight
and sadness, especially about missing his sister Amy, who had
vanished in two thousand. The detective agreed that Dean had
described self harming as a form of release tied to
feelings of depression about Amy. The struggles from his past

(01:00:12):
were seemingly weaponized against him to support the theory that
he'd walked into the knife. If anything were to ever
happen to me, I hope that my past is not
weaponized against me in my own alleged murder. If Dean

(01:00:32):
walked into that knife, why would he try to get away?
That seems like an action of someone who's scared, trying
to run, not wanting to die. He had a loving
girlfriend and son to go home to. It just didn't
make sense, and he wasn't fair to tell his side.

(01:00:56):
Back in court, the jury watched footage of Dave's interviews
with the guard I and one. He stood up and
tried to physically demonstrate how Dean had quote walked into
the knife. Dave had come in voluntarily. He wasn't under
arrest at first, but he never stopped saying it. Quote,

(01:01:19):
it was my fault. Later that day, following his formal arrest,
detective guard of Brendan Mears interviewed Dave. He confirmed he
had seen a solicitor. Quote. They said, not to say anything,
but look, I'm nothing to hide. It's my fault. I

(01:01:39):
can't believe it. What will Audrey say? Twenty three years
of age? Jesus Christ. We've been going out for twelve years.
We moved to Spain. You know, Amy went missing. Dave
spoke of a once lavish life in Spain, eight or
nine houses and bars. He said, we were millionaires, really,

(01:02:04):
but spent it all looking for Amy. End quote. And
now another child was gone. I wish it was me,
Dave repeated. He talked about his rocky relationship with Dean,
saying not good, up and down. He admitted to hitting

(01:02:26):
Dean once in Spain when he said Dean had pulled
a knife on him. Now sitting in a prison cell,
he asked out loud, quote did he want to walk
into the knife? Is it an accident or murder? I
don't know, but it's my fault. End quote. Dave's fears

(01:02:48):
turned toward Audrey, saying this is going to kill her
the stress. How much can anybody take? Then came the
moment that prosecutors would sly sees on. Dave acknowledged that
Dean had texted him quote what's this You're gonna stab me?

(01:03:09):
End quote of the text. Dave said, quote, I know
it doesn't look good for me, but it is what
it is. End quote. He claimed again he had not
meant it. The threats the words exchanged in the heat
of frustration. Quote I told Audrey I was going to

(01:03:31):
stab him, but I didn't mean it. End quote, And
perhaps most chillingly, Dave said, quote part of me thinks
he wanted it, but I don't know. End quote. In
the quiet stillness of the Central Criminal Court, grief spoke

(01:03:51):
louder than any gavel ever could. There was no shielding
the court room from the pain that spilled from the
word of parents, partners, and children who were forever changed
by Dean Fitzpatrick's death. Audrey, mother of the victim, wife
of the man who caused his death, stood at the

(01:04:15):
center of a human contradiction. Quote he will always be
my husband and my best friend, she told the court.
Her voice steady with a kind of hardened sorrow. She
said the words as Dave sat a few feet away,
awaiting sentencing for the manslaughter of her son, Christopher Fitzpatrick.

(01:04:41):
Dean's father, said his world first collapsed when his daughter
Amy disappeared in Spain on New Year's Day two thousand
and eight. Then it shattered again in May of twenty
thirteen when he had to identify Dean's body at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
He said, quote, I always hoped that someday she would

(01:05:06):
be found. I cannot have the same hope for Dean.
End quote. The way Dean died, his father called it
what he believed it was a brutal killing. There were
no words to describe the pain, the anger, and the despair.

(01:05:26):
What hurt more, he said, was watching how Dave was betrayed,
and how, even while out on bail for killing his son,
Dave was able to take a holiday in Spain. He
recalled the legal battle that followed Dean's death, not just
over grief, but over where Dean should be buried. He

(01:05:49):
said he was totally stressed out. Then came a painful
twist in this story. You might remember this little fact
from Part one. Christopher said that his estranged wife, Audrey,
had taken their children on a two week holiday to
Spain in two thousand and four and never came back.

(01:06:14):
It wasn't just a holiday at all, it was a move.
Now years later that history formed the backdrop to tragedy.
In her own statement, read aloud by Prosecutor Remy Ferrell,
Audrey Fitzpatrick said, quote, since I received the tragic news

(01:06:36):
of my son's death, my life has been like a
living nightmare. This is not a single tragedy. It's losing
both of my children. End quote. Amy was still missing,
Dean was gone forever. She was now the mother of
a victim and the wife of his killer, and yet

(01:06:59):
she's stood by her man. Quote Dave too has lost everything.
He did everything in his power to find his beloved
stepdaughter Amy, and he still does and will continue to
do so. End quote. She called Dave her carer, the

(01:07:19):
man who had quote literally picked me up off the floor.
She acknowledged the court's verdict quote I can't disagree with
the verdict. Dave did produce a knife. I have forgiven him,
but not forgotten end quote. Sarah O'Rourke Dean's partner and

(01:07:41):
the mother of their young son, Leon, also gave a statement.
Her words were raw with absence. Quote Knowing I'd never
see Dean again was soul destroying. Leon was only eighteen
months old when his father died. He didn't understand why

(01:08:04):
his daddy wasn't there, Sarah said, quote, it broke my
heart listening to my son looking for his dad. I
told him his daddy was a star in the sky
and angels took him. End quote. The court heard Dave
had two prior convictions, a public order offense in nineteen

(01:08:28):
ninety five and a dangerous driving incident in April of
twenty thirteen for which he was serving a suspended sentence
at the time of Dean's death. His counsel insisted this
act was entirely out of character, stating, quote, he had
no record of violence and he accepts the verdict end quote.

(01:08:51):
He added that Dave had instructed him to apologize, especially
to those who had spoken in court, though those who
had painted the picture of a vibrant young man lost
and of a son, partner and father mourned every day.
David Mayhon admitted to holding the knife that killed Dean Fitzpatrick.

(01:09:17):
He stuck to the story that Dean had walked into
the blade, but Miss Justice Margaret Hennegan had heard enough.
She announced that Dave would be sentenced on June thirteenth,
and so the courtroom emptied its silence, replaced by the

(01:09:37):
waiting for closure, for justice or for peace if it
was still possible. On June thirteenth, the jury found Dave
Mayhon not guilty of murder, but of manslaughter, and he
only received a seven year sentence. Some believe Dean was

(01:10:01):
silenced just like his sister. Christopher Fitzpatrick spoke to the
press outside the court saying, quote, I just thought it
would have been a longer sentence than what he got.
Dean was a nice young man, only growing up. He
was a young man when he died, far too young

(01:10:23):
to die. Things have been very hard. This will help
a bit. I just feel the sentence could have been longer,
but that's the way the system seems to work here
end quote. Dave had offered an apology inside the courtroom,
and when Christopher was asked about it, he responded, quote,

(01:10:45):
I wouldn't accept his apology under any circumstances. He did
what he did. We know what he did, and everybody
is aware of what he did. Dean and Amy's aunt,
Christine added quote, we are relieved that this process is over,
as it has been a long road to get here.

(01:11:06):
Today has given us some closure, but we still have
a long road ahead of us in the search for Amy.
Dean's death has been a huge loss to our lives
and we will never forgive the man that killed Dean.
He has put us through helen back. We have some
hope now for Amy with this person coming forward in

(01:11:30):
this other case of missing schoolboy Philip Carnes, we hope
that people come forward and give the information that's needed.
As regards Amy, she needs to be found and we
still have that road ahead of us and we will
keep fighting for her. The latest developments in Philip's case

(01:11:51):
has given us hope. There's always hope. We will fight
to the bitter end to get truth for Amy. Hopefully
somebody will come forward now with information of where Amy
was that night, and please God, we find her. Dean's
death has affected us terribly. No words can explain what

(01:12:14):
this killing has done to our family. Our lives were
turned upside down. Christopher's life was turned upside down, completely
his children. It's absolutely devastating looking at my brother and
Dean's child and his girlfriend Sarah, seeing how it is
affecting them so badly. Justice was served, but not as

(01:12:39):
we would have liked it. It should have been a
life for a life end quote. Christine went on to
speak about Leon, Dean's little boy, saying Sarah brings him
up to the grave regularly. It's sad looking at a
little boy with no daddy there to see him go

(01:13:00):
to school. He'll be starting school this year and getting
his graduation next week from play school, but he misses
his daddy. Now that Amy's brother Dean is gone, his
death will pose even more questions, and the people left behind, Audrey, Christopher, Sarah,

(01:13:24):
and young Leon, among others, continue to carry the weight
of both absence and tragedy. There are so many moments
of such deep sadness throughout all of this, yes, but
also so much strength. Somewhere out there. The truth still

(01:13:46):
waits to be found. Let's meet back here next week
with Part three, where we continue this journey through Amy's case,
the loss of Dean, and the fight for justice. Thank
you so much for listening. Until next time, friends, please
stay safe, and take care.

Speaker 1 (01:14:08):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved. If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle, there to
step forward. As Arthur Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,

(01:14:33):
the dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a
duty of the living to do so for them until
we reconvene, my friends, stay vigilant and stay informed.

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182. Amy Fitzpatrick: Lost to the Night, Silenced by the Blade - Part 2 of 3

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}182. Amy Fitzpatrick: Lost to the Night, Silenced by the Blade - Part 2 of 3