Keane Mulready-Woods of Drogheda, County Louth, was an Irish teenager who disappeared on 12 January 2020, and whose dismembered body was then found in Coolock, Co Dublin. More of his remains were found in Drumcondra in a burnt out car the following week.
Background
Early life
Keane Mulready-Woods grew up in Drogheda and attended St Oliver’s Community College. He was from a working-class family; he was born to Elizabeth and Barry, and had three brothers and one sister. He was a fan of motocross, owned his own scrambler and was described by his cousin as the "best scrambler rider in Drogheda".
Involvement in crime
Mulready-Woods was tempted into petty crime in his mid teens by local criminals with promises of wealth and prestige. His involvement escalated, as he was involved with one of the factions in the Drogheda feud.
The faction began using petrol bombs and pipe bombs to threaten rival criminals and their families. It was also heavily involved in the illegal drug trade in the town and it used intimidation to enforce collection of debts.
Disappearance
Mulready-Woods was last seen around 6 pm on 12 January 2020 at St Dominic's Bridge in Drogheda. He had recently called his mother to ask her to leave money out for his taxi home later that evening. His sister posted a message on Facebook the afternoon of the following day, asking if anyone had seen him.
Human remains found
Coolock
On 13 January 2020 a local man found a sports bag with human remains at the junction of Moatview Gardens and Moatview Drive in Coolock. The bag had been thrown from a dark coloured passing car. The remains were found around 10pm. The bag also contained flip-flops, which were taken as a warning not to cross Robbie Lawlor, a rival criminal whose flip-flops had been stolen in a mugging the month before.
Drumcondra
Further human remains, believed to be a head and hands, were found in a burnt-out car in Trinity Terrace, Drumcondra in the early hours of Wednesday 15 January.
Drogheda
The torso of the teen was finally found on a site next to Rathmullen Park in Drogheda on 1 April 2021. A DNA test confirmed the identity of the torso relating to the teen.
Identification
On the night of 15 January, Gardaí confirmed that DNA tests had confirmed that the limbs found in Coolock were those of Keane Mulready-Woods. On Friday 17 January Gardaí confirmed that the partial remains found in the car had been identified as those of Keane Mulready-Woods.
Aftermath
Garda investigation
Gardaí are investigating links between the death of Keane Mulready-Woods and a criminal feud in Drogheda which has claimed three lives. There are incident rooms in Coolock, Mountjoy and Drogheda Garda stations with the investigation being coordinated from the latter.
In the early hours of 20 January, a main suspect in the case was arrested. Gardaí had watched both Dublin Airport and Dublin Port closely because they feared he would flee to England. He was expected to appear in court on charges of breaching bail conditions. The arrest warrant is not related to the death of Keane Mulready-Woods, but to a separate case. He is connected to a crime feud in Drogheda.
Gardaí suspect that the killers intended to dump the remains in front of the homes of the leaders of the gang the teenager was associated with as a warning. They also suspect that this plan was abandoned after those with the remains nearly encountered Gardaí.
Gardaí believe the deceased was killed in Drogheda and have searched the banks of the River Boyne near to a house where they suspect he was killed.
Detectives working on the case have no cause of death to base their inquiry on as the fatal injury is believed to have been dealt to the torso, which was still missing as of February 2020. They have not ruled out the possibility that the torso was disposed of deliberately so as to frustrate the investigation.
Prosecutions have proven to be difficult if remains of the deceased are not found or only partial remains have been found. It has been done in the murder of Elaine O'Hara but Gardaí described that case as an exception and that prosecutions in such cases were "extremely difficult".
Two men were arrested on 20 February 2020.