UNSUNG HEROES WHO SOLVED THE CASE

ONE of the many unsung heroes of the Tina Satchwell murder investigation is a forensic archaeologist who effectively solved the case after a garda review.

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Dr Niamh McCullagh, who has a PHD in the study of clandestine burials where a person may have been murdered, was given a USB which contained the entire garda investigation to date in 2022.

Among the items she reviewed, she saw evidence of structural changes to Richard Satchwell's house on Grattan Street - thanks to a search of the home in July of 2017.

She cited a bucket of rubble and a wheelie bin full of stones indicating works had gone on in the house around the time Tina vanished.

Based on her expertise and research, Dr McCullagh told Detective Inspector Annemarie Twomey, who launched a full review of the case in 2021, it was most likely Tina never left her home after March 19, 2017.

She also told detectives in 2022 she was most likely killed in her home and her remains most likely still concealed there.

Dr McCullagh further recommended to the investigation team they conduct an invasive search of the property knocking down walls and digging up ground.

It was on the foot of her recommendation that Det Insp Twomey, who had taken over the case, sought a warrant before a district court judge to have the Satchwell home searched in October 2023.

Dr McCullagh was proven correct - and the remains of Tina were unearthed beneath the stairs of the home.

Her expertise allowed officers to reclassify the missing person's case to murder and make Richard Satchwell a suspect in late 2022.

The reclassification gave gardai, now under the direction of Det Insp Twomey, who was senior investigating officer to significantly up resources.

Detective Garda David Kelleher was incident room coordinator and helped lead a significantly better resourced investigation than the 2017 missing persons probe.

He looked at emails, texts and map data from laptops and phones seized from Satchwell to begin building the case that sealed his fate.