The Indo Daily: The boy next door – Robert Holohan’s death 20 years on

Robert Holohan

When Robert Holohan went missing on January 4, 2005, the investigation into his disappearance became one of the largest in the history of the State. The search for the 11-year-old was supported by manpower and technology on an unprecedented scale, as Army personnel, the Coast Guard and telecommunications experts assisted gardaí.

Volunteers travelled from across the country to join the search for the 11-year-old from Middleton. But behind the scenes, gardaí were already pursuing a line of inquiry much closer to home by the time they discovered Robert’s body in undergrowth at Inch Strand in east Cork. It was a grim conclusion to the eight-day-long operation and the beginning of a tragic story that would divide and devastate a community.

Ellen Coyne is joined by Ralph Riegel (Southern Correspondent with the Irish Independent and author of the book ‘Afraid of the Dark: The Tragic Story of Robert Holohan) to mark the 20th anniversary of Robert Holohan’s death and the…