ClueTrail
Uncovering forgotten cases, chilling mysteries, and overlooked truths from around the world. From hidden histories to modern investigations and unsettling disappearances, each episode follows the clues...wherever they lead.
ClueTrail
Hidden in Plain Sight: Elaine O'Hara tragic case
In 2012, Elaine O’Hara vanished from Dublin without a trace. At first, police believed she had taken her own life—until a series of chance discoveries uncovered something far more disturbing. This episode of ClueTrail unravels the haunting case that exposed a secret life, a dangerous obsession, and Ireland’s most chilling modern murder.
Follow us as we piece together the story of trust, control, and a crime hidden in plain sight.
Welcome to Clue Trail, the podcast where every story is a mystery and every clue leads you deeper into the unknown. From unsolved crimes and puzzling disappearances, to hidden histories and curious coincidences, we piece together the fragments to uncover the truth. or raise even more questions. Some clues lead to answers, others to even greater mysteries. But one thing is certain, every trail tells a story. Are you ready to follow it? Let's begin.
Host:Today we take you to the rolling hills of Ireland, where a seemingly ordinary disappearance would unravel into chilling tales of manipulation, obsession and murder. Elaine O'Hara was a kind-hearted woman which was struggling with her own demons and looking for connections in a world that felt overwhelming. But what began as a life of quiet resilience ended in tragedy, revealing a sinister web of deceit and cruelty that shocked the nation. Elaine was born on 17th of March 1976 to Frank, a banker, and Eileen, which was a schoolteacher. She was the oldest of four children and they resided in a fairly affluent area in the suburbs of Dublin. When Elaine was around 15, her parents discovered she was a victim of bullying and around the same time, a good friend of hers passed away in a road accident.
Host:After this, she slid into a downward spiral of depression and anxiety. Elaine was also diagnosed with asthma, diabetes, and dyslexia, which further impacted her self-esteem and contributed to the complex psychiatric issues.
Host:Unfortunately, Elaine started manifesting self-harming, and by the age 16, her younger sister found her in the bathroom where she attempted taking her own life. Her parents immediately looked for professional help, and Elaine was taken under the wing of psychiatrist Professor Anthony Clare and admitted to St. Edmundsbury Hospital for treatment.
Host:Her family did indeed do everything they could to help Elaine until the day she passed. At the hospital is when she informed her doctor of her fantasies of being restrained and imprisoned, but she did not expand further on this, at least not at that time. After this hospitalisation, Elaine spent her teenage years being heavily medicated and did not have a normal teenage life.
Host:The hospital would become her safe place, where she would return every time she couldn't cope with the world. Despite her struggles, Elaine was an incredible woman and she was so loved. She loved children and caring for others, and after school she completed a course which led to her working in a crash, as well as later on, She got a job in a primary school as a childcare assistant. Unfortunately, in 2002, her mother passed away and she suffered a setback. The hospital visits increased, all to help her cope with the grief.
Host:And in all this time, through every single period, her father was there to help. The next few years were very hard for Elaine. She was admitted several times in the hospital after she would attempt to take her own life. Everything was escalating and she felt angry and sad and she started withdrawing socially.
Host:In 2006, Elaine went through a yet another setback when her doctor passed away. He has been trying to help Elaine since she was 16. This was such a sad time for her. It was around this time when, during an outburst, she disclosed to her father about her sexual fantasies and that she is seeing a married man. It's noted that later on, she told her new doctor that her dad was left speechless.
Host:Over the last few years before her death, it looked like her condition was stable and she would join outpatient sessions. Her doctors and family could really see the progress, but Yet again, life got in the way when she started experiencing financial problems as well as the stress of an exam she was to undertake for a teaching course. In July, over a month before her disappearance, her flood flooded and combined with all her worries, she considered taking her life again. Fortunately, she had the presence of mind to phone the hospital and went in for support as she couldn't cope. On the hospital notes from her later stay, it's noted that her triggers were blamed on impending exams, financial issues, as well as loneliness, isolation, and dark fantasies.
Host:On August 22nd, Frank went to pick up Elaine from the hospital after she spent three weeks there. On that day, they had lunch, they had a very pleasant conversation, and later on, they drove to visit her mother's grave. This visit was emotional. This is clearly a close family with a strong bond. I can't even imagine how much grief they felt. Elaine was happy to be out of the hospital and she was definitely feeling much better than when she admitted herself. She was particularly excited to volunteer at the Tall Ship Festival the next day, which was something she discussed with her father as well as throughout her stay in the hospital.
Host:She even made plans to be picked up by her father's partner the next day, and she even attended a volunteer's training a while back. Elaine would have missed it for the world.
Host:But, on 24th of August, Frank enters the Stepside Garda station to seek help to find Elaine. She was already missing for two days, and he was unable to reach her since he dropped her off at her place. He was panic-stricken. Although Elaine seemed in really good spirits, he was thinking the worst. So what happened that day? On 23rd of August, Sheila, which was Frank's partner, was going to give Elaine a lift at 7.15am at the Tall Ship Festival. She was living at the flat opposite Elaine, and she did remember that the previous night. After Frank dropped her off, she didn't see any movements in the flat. She even sent Elaine a reminder around 10.30pm to confirm the pickup the next morning.
Host:Receiving no answer is starting to worry Sheila, so she goes to Elaine's flat, but no answer. She then proceeds to call Frank to let him know. He actually believes she might have made her own way to the town, and it should be fine, but when he still doesn't hear anything from her... He becomes increasingly worried and he heads to her apartment, just after 11 that morning.
Host:He had a key, so he let himself in and in the apartment he finds her iPhone, which was something she would definitely have with her at all times. But Elaine is nowhere to be found. Seeing her phone there, he believes she might have woken up late and she rushed to the festival. But then... When he is searching some more, he sees her bag as well.
Host:She wouldn't have left without her bag, right? Did she leave somewhere last night and didn't return? Frank is becoming increasingly worried. He then proceeds to call the hospital where she was for a few weeks in the chance she decided to return. They confirm she hasn't. The last saving grace was the festival. Frank calls them and that's when his hope turns to dread as they confirm Elaine has not showed up this morning.
Host:As a parent, he is absolutely panicked now and this is when he calls all his children to help him search for her. His only thought was that she might have taken her own life. Immediately after, he heads to the Garda station to report her missing.
Host:So now, two days later, after she left the hospital, ready to take on the world once more, her father was at the police station, giving them an in-depth description of her for the missing persons report. Meanwhile, her siblings were looking for her, trying to retrace some of her possible steps the day before, so they headed to the most likely place she would be, the cemetery.
Host:This is where her brother-in-law, Mark Charles, spotted Elaine's car. After her brother arrived at the cemetery as well, they called in for help to open the car. Inside they found her driving license, cigarettes, a lighter, a sat-nav and phone chargers. What was odd is that these chargers were for phones they knew she didn't have.
Host:Basically, they only knew she had an iPhone, which has a very distinctive charger. Almost immediately, guard patrols were dispatched to search the area and Frank joined them as well at the cemetery, fearing the worst. Whilst a full-scale search at the cemetery and park went on the way, some of the family members and police returned to her apartment to search for any clues of where she might have been.
Host:Well, this search actually revealed quite a few clues into Elaine's life, a life that she was keeping secret away from her family. In a bedside table, they found chains. A PVC dress and a rubber mask were littered all over the apartment. Her brother found printouts of the nearby woods, as well as the VAR3 reservoir, and, in her notebooks, the address of a website called FetLife. He discovered this was a fetish website.
Host:The family was taken by surprise. They were not aware of the extent of Elaine's fantasies or that she acted upon them. Unfortunately, although a wide-scale search was launched the next day by the police, Elaine wasn't found. Meanwhile, for the next week or so, the investigators continued to look into Elaine's life, searching her apartment and looking through her personal items, hopefully to understand her moves that day and if she was in contact with anyone.
Host:They took several items into evidence, such as phone, laptops and all the fetish-related items to be examined. They also reviewed CCTV in the building to understand if she has returned after spending time with her dad. She spent a few minutes in, and then she's seen leaving her flat around 5pm, wearing a bright blue zip top, navy tracksuit bottoms and white trainers. She gets in her car and drives away.
Host:They tried to follow her car through the security cameras in town, and one in particular picked their curiosity as she's seen holding a phone in her hand. Well, they found her phone in her flat. So, which phone was this? Her family were not aware of her having another phone, nor have seen her using anything else but her iPhone.
Host:The investigators understood that Elaine might have kept parts of her life secret from her family, so they needed to look further. Whilst the white search still carried on, they received a batch of messages downloaded from her computer found in her apartment. These were generally messages between her and members of Fetish website. Specifically, they found messages between her and eight others, which were more frequent. They did do their due diligence, but nothing further came out of that. Eventually, all of them were ruled out. So, with this, Months passed by, and Elaine Kay slowly dropped on their list of priorities. No doubt, considering all the family and friends' statements on her struggles, the fact that she left her essentials behind like a phone, cigarettes, an inhaler, as well as being seen walking over a bridge in the cemetery, absent-minded, led the police in thinking this was a shut case.
Host:Although they followed over 130 lines of inquiry and several searches, All were leading back to the theory that Elaine has taken her own life.
Host:The family had to mourn Elaine's disappearance and sadly, by the time the first anniversary of her disappearance came, they were the only ones remembering.
Host:But all is about to change.
Host:On 21st of August 2013, so almost a year later to the date, Magali Vernat, a dog trainer, was loading her seven dogs into the car after a walk on the trails through the Dublin mountains. All of a sudden, one of her dogs, Millie, runs back into the woods and she returns with a bone.
Host:Thinking nothing of it and that the dog probably picked up an animal bone, she put it to the side, loaded Millie and left about her business. However, over the next two weeks... Each time they would walk on those trails, mainly would run into the bushes and return with a bone. Few weeks later, on 10th of September, three men were patrolling the shoreline of the Vetra Reservoir, which is about 30 kilometers away across the mountain from the woods.
Host:They were looking out for any illegal fishermen when they came across some yellow rope in the water. Out of curiosity, they pulled out a rope which had attached to it several items. These were some handcuffs, blindfold, a collar with buckle, and they also pulled out a vest, a blue top, and a tea towel.
Host:They as well didn't really think anything of it, suspecting maybe they were from a bachelor party or something like that, and left them on the side of the bridge and left. However, one of the men, Billy, couldn't get his mind away from these items. He had a feeling that it might be more serious than just a prank or someone disposing of some party items. He returned the next day to the same spot, put all the items in a bag and took them straight to the Garda.
Host:The officer on duty hung the clothes to dry and put the rest into clear evidence bags. Similar to Billy, the bag of items really piqued his interest. James also had a feeling that there is more to this and decided to investigate further.
Host:So the next day, he went where the items were found. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great that day. It was very windy and he couldn't scan the water properly. So he decided to return the following day. On 13th of September, Magali was back to her normal routine, walking the dogs and then getting back into the car in the same spot she did for the past two weeks.
Host:And... Similar to the past two weeks, Milly would go into the woods, but this time she wouldn't come out when Varga called her, so she decided to go after her.
Host:When she went towards the area to find Milly, deep into the trees and bushes, she found bones scattered everywhere. Again, she thought nothing of it, thinking it was maybe deer bones. She could hear Millie eating a bone so she went to check and fetch her when she came across a blue pair of jogging trousers with a white trainer and a bone. She realized what she is seeing and everything felt like it was closing on her.
Host:She got Millie and rushed back to the car, drove home and called her friend Frank Doyle. Later on, Frank, Varga and another friend went to the area to check again. They came across bones and hair, which they thought may be its fur, but upon walking further in, they found a jawbone with teeth still intact. They didn't have any phone reception in the woods, so they went back, and Frank Doyle called the police to tell them what they found in the woods.
Host:By 8pm that evening, there was a full investigation in that area. The investigators moved quickly and they discovered, although the bones were scattered, that the body was there for a period of time. As the remains were found in a really isolated area, it was away from any footpath, in between bushes and trees, it was most likely a murder. It was less likely someone would have went into that direction.
Host:In the city morgue, Dr. Michael Curtis began his examination of the remains. By that point, The news that a body was found in the woods got the attention of media and the news crews were everywhere. They heavily speculated that the remains were one of the three women which disappeared in the area, thinking is the work of a serial killer. This was ruled out quickly as the remains were identified of being a woman aged between 27 and 40, who had been dead between one to two years. The files of all missing women were looked into and one of the best matches would have been related to Elaine's disappearance.
Host:The world forgot about Elaine at that point, but they were about to be reminded when, after dental examination of the remains with Elaine's record, they confirmed their suspicions. They found her. Almost a year since she has tragically passed. The police then proceeded to inform the family. Frank and her siblings had been in the limbo for over a year now, but they would finally have Elaine back. Also, by that point, Garda ruled out suicide.
Host:They had a strong suspicion someone brought Elaine to that spot and killed her there. And whilst there might have been some comfort in knowing Elaine didn't take her life, Frank and her family would now have to face the bitter truth. A monster out there, took their beloved Elaine early from them. Whilst this was happening, remember James, the guarder who kept those items? Well, he was about to begin his shift, and those items were still nagging at him. The weather luckily has gotten better, so he decided to make his way to the reservoir. His persistence definitely paid off as this time the water was crystal clear so he could investigate properly. He immediately spotted in the same area where the men pulled out the other items a pair of handcuffs. When he reached to pull them out, he also felt more items in the shallow water which, when he pulled out, was a set of keys.
Host:Amongst this there were car keys, door keys, but also two supermarket loyalty cards. He also found a leather mask, a kitchen knife, an inhaler, a rope, and a rusty chain with a metal ring. He collected all these and took them back to the station and bagged them. He called the supermarket to try to identify the owner of these cards. His great work and persistence was about to give the investigators more clue into the death of Elaine.
Host:The next day, the supermarket called him to tell him that the card belonged to Elaine O'Hara. When he searched her in the database, he found that she was missing for over a year and her remains were found three days earlier.
Host:It's also so incredible how all these events happen almost all at once, as in Marga and Milie finding her remains and at the same time all these items being found by the men on the other side of the woods. It's like everything was working towards finding Elaine.
Host:Finding these items was crucial to the investigation. It was proof that someone traveled from where Elaine was to dump the items on the other side of the park. That combined with the nature of the items, most of them being bondage-related, cemented the investigators' belief that Elaine was murdered. There were three crime scenes to be investigated now. One was the woods where her body was found. The second was the reservoir. which, upon further investigation, several more bondage items were found, as well as a Nokia phone, a knife, some CDs and a rucksack. The third one was Elaine's apartment, which, by some luck, wasn't sold after being repossessed by the bank. Almost all her items were gone, apart from some furniture and, most important, the bed mattress.
Host:This mattress has spots of blood and puncture marks, which will turn very important later on. they now needed to find who was responsible for this cruel murder. Based on the bondage items found in the reservoir, the investigators knew this could be how Elaine has met this person.
Host:But who could have been? Her family most definitely did not have any idea of her intimate life. But, if you remember, she did have an argument with her father.
Host:This is where she has told him about her affair with a married man and that he would tie her up. She has also mentioned this affair to her doctor and a nurse. But most importantly, she did mention to her doctor at that time that this man would inflict sometimes superficial wounds to her stomach and arms. The news about the remains in the woods were everywhere, and when Edna Lillis was watching the news on the evening of 17th of September, a land photo came on TV. She immediately recognized her and decided to call the detectives.
Host:Edna and Elaine have been patients of the same hospital six years earlier and struck a friendship, both confiding in each other about their struggles. They kept in contact for many years after this, until about five months before Elaine's disappearance. It was at this last meeting when Elaine told Edna about the man she was seeing. She mentioned he is an architect, married, and he has kids, but most importantly, She told her about their shared fantasy in bondage and the fact that he would inflict cuts on her stomach.
Host:Edna warned Elaine at that time and when she had seen the news, she felt compelled to come forward with this information. An important piece of information Edna was able to share with the police was the fact that she told Elaine to keep this man's details somewhere in a notebook, just in case. Elaine then told her she had all these details of the relationship stored somewhere. Obviously, the police knew they needed to find these. And if anything, he could just share more information about Elaine, which could help in finding clues to what might have happened. But we can deduct by now that he was definitely a leading suspect.
Host:So they started to look into all the evidence and CCTV in hopes of revealing his identity. Previously, they have only checked two days of CCTV. Now they would embark in checking 219 days in hopes of finding any clues. This was a mammoth task and took weeks.
Host:Meanwhile, the investigators got back from the tech team all Elaine's online activity. Specifically, her text messages recovered from her laptop. They were able to extract around 4,000 messages out of which half-word between Elaine and two phone numbers. They managed to track down one phone number to where it was purchased, as well as finding this number on Elaine's iPhone under David.
Host:This phone was purchased in 2011 alongside with a prepaid SIM and it was solely used for communication with Elaine. The messages they extracted further instilled the investigation's belief that this was indeed the man that Elaine was talking about. In these messages, he was expressing his need of hurting Elaine, and also through these messages, it was confirmed he has indeed hurt Elaine in the past, aligning with what she told Edna and her father.
Host:It was also found that Elaine has tried to cut communication several times, but he would come back again and she was unable to resist him. In contrast to Elaine's fragility, this guy was manipulative and showed no empathy towards her. Reading through these messages, you can clearly see what his intentions are. His only desire is to satisfy himself. Now, you're probably thinking, isn't this the core of how the relationships between a dom and a sub are? Where the dominant one, or the master, would have total control of the submissive partner, using the latter for their own desires? Yes, that would be true, but generally there is a consensual exchange of power between And there are very specific rules set for the benefit of both parties.
Host:In this case, and reading through some of these messages, combined with the fact that Elaine has indeed tried to break contact with him, it's clear he was pushing some boundaries that Elaine was not ready to break.
Host:They were pretty sure at that point they found Elaine's killer. They needed to identify him. Using the text messages, they tried to create a timeline, which they would then use to check CCTV in the building. Elaine did mention he had a key to her flat, so surely he must have visited her. And they did manage to find what they were looking for.
Host:On 23rd of June, the investigators did see a man entering Elaine's building and waiting for the lift. Unfortunately, there was no CCTV on the floor Elaine was living, so they weren't sure where he went. But the breakthrough came quickly as only a few days later, on July 9th, they noticed the same man entering the building with Elaine. He was trying to evade the CCTV, purposely keeping his head down. He was then seen entering the building one more time, two days later, on 11th of July. Their next step was to try and find out more about Elaine's involvement into the BDSM world, which might then bring them to the killer's identity.
Host:They found several pieces of evidence from the computer, such as photos, some letters and films, all related to BDSM. Elaine was an adult and free to navigate her fantasies. What was important to the case were the maps they found for the woods where she was found, as well as her usernames for the websites she was using to meet people with the same fetishes. Looking specifically into these usernames and her online presence into the websites, The investigators found out she might have met her killer as early as 2007, when she first started visiting these sites. So, Detective Wallace, the lead investigator, started the long process of trying to identify anyone who Elaine talked to on these websites, as well as having a team still looking through the message exchange. By 27th of September, 10 days since the investigation started, they went through most of the contents they found. and they found something very interesting. In one of the conversations between Elaine and this man, he was specifically mentioning about a flying competition he was in, and he expressed his disappointment in coming in fifth place. Although this seemed like an incredible lead at that point, the pilot register and a check of the competition during the time the message was sent didn't bring any good leads. That was until one of the detectives had a lightbulb moment. He remembered seeing people flying model aircraft one Sunday and wondered, is this what the man was talking about? They looked into this further and using the date from the messages, they managed to find the competition taking place around that time.
Host:They knew he came in fifth place, which she was upset about enough to mention it to her, and when checking the event rankings, the man in fifth place was called Graham Dyer. This name immediately rang a bell to them as when they were looking through Elaine's journal, they found a phone number along with the name Graham. Could this be it? Did they find him? They needed to be sure so they started looking into his background.
Host:They found out he was working as an architect and he lived near Cabin Tilly. The phone used to message Elaine was mainly located near Lower Bagot Street. Basically, the cell data was placing the phone next to this area. His home address is also near this area. Also, the shop where the phone was purchased from is a short walk from Lower Bagot Street. They managed to find a photo of him from his workplace and when comparing with the CCTV, there was a resemblance. Further checks also revealed that he was married and had a child, a daughter, in March 2011. The birth of his daughter was also in the text messages. He has informed Elaine about this. The detectives were stunned. They found him. So, who was Graham Dyer? He was unremarkable. Most certainly, everyone expected the face of a monster, whatever that might look like. But he wasn't it. He was 5'5", boyish face, and nothing really to make him stand out of a crowd. Nothing like the man in those texts with Elaine. Evil comes in all shapes and sizes, and if anything, the most unremarkable ones will go by unnoticed. But was this father of two now, living in the affluent suburbs of Dublin, the monster who killed a woman and was talking about stabbing and killing innocents? They started by following him around, laying low for now not to spook him.
Host:If he was indeed their man, they wouldn't know what he might be capable of doing. if he found out he is being under suspicions. Elaine was all over the news. Surely he must have seen them. Yet, he was unbothered by it. He seemed unfazed.
Host:There was nothing out of the ordinary that he did whilst he was being watched. They needed to have an ironclad case. Nothing was to be left to chance. They got evidence from the Nokia phone found in the lake. Although the phone was destroyed, they could salvage the SIM card.
Host:This phone had only one number saved, which was the number from the MacBook as well. Basically, both phones were brought only for the purpose of communicating with Elaine. Also, the analysts were able to confirm, using cell data, that Ayer's work phone and the other two phone numbers used to communicate with Elaine were at the same place, same time. Meaning, there was a strong probability he had the phones. What are the chances that someone else is at the same place and time as him texting Elaine.
Host:A third search of the reservoir was conducted, as they needed to find the final Nokia phone purchased. And how it happened? The police found it. Of course, alongside with more sex toys and a ski mask. Last piece of the puzzle was trying to prove Elaine had indeed contact with Dyer. They needed to prove that he knew her. Elaine joined the BDSM sites in 2007, and by September that year, they found out she was consistently talking with someone. Also, the investigators found out that Dyer's work phone sent a total of 847 messages to Elaine between January 2008 and December 2009. And although the contents of these messages were lost, how could he now deny knowing Elaine? But they knew that knowing someone or having an online relationship is not proof enough that he killed her. Luckily, on the last phone they found, which was connected to Dyer, they could extract over 260 messages, which would paint a picture of what happened there. There was a long exchange between them, and he would consistently talk about his fantasies on taking someone's life. On the days before Elaine has disappeared, she would push back on this.
Host:One of these messages really broke my heart. Elaine was saying, and I quote, 'Please don't mention killing for a while until I settle back to life'. That was sent on the day she disappeared. That day, Elaine got another message with the location of where they were going to me.
Host:She was instructed to head to the cemetery at 5.30, leave her iPhone behind and only take her other phone with her, the Nokia.
Host:So, she spent a few hours that day with her father, and at 5.05 p.m. that evening, CCTV camera recorded Elaine leaving her apartment for the last time. At the same time, he switched off his work phone.
Host:At 5.22, Elaine parked her car at the cemetery, and coincidentally, his Nokia phone was in the vicinity at the same time. She was instructed through text to go to a footpath, and this is where she got lost and asked a jogger for directions. The final text exchange, once she was at the foothill, instructed Elaine to go down to the shore and wait. After that, no other exchanges between the two founds.
Host:The garda believed Elaine was dead within an hour from this exchange. They suspect while she was at the shore, he was waiting in his car. Then he got her to go into his car and drove to the other side of the woods. Once they got there, only he knows exactly what happened.
Host:They couldn't determine how many times Elaine was stabbed and what were the circumstances, but they believe it all happened within a three-hour time frame. His work phone, which was previously switched off, was back online at 9pm that evening next to his house. By October, they were working hard on planning his arrest. They had an overwhelming amount of evidence by that point and they were ready to move in. On Thursday 17th of October at 7am, the squad was heading to his house to arrest him. Detective Sergeant Woods rang the doorbell and he appeared at the door in his pyjama bottoms. He was informed of his arrest in relation to Elaine's murder and he seemed surprised. Now with him in custody, they moved to searching the house as well as trying to talk with his wife, hopefully to get the last pieces of evidence.
Host:They were specifically curious if the wife knew anything about it, but she was as shocked as anyone else about his behavior. Nevertheless, they concluded she wasn't involved and Dyer wouldn't see her nor the children until the trial. Their marriage ended that day when she found out what he was arrested for. His interrogation was a very interesting read.
Host:At first, the investigators tried to hone in on DNA and what they could find, But after six hours, he was mostly concerned on how this will affect him, his wife and his job. Not once he expressed any concern regarding Elaine.
Host:Obviously, when the phone and CCTV evidence were shown to him in the second interview, he denied everything and specifically, he denied knowing Elaine. Also, by this time, the case was blowing up in the media and he really hated that. He wanted to be perceived in a different way. And now, with all the media coverage, he was perceived as a cold-blooded murderer. Well, allegedly at that point in time. The trial began on 22nd of January 2015, and the prosecutors focused on the litany of evidence they found. They focused on the text messages sent between Elaine and Dyer, many depicting his obsession with knives and stabbing, as well as evidence from some homemade videos. In the absence of evidence determining the cause of death of Elaine, the prosecutors had to present, beyond a reasonable doubt, through CCTV and text messages, that Dyer was plotting and carried out his plan to kill Elaine.
Host:There were also some home movies found, and in this instance, the judge didn't allow any public in the court that day to view these videos. which was for the best. The videos were incredibly damning, showing his obsession with stabbing and killing. His lawyer argued that yes, there was a relationship, but there was no evidence confirming he has killed Elaine.
Host:They also specifically focused on Elaine's struggles with her mental health and her many hospital admissions, saying that Elaine could have very well taken her life. Which maybe would make sense if Elaine was going through stuff at that time, But if you remember, she was very excited about her plans for the upcoming day.
Host:Also, she has specifically asked him in some of these messages to stop talking about stabbing and killing. She was in a different headspace at that time. This was also confirmed by many of the witnesses. Yes, Elaine had plenty of struggles, but not that day. Also, in preparation for his trial, he was actually advised by his team to offer a guilty plea to manslaughter, but he absolutely refused.
Host:After 37 days in court, spread over eight weeks, on 13th of March 2015, the state rested their case. A week later, on Thursday 19, defense called for another three witnesses, but nothing relevant was discussed. That would bring the end of a grueling trial. I cannot even imagine how Elaine's family must have felt this whole time, finding out all the intimate details as well as how this lunatic was treated their loved one.
Host:The prosecutors, in their ending statements, outlined that Dyer has exploded Elaine to gratify his sexual fantasies. He lured her out and acted upon these fantasies, which ended up with Elaine being murdered. The defense reminded the jury that the prosecutors had to prove that he killed Elaine or intentionally caused her serious injury.
Host:Despite all this evidence against him, he remained outwardly cocky and confident, even telling the prison wards that he plans to celebrate his acquittal with a steak and wine. Well, he got to celebrate with the prison mill as on 27th of March 2015, he was convicted of Elaine's murder which came with a life sentence.
Host:This is the tragic story of Elaine O'Hara, a kind soul who loves her family and friends. She has shown strength over the years in dealing with her struggles and all she wanted was to form a connection with someone. Unfortunately, that someone was evil. Thank you for listening to today's episode and see you next time for a new one.