A rural area of Laois is at the very centre of a gripping RTE podcast that tells the story of Joe Maloney, the man accused of killing his wife in New York in 1967 and who spent a number of years living in Laois under an assumed name.
Runaway Joe, part of the RTE Documentary on One series, tells the incredible, scarcely-believable, story of Joe Maloney, an Irish-American, who is on the FBI’s most wanted list and who lived in Capard House in Rosenallis throughout the 1970s and 80s under the name Michael O’Shea.
Maloney was accused of poisoning his wife June in New York at their five-year-old son’s birthday party in 1967. He escapes custody and ends up in Ireland, but under the new assumed name of Michael O’Shea.
In our latest LaoisToday podcast, we chat to Pavel Barter, the producer of this series, which has been releasing a new episode every Friday since early January.
And as well as a must-listen to podcast, it is also a live investigation.
It is a story with so many strands and layers – going from New York to Dun Laoighaire to Rosenallis and taking in murder, deception and fraud.
Maloney grew up in New York to Irish parents and the podcast hears from investigators in Ireland and the USA as well as acquaintances in New York, Dublin and Laois.
During his time in Dun Laoighaire he bought a small garage, which later earned him a small fortune when the local council bought it off him – at a largely inflated price – as it stood in the way of a proposed Shopping Centre.
The proceeds of this sale helped him to buy Capard House and 120 acres in Rosenallis and he lived there, along with his new wife Sheila Chandler O’Shea.
Throughout this time the Gardai were aware of his true identity, having his matched his fingerprints to those of Joe Maloney, who remained on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
But there was nothing they could do only keep an eye on him as there was no extradition treaty between Ireland and the US.
In the meantime, under his new name, O’Shea threw lavish parties in Capard, renovated the house and built a career in the Irish film industry, working alongside the likes of Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery.
But he had also racked up serious debt at this stage and when the extradition treaty was eventually passed, he was arrested, jailed and brought to court.
The case collapsed, however, and shortly afterwards, some stage in the mid to late 80s, he disappeared again and hasn’t been seen since.
Pavel and his documentary team behind Runaway Joe have been trying to track him down. If he’s still alive, he’d now be 88.
As it’s a live investigation, anyone with any information is asked to come forward and contact Pavel and his team.
We chatted to Pavel about how the documentary started – and where it’s going to go from here with a couple of episodes still to be produced.
You can listen to our interview with Pavel below – and follow the Runaway Joe podcast series here.
Anybody with information about Joe Maloney/Michael O’Shea can contact documentaries@rte.ie.
