“Terrible, 15 per cent pay cut and came fifth in flying”
This was the text message that led gardai to Graham Dwyer's door.
It was sent to Elaine O'Hara on 12 June, 2011 from an 083 phone bought on 25 March 2011, and registered to a 'Goroon Caisholm' with a Tipperary address almost identical to the architect's sister's home address.
It was just one of hundreds of messages recovered from a forensic search of Elaine O'Hara's iPhone and Macbook.
Their content provided a document of a predatory relationship where the mystery 'sir' used the conventions of the BDSM world to fulfil his true desire, stabbing women.
Detectives didn't know what to make of 'fifth in flying'. Did it relate to aeroplanes, fly fishing? They drew a blank until a eureka moment when they hit upon the idea that flying could relate to model aeroplanes.
Roundwood Model Aeronautical Club confirmed that a Graham Dwyer had come fifth in a competition it had held the day before the text message was sent.
Detectives already knew from Elaine's father, Frank O'Hara, that she had been seeing a married architect from Foxrock in 2008.
The pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. DNA taken from turtle wax in a bin at Graham Dwyer's Foxrock home matched DNA found on Elaine O'Hara's mattress, bloodstained and punctured from earlier stabbing encounters with Graham Dwyer.
A trawl of CCTV from her Belarmine Plaza apartment complex showed the architect coming and going numerous times up to the week before her disappearance on 22 August, 2012, when he is seen leaving with a rucksack, later found at the bottom of Vartry reservoir.
Graham Dwyer's son Sennan McShea, the child of a former relationship, identified his father in still images taken from the footage.
The text messages sent on the 083 phone to Elaine O'Hara also proved to be a mirror to the architect's ordinary married and working life. His children are mentioned by name; he talks about the birth of his daughter; there are also references to the Polish embassy which he visited in his role as a partner at A&D Wejchert. There were also references to tattoos, car repair bills, buying a bicycle, and of course the 15% pay cut, all possible to be synced with real events in his life. While the 083 text sender used the name 'David', Elaine O'Hara recorded the number in her diary under the name, Graham.
It still could have been the perfect crime but for a chance breakthrough. On September 10, 2013, anglers at Vartry reservoir noticed a rope and a shiny metal object in the water, which was exceptionally low after the hot summer. There would usually be about 20 feet of water under the bridge, but it had dropped to between 12 and 18 inches on this day. Using a tension strap they fished out a ball gag, handcuffs, leg restraints, a blindfold and a rope which they left on a wall. Later that night, one of the anglers, William Fegan got a niggling feeling something wasn't right about the find. He returned to the reservoir the next day, put the soiled items in a bag and and handed them over to Garda James O'Donoghue at Roundwood garda station.
It might have ended there but for the tenacity of Garda O'Donoghue who returned to the reservoir on 3 occasions. He waded into the water and searched the cloudy water with his hands. He pulled out a set of keys with a Dunnes Stores loyalty card attached. He contacted the store and discovered the card belonged to Elaine O'Hara of Belarmine Plaza. He ran a name check and discovered she was a missing person.
Coincidentally the childminder's skeletal remains were found at Killakee by a dog walker on 13 September 2013.
Vartry reservoir was preserved as a crime scene and the Garda Water Unit trawled the lake, finding Elaine O'Hara's prescription glasses, sex toys, a white vest, a tracksuit top, the rucksack Graham Dwyer was seen carrying on CCTV, two knives and, crucially, the two unregistered Nokia phones.
Gardai pulled call records for five phones of interest: Graham Dwyer's work phone, Elaine O'Hara's iPhone, the 083 phone, and the 'master' and 'slave' reservoir phones.
Crime analyst Sarah Skedd was called upon to document the cell sites used by a number of mobile phones, including the 'master' number and Graham Dwyer's work phone. The results revealed the two handsets travelled side by side even on out of the ordinary trips to Galway, Cork and Howth.
The evidence was backed up by motorway toll booth records showing Graham Dwyer's 99 G car making long distance journeys, evidence the father of three didn't dispute.
Despite being in the water for 13 months, gardai were able to recover hundreds of text messages from the 'master' and 'slave' phones from 14 August to 22 August 2012.
These were enough to show intent to kill Elaine O'Hara. Here is an exchange on the day of the murder.
“I’m just so scared. Do you know, sir, that I’m scared of you? You have this hold over me,” she wrote.
“Do not fear death,” he replied.
“Please don’t mention killing for a while, just until I settle back into life,” she asked.
“But, tonight’s punishment will be like me pretending to do someone for real,” he wrote.
“It’s important to me that you feel it’s my right to take my slave’s life if I want to,” he continued.
“Every time I stab or strangle you, I want you to think this is it and every time I let you live, you owe me your life and are grateful and worship me,” he added.
“I know my life is in your hands… every time we meet,” she wrote.
He then directed her to meet him at 5.30pm at Shanganagh park. She was to wear loose clothes and leave her iPhone at home. He told her to take painkillers in advance of the meeting. She was last seen by a jogger walking towards a railway bridge at the park around 6pm. The last text she received from the master said 'go to shore and wait'. Elaine O'Hara never returned home.
More on Dwyer verdict
LISTEN: Gardaí who caught Dwyer describe massive investigation
WATCH: Interactive map and video of key moments and locations in Dwyer trial
Family of Elaine O'Hara "relieved justice has been served"
Graham Dwyer releases statement following guilty verdict
In-Depth: Francesca Comyn takes an in-depth look at a key week during the Graham Dwyer trial
Image: Gardaí search the area where remains of Elaine O'Hara were found Credit: Photocall Ireland
