Rachel O'Reilly murder | Ep 216

Summary

Crime and Coffee Couple – Episode 216

The Murder of Rachel O’Reilly

Release Date: October 19, 2025
Hosts: Allison and Mike

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Overview & Main Theme

Allison and Mike, the married, witty hosts of "Crime and Coffee Couple," delve into the tragic case of Rachel O’Reilly—a loving mother brutally murdered in her own home in a small Irish village in 2004. The episode explores the events leading up to her murder, the investigation and trial, family grief, and the shocking role her husband Joe O’Reilly played. The hosts blend empathy and insight, honoring the victim while highlighting red flags of domestic abuse and manipulation.

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Episode Structure

• [07:06] – Start of Rachel O'Reilly Case
  • Listener suggestion; introduction to the case

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Discovery ([07:06]–[10:45])

• On October 4, 2004, Rose Callowee, Rachel’s mother, finds her 30-year-old daughter’s body in her bedroom, beaten beyond recognition.
• Rose describes the trauma and horror of discovering Rachel, with blood spattered across the room.
  • "It was such an incomprehensible sight that Rose isn't even able to attempt to describe what she actually saw in that moment." ([10:46])

2. Rachel’s Life and Marriage ([10:45]–[16:27])

• Rachel was adopted, raised in a loving family, and grew into a vivacious, loving woman.
• Met Joe O’Reilly at 17. Their relationship began as a "fairytale" and culminated with a proposal atop the Eiffel Tower.
• Married life appeared storybook at first: two sons, moving to an idyllic village, family-focused.
• Joe, however, increasingly distanced himself from Rachel’s family; became cold, even making disparaging remarks about her post-pregnancy weight.

Notable quote:

"He made a crack at Rachel about her weight... you should not, as a brand new mom, have any sort of pressure to have a certain body after you have just created and delivered a human." – Allison ([17:15])

3. Marital Tensions & Early Suspicions ([16:27]–[18:48])

• Rumors swirl about Joe’s extramarital affairs and overnight absences.
• Rachel’s friend learns Joe’s "work travel" is fabricated.
• The night before the murder, Rachel confronts Joe about a woman named Nikki—suspecting an affair and that her children had met Joe’s mistress.
• Heated argument leads Joe to sleep in the guest bedroom.

4. Events of the Murder Day ([20:07]–[25:17])

• Joe claims he left early for the gym, had his coworker vouch for him, and went to work.
• When daycare calls about their son not being picked up, Joe contacts Rose, prompting her to check on Rachel.
• Rose describes the trauma of the discovery and her isolated grief.
• Joe’s reaction upon arrival: odd detachment.
  • "Instead, he bent over her battered body and said, 'Jesus, Rachel, what did you do?'" ([24:13])

5. Crime Scene & Initial Investigation ([25:17]–[32:39])

• House staged to look like a burglary: ransacked, doors wide open, items missing but later recovered nearby.
• Rachel’s purse—with a large sum—left untouched, hinting at staging not theft.
• Community in shock; police immediately suspect Joe, as is typical in spousal murders.

6. Joe’s Bizarre Behavior ([32:39]–[35:27])

• After the funeral, Joe reenacts the murder in front of Rachel’s grieving family, acting out the attack details in their bedroom.
  • "He got down on his knees and began to act out the blows to her body that would have resulted in the blood…" ([33:59])
• Plays voicemails he left for Rachel on the day she died, seemingly to prove concern.
• Rose hears her daughter’s voice in her head say, “He did it,” cementing her suspicions.

7. The Investigation Advances ([39:02]–[43:31])

• Family and investigators notice Joe's inappropriate behavior and disturbingly detailed knowledge of Rachel's injuries.
• Joe admits to an affair—claims it's over, but investigation uncovers ongoing, intense relationship with Nikki Pelley.
• Nikki gave Joe an ultimatum: leave Rachel by November 2004, or relationship ends.
• Joe had involved his children with Nikki; their four-year-old even references her by name.

Notable quote:

"Ladies and gentlemen, don't get involved with people that are married. There's plenty of single people out there." – Mike ([45:47])

8. The Digital and Physical Trail ([46:47]–[56:11])

• Investigators find damning emails: Joe calls Rachel names and expresses resentment at the idea of losing custody.
• Joe's alibi crumbles: phone records and CCTV place him near the crime scene at the right time.
  • He leaves work, returns home, waits for Rachel, kills her, then stages the burglary.
  • "Was he really so stupid as to think investigators wouldn’t connect his phone pings and CCTV?" – Allison ([56:19])
• After the murder, Joe sends Rachel texts/voicemails as if she were alive to create an alibi.

9. The Trial & Aftermath ([61:13]–[67:31])

• Joe is arrested and charged in 2006 after two years of investigation; Nikki and a coworker face charges for lying and withholding information.
• Prosecution reconstructs the timeline, relying heavily on digital and circumstantial evidence.
• Joe wrote a five-page letter to Rachel, placed in her coffin, cryptically saying, “Rachel, forgive me…”
• Jury returns a unanimous guilty verdict in 2007: Joe sentenced to life in prison.

Notable quote:

"He refuses to take responsibility or show any remorse. He's still claiming that he is not guilty. He's a loser, coward." – Allison & Mike ([66:25])

10. Legacy and Ongoing Grief ([64:58]–[68:28])

• Rachel’s family endures continued pain: her sister dies of cancer, her father dies after years fighting to ensure Joe remains in prison.
• Joe is repeatedly denied parole for lacking remorse.
• Rose writes a memoir, grappling with missed warning signs and the long tail of grief.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On finding Rachel:

  • "She’s gonna see it for the rest of her life. Something that made her instantly feel that part of her died in that very moment." – Allison ([10:46])

• On Joe’s behavior:

  • "He was just being a dick." – Allison ([17:28])

  • "Weird... But at the same time, Rose, in her mind, she's like hell to the no. I have no intention of going back to the place where just over a week before she found her daughter's beaten and unrecognizable body." – Allison ([32:39])

• On domestic violence and murder:

  • "If you're a guy who thinks that murder is the right way with your wife or whatever, like you're a coward. You are 100% a coward and a loser and too weak to actually do the right thing." – Mike ([67:53])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [07:06] – Introduction to case, discovery of body
• [10:45] – Rachel’s background and early romance
• [16:27] – Marital issues, suspicions of affair
• [18:48] – Events on murder day
• [25:17] – Crime scene and police arrival
• [32:39] – Joe’s odd, insensitive behavior
• [39:02] – Family/investigators growing suspicions
• [43:31] – Evidence of Joe’s ongoing affair
• [46:47] – Digital forensics, alibi unraveling
• [61:13] – Trial and guilty verdict
• [64:58] – Family legacy, grief, and aftermath

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Additional Moments & Tone

• Host Banter & Personal Touch:

  • The couple frequently draw parallels to their own lives and children, infusing humor to ease tension (e.g., pre-case “bean” mishap with their son Cameron).
  • The lightness is interspersed with deep empathy, especially from Allison as a mom:
    "As a mother, that truly breaks my heart." ([21:38])
  • Occasional playful sarcasm:
    "Thank God for stupid criminals." – Mike ([56:31])

• Respect for Victim:

  • Emphasize not sensationalizing tragedy; their sadness for the Callowee family is palpable.
  • Conclude with condolences and calls for awareness of relationship red flags.

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Summary

This episode is a poignant, thorough deconstruction of the Rachel O’Reilly case—from the everyday reality of her family life to the devastating outcome at her husband’s hands and the tireless effort required to uncover the truth. Allison and Mike manage to honor Rachel’s memory while underscoring the importance of noticing red flags and the cruel impact of selfish, manipulative partners. The episode balances the emotional weight of tragedy with occasional humor and a hopeful reminder to cherish loved ones, all while providing detailed and easily digestible investigative analysis.

For listeners new to the case or podcast, this is a powerful blend of dark true crime and heartfelt humanity, all delivered over the comfort of coffee and candid conversation.

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References:

• Crime and Coffee Couple website
• [Remembering Rachel: A True Story of Betrayal and Murder by Rose Callowee]

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Friends, I can tell you drove high. Parents, I can tell when you drive high.

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Relatives, I can tell you drove here high, didn't you? So what makes you think law enforcement can't. I can tell if you feel different, you drive different.

[B]

Drive high.

[A]

Get a dui.

[B]

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[A]

And for a cognitive assessment.

[B]

Learn more [e-mail]. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode with the crime and coffee couple. My name is Allison, and my name.

[A]

As always, is Mike.

[B]

Hello, Mike.

[A]

Actually, it's just Mike. Not that's always as Mike, but it's Mike.

[B]

Just Mike.

[A]

Yeah. We are a wife and husband. I'm the husband.

[B]

She's the wife. I'm the wife. Yeah.

[A]

And we. We call ourselves Ma and Pa.

[B]

I'm Pa. And I'm Ma.

[A]

Yeah, we're just a little Ma and Pa podcast. And we're independent. We don't have a huge network. You know, we're just trying to struggle through this life just like everybody else, and, you know, hopefully bring you some entertainment and some horrible, horrible stories every single week. Every single Sunday, a free episode, and then Wednesday bonus episodes.

[B]

That's absolutely right.

[A]

I have no idea about the story you're about to tell me besides the name, because I wanted to write it down beforehand. And then I get into it and we ask some questions and we have a good time. So please join us. And you are right now.

[B]

Grab your cup of coffee. Join us. We've got our podcast studio set up for Halloween. If you're watching this on YouTube, this is our new co host. We have a skeleton sitting behind us, and his name is Charles.

[A]

Look, if I jiggle him a little bit, looks like he's waving.

[B]

He's like, hey, I just want to.

[A]

Make sure it's not, like a inappropriate gesture. So he's definitely waving, saying hello. That's what he's doing.

[B]

So he's saying, hi, guys.

[A]

Yeah. He's like, hey, I'm Charles. And earlier this month, speaking of things that you're naming, we're putting up our Halloween decorations, and we put up a big spider in a web. And if anybody could guess what the spider's name in the web is, then we will not give you any money whatsoever.

[B]

It's a female.

[A]

It's a female.

[B]

Kind of sounds like Charles.

[A]

Yes, it sure sounds like Charles. And it is Charlotte. Yeah, it was very imaginative. I'm very proud of you for coming up with that name.

[B]

Well, in my defense, when I named the spider, it was later at night. The mosquitoes were absolutely devouring me. I was tired, and I was just like, oh, hello, Charlotte.

[A]

So you were knackered?

[B]

I was knackered. I was shattered.

[A]

Shattered, as our UK folks would say.

[B]

So I wasn't thinking on my, you know, best two feet.

[A]

And I wasn't in any sort of mood to be putting up Halloween decorations when we did that.

[B]

No. And so I guess the point is, if you think of a better name for our spider, you can tell me.

[A]

I like to just make fun of things and not have any solutions. And when I'm at work, I do the same thing to my bosses. Just, like, complain about everything. They love it. They absolutely love it. I'm being completely sarcastic. That's not a good way to go about it.

[B]

The one time it makes me think of. We got these photos for our bathroom just to decorate the wall because it was this big, wide open space. And I got these pictures of this.

[A]

Black cat that was like, wide open spaces. Sorry, go ahead.

[B]

Room to make a big mess.

[A]

I didn't mean. I mean, I did mean to cut you off. I had to get it out there. Sorry.

[B]

So I got the silly artwork from Marshalls. It was inexpensive. I put it up, and Mike's like, I don't like that. I like something different. I'm like, okay, once you find that something different, you can put it up on the wall and take that off. And in the meantime. That was about five years ago.

[A]

Yeah. I looked for a good 30 to 40 seconds, and I couldn't find anything I liked. So I decided that's fine.

[B]

In other news, we live with two teenagers. One's a boy, one's a girl, and the boy oftentimes throws us for a loop. And he came home from school the other day, and he says to me, mom, in science class, I ate off what was a 25. Raw kidney beans.

[A]

This kid, mind you, he's not 13. He's 17.

[B]

And he just turned 17.

[A]

He's a junior in high school less.

[B]

Than a month ago. And I was like, what? Why? He's like, well, we were doing it as some part of a project. I said, okay, but that doesn't answer my question. Why did you swallow 25 raw kidney beans? This is. At the time, I didn't realize, but raw, uncooked kidney beans are apparently toxic to humans.

[A]

Yeah. As little as five, as little as.

[B]

Three to four, according to the Internet.

[A]

I was way off, so.

[B]

Well, the point is three divide or 25 divided by three, you know, that's. It's more than seven times higher than what can be considered toxic. So I was like, okay, well, what are the symptoms? And it's just gastrointestinal distress, like, profuse nausea, vomiting, a lot of abdominal pain, just miserable.

[A]

A little bit of the big D.

[B]

But he had taken it hours before, and I guess symptoms usually start within three hours. Mike's on the phone with Poison Control because that was what was suggested online.

[A]

I talked to Chad, GPT, and they're like, well, just call the Poison Control. And they're better safe than sorry.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you're like, the whole time like, oh, you don't need to call Poison Control.

[B]

Well, because it's said. It's basically, you just have to get it out of your system.

[A]

Yeah, but better. Like, okay, what's the better situation? Never calling? And then eventually.

[B]

Of course not. I always err on the side of caution. I just knew that phone call was going to be useless. And lo and behold, it was. Well.

[A]

And then also, I was a little rude to the person that was answering, so I sound like a complete jerk in this episode. But they were like, okay, yeah. I tell them all the information, kidney beans and whatever, and they're like, okay. And why were they eating kidney beans? I was like, it was in a classroom. I'm not really sure. And she's like, but why? Why that? I'm like, it doesn't matter. I just need to know if my son, like, what we need to do. Like, let. Not like.

[B]

I was like, what are you turning into one of those crotchety elderly people who just snaps at people.

[A]

I was in the mode of, like, emergency mode. Like, let's just figure out. Tell me what I need to look for. Tell me what we should worry about.

[B]

And I was very concerned about his comfort. I wasn't concerned about his life. It didn't. Nothing online suggested that he was going to die. It was just. It was going to be very unpleasant for him.

[A]

I didn't know that. I thought you Said toxic. And I was worried about death, so I was like, going into shock.

[B]

Well, and it's. I'm like, you have baseball tonight. Why would you do such a thing? He's like, oh, I don't know. I thought it'd be funny. Please don't do that.

[A]

So just in case you guys ever come across raw kidney beans, don't eat them. Yeah.

[B]

I don't know why you would, but I would also suggest that to my son. Why would you?

[A]

Well, because it's funny.

[B]

And I was like, you know, I saw a reel on Instagram where a kid, a teenager, ate some slug to make his friends laugh. And it turns out the slug had parasites and it went to his brain and he ended up going into a coma and then eventually dying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I said, please don't do stupid stuff just to get laughs, like teenagers tend to do. But, you know, I'm sure I may as well have gone and talked to a wall. I would have had better success than having that conversation with our son.

[A]

I love when you do that. She physically will go to the wall and be like, what? I'll have more success doing this. And she'll talk straight to the wall. Be like, hello.

[B]

I'll be like, cameron, don't do that. Okay. Same. Same exact reaction here.

[A]

And he'll be able to watch all of this because he. All of our YouTube videos.

[B]

So, yeah. So. Hi, Cameron.

[A]

Hey, bud. You're doing a great job.

[B]

So on that note, shall we dive into this cup of coffee?

[A]

Let's do it.

[B]

All right, so this is a listener suggestion from Emma, and this is the murder of Rachel O'Reilly. So although Monday, October 4, 2004, it may have begun as a calm day, for Rose Callee, it turned into a mother's worst nightmare. It was a nightmare that she will never be able to erase from her mind. That afternoon when she went to her daughter's home. This is 30 year old Rachel O'Reilly. She found her daughter on her bedroom floor, brutally murdered and beaten to the point that she was unrecognizable. And like I said, this is an image that Rose will never be able to remove from her memory, from her mind. So that Monday In October of 2004, it was an absolutely gorgeous, crisp autumn day. It was much drier and milder than what was typical for that time of year. Rose was home with her husband Jim, and their three sons. This is Declan, Paul, and Anthony. So Jim owned a plumbing company. Oftentimes he wasn't working from home. He was out doing things that day, it was a bit of an odd thing. He was there and it, you know, it was a nice treat for Rose. So that afternoon, since she had her husband and her boys there, she decided to make them lunch. They were basically just sitting around eating, chatting, enjoying the afternoon, when their phone rang and it was her son in law. This is Joe O'Reilly. This is Rachel's husband of 13 years. And he told Rose that Rachel hadn't gone to pick their son up from daycare. And apparently in Ireland they call it crash daycare. I was like, what in the world is crash? There were a couple of terms that I had to look up because I didn't know what it was. And, you know, in the US we don't refer to it as that. So right away, Rose was exceptionally concerned because Rachel was an extremely attentive, doting mother. And Rose knew for sure that had there been a reason she hadn't been able to pick up her two year old, she would have got a hold, gotten a hold of somebody, likely Rose. Rose was about 20 minutes away. So right off the bat, she was exceptionally concerned.

[A]

Yeah, any decent mother is going to go pick up their kid from daycare. And also everybody listening to this is instantly thinking, was it Joe?

[B]

So the thing is, you know, obviously somebody might have car trouble, a flat tire, but like I said, Rachel would have called somebody. So right off the bat, Rose knew that something must be terribly wrong because like I said, an attentive mother doesn't just forget her child at daycare. So Joe explained that he was on his way to the daycare to pick his son up. So Rose told him, okay, I'm gonna go over to your house to check on Rachel, see if she's there. So at 1:45pm When Rose pulled into Rachel and Joe's bungalow, she, she was immediately concerned since Rachel's car was parked there, sitting in its usual spot in the driveway. And their two family dogs, this is a Labrador and a springer spaniel, they were outside by the front of the house. So immediately things are concerning. The curtains were drawn. This was also very unusual. And as she made her way to the back of the house, Rose saw that the patio doors were open wide. She walks into the house, she sees in the kitchen, the faucet is running at full blast. So concerns all over the board, the contents of some of the drawers were strewn about the house. It was starting to look like the house was ransacked. So as Rose walked through the house in the direction of the sitting room, she was obviously calling out her daughter's name. She was only met with silence. So there were videos that were scattered around on the floor. It was obvious that something was terribly wrong. So as she consent continued through the hall in the direction of where the bedrooms were, there was still no sign of Rachel. The house was completely quiet.

[A]

It.

[B]

So what Rose saw when she entered her daughter's bedroom, it's something like I mentioned earlier, she's gonna see it for the rest of her life. Something that made her instantly feel that part of her died in that very moment. Blood was spattered across the walls, the ceilings in the door. And her baby girl's lifeless, battered body was lying on the floor with blood pooling around her. It was such an incomprehensible sight that Rose isn't even able to attempt to des what she actually saw in that moment. But it's a memory that will haunt her until her dying day. Rachel Callowee was born on October 10, 1973 in Dublin, Ireland. She was adopted by Jim and Rose Callowee and she was raised in a very happy loving home. As a third child of five, all of whom had been adopted. When she was 14 years old, the family relocated to Australia. But they only stayed there one year. I guess they just really missed their home country of Ireland. So they came back and according to Rose, like her three brothers and her one sister, Rachel quickly grew up into a capable, enthusiastic child. She put her heart and soul into everything that she did. She was a bubbly girl. She made friends everywhere she went. She just had that personality that just drew people to her. So When Rachel was 17 years old, she met a 19 year old Joe O'Reilly. They were working. So at the time she was working at a part time job at one of the city's biggest department stores. This is Arnott's. And Joe, who was 18 months older than her, he was there at the department store. He was working full time in the men's department. And according to Joe, it was Rachel's height that initially captivated him and caught his attention.

[A]

Was she pretty tall?

[B]

She was. She was 5 foot 11. And he himself was a very tall guy. He was 6 foot 4. So once Joe convinced Rachel because apparently Rachel was a little hesitant to date. So she, he convinced her to go out on a date and right off the bat they headed off and they soon became, or he soon became her first and only love. So Joe's parents for his side. His parents divorced when he was a child. His father moved to England. His mom stayed with the kids in Ireland. So Joe's sister, she had a disability, so, you know, his mom had her hands full. So Joe being the boy, he kind of stood up as the, the man of the households, kind of stepped in as the father just to their day to day lives. And he himself hoped that one day when he became an adult, he, he would find somebody to, you know, settle down with and have children of his own. So while they were traveling in France, this happened in 1994. It seemed like this fairy tale moment. They were up in the Eiffel Tower and Joe got down on his knee, he pulled out the ring, and he proposed to Rachel.

[A]

That's like a fairy tale. That's amazing.

[B]

I mean, it's like a picture perfect proposal. And you know, Rachel's family, when she had brought Joe home, they really liked him. They saw him as a polite young man. He seemed to make their daughter happy. So that's really a parent's goal. They want their kids to be happy. And you know, Jim and Rose saw that Rachel was happy, so they were happy because of that. So then three years later, Joe and Rachel got married in April of 1997. And Rose recalls the smile that was on her daughter's face at her wedding while they were dancing. And it, she could just see that her daughter was just glowing with love for her new husband.

[A]

And really any parents, that's all they want, is for their kids to be happy. And that's why like every decision, every for a good parent goes that way in a smile on your kid's face and like fulfillment, it's like, oh my.

[B]

God, finally, thank God all is right with the world. And we tell our kids that all the time, as long as you're happy, you're in a relationship where you're loved and respected, that's what we want for you. So before they settled into their lives together, they traveled to Kenya for their honeymoon. And then over the next several years, they focused on their careers where Rachel was working for solicitors and Joe worked for a software company. So Rachel and Joe, they had their first child, a son that they named Luke, in March of 2000. And then the following year they had their son Adam. He was born in October of 2001. So now they're a family of four. They've got small children. So the O'Reilly's move to Null, which is this cute little charming village at the northern edge of County Dublin. It was just a very quiet, peaceful village that seemed truly ideal to raise children and a family. So after their sons were born, Rachel began working in Sales for Avon and Tupperware. And this seemed like the perfect situation because she had two very young children. So this gave her flexibility that she could work on her own time. And that was important because at the time, Joe was managing an outdoor advertising firm and he was often traveling. So it put her as, like, the more stable job to be there to be with the boys.

[A]

And.

[B]

And she was making it work. She was balancing their young children with her career as well as the household. While Rose did worry as a mom, she was worrying that maybe Rachel was doing too much. Maybe she would be very lonely being out in the country, because when you have two young children, it's not like you can chat with them. Her husband's traveling a lot for work, working long hours, and then she's out in the country with her two very young boys.

[A]

Yeah, it's a lot of work.

[B]

Yeah. So Rose just worried about her daughter's happiness. So Rachel's family, they couldn't help but notice, though, that Joe didn't really mingle much with them when they would have family get togethers. Oftentimes during these get togethers, he would be either playing with the children or watching tv, not really interacting with the.

[A]

Adults, which, you know, I mean, we know a couple people like that, and they're, you know, some people are just, you know, and antisocial a little bit.

[B]

I think this seemed a little different than what was normal for him. So he wasn't being rude.

[A]

Oh, this is like something new.

[B]

It seemed different. Okay. Yeah, it seemed like something was changing. And they said, you know, he wasn't rude, but they just felt that sometimes he could be cold and distant. So Rose recalls a time that he was actually rude. This time he made a crack at Rachel about her weight. And this is just something you don't do. On top of the fact that she had just had a baby and she was struggling to lose her post pregnancy weight. And you should not, as a brand new mom, have any. Any sort of pressure to have a certain body after you have just created and delivered a human.

[A]

Yeah. And I mean, whether you're a mom or not a mom or whatever, if you're in a relationship, there's better ways to come about these situations and these discussions, it's like, it's not an easy discussion, but it's just like, hey, you know, I'm worried about your health and stuff and.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Yeah. Just he's being a dick.

[B]

He was just being a dick. And that's really what it came down to. So then rumors began to swirl that maybe Joe was having an affair. And both he and Rachel confided in friends that their marriage, it was lacking affection. So according to Rachel's friend, who just so happened to know someone who worked with Joe at his firm or company, they indicated that Joe did not have any reason to be traveling and spending the night elsewhere as he so often claimed to be doing.

[A]

That's a kind of a bombshell.

[B]

It is a bombshell. So this leaves the question, if Joe's calling Rachel and saying, okay, I have overnight stays here, there, or, or wherever. If he's not there for work, where is he? What is he doing?

[A]

Also, what a scumbag to leave his kids alone. I mean, his wife, yeah, obviously, but I'm a big time, you know, advocate about being there for your kids if you can.

[B]

You're a family man. You want to be there with your kids and they're only small like that for a very blip of time.

[A]

They'll never be this age again. When you have to have a conversation with your work about, like, you know, whether it's worth taking time off or whatever, your kids will never be this age again. Just enjoy your kids, be there for them whenever you can.

[B]

And when you're in the thick of raising little, little ones, you feel like there's no light through the trees. But as parents with now 13 and 17 year olds, we can look back and say when people say it goes by in an instant. It does.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What do they say? The days are long, but the years are short. And that's truly accurate. So although Rachel's friends suspected that there were deeper issues in her marriage, she was a very private person. So she didn't often air the maybe extent of the issues that she was dealing. So just because she wasn't talking about it didn't mean it wasn't happening. So things came to a boiling point on Sunday, October 3, 2004. This is only one day before Rose found her daughter's beaten body in her home. Apparently, Rachel heard one of their sons talking about daddy's friend Nikki. So Rachel was suspecting that Nikki might be Joe's mistress. Not only that, it appeared that they knew her. Which would mean that not only was he having an affair, he was bringing her children around the other woman. Yeah, which is insane. So because of their heated argument, Joe ended up sleeping in the guest bedroom that night. So on the day that Rachel was murdered, this is Monday morning, October 4, 2004. Joe said that he left for the gym at 5:30am he planned to meet his co Worker there. This is Derek Quierney. So from there he headed to work. And this was something that Derek confirmed was accurate.

[A]

Real quick, how do we know this conversation happened? That they had a discussion about this other girl or girl?

[B]

It comes out okay in the investigation. So Rachel was supposed to pick their son up from school that day, which she did every day. But at 1pm the school contacted Joe to inform him that she hadn't done so. So he tried calling her. She wasn't answering. This was the point that he called his mother in law, Rose, to see if she had heard from or seen her daughter. So now, faced with the unimaginable sight of her daughter's bludgeon body, Rose knew instantly as she was standing there in her daughter's bedroom that Rachel was dead. She was laying on her back with her upper body twisted to one side. She wore a gray sweatshirt and gray sweatpants. And blood covered her body and pooled on the floor around her head. There was so much congealed blood that at that time, Rose couldn't even tell if her daughter was lying face down or if her face was positioned to the side. So Rose knelt next to her daughter's still cold body and she said her name over and over, hoping that maybe if she said her name enough, she might hear her. But in her heart, she knew that this wasn't logical. She knew that it was impossible. But she was in a state of shock. So Rose doesn't know how long she even knelt next to her daughter's body, talking to her as she was stroking her arms. And as a mother, that truly breaks my heart.

[A]

Yeah, it's, I mean, heartbreaking. You're just. You picture yourself in that situation, obviously the last absolute thing you want to be dealing with because this is your daughter you love with all your heart, right?

[B]

So she recalls feeling more alone and utterly desolate in those moments than she ever had in her entire life. So when Rose tried calling emergency services, she was so distraught and upset that she couldn't even work her phone. So when she noticed Rachel's phone that was sitting there, she began just randomly pushing numbers until a man, she doesn't even know who it was, eventually answered. So she asked him for help and told him that she believed her daughter was dead. He asked her for details. So he was a nice person and contacted emergency services. Rose then spoke with her husband and told him the horrible, unimaginable news that their, their daughter was dead. So Jim and their son Paul, they immediately headed over. So when Rachel's neighbor. This is Sarah she arrived and she told Rose that she was able to hear her screams from the road. I don't even know if Rose knew she was screaming at that point. So after this moment, Rose recalls everything happening very quickly when she heard a car pull up on the driveway. This was right around 2:30. She ran outside figuring that it would be Joe and the boys. And she did not want them to come into the house for obvious reasons. She didn't want them seeing their wife and their mother in such an unimaginable way. So as she got outside, she saw that Joe was standing on the driveway with her two year old son Adam. And she learned that Rachel's friend was picking up their four year old son Luke. Joe had a smile on his face. He was just getting the, you know, their son out of the car. And Rose grappled with how she was going to tell him that his wife and the mother of his boys was, was dead. This was something that she knew as he's standing there smiling, it would remove his smile and it would be gone for a very long time. She knew it would be life changing news. So although she doesn't even clearly remember the moment, Rose assumes that she must have told him the news because, you know, quickly things started happening. A friend soon arrived. They took their little one by the hand and guided him to her car because obviously they didn't want their 2 year old to be there. So Adam happily went along. He had absolutely no idea that his life was forever changed. He was two years old, of course, you know, too young to understand that he would never see his mom again after her kiss goodbye that she gave him that morning when she dropped him off at daycare. So as Rose went back into the master bedroom with Joe, she felt utterly heartbroken for him. So much so that she struggled to even catch her breath. So as he reached Rachel's body, he placed two fingers on her neck to check to see if she had a pulse. He also moved a box of books away from her that had been positioned near her head. So Rose felt confused though, because really what she expected was that he was going to just run to his wife's body and lift her up in his arms and at attempt to hold her, but that didn't happen. Instead he bent over her battered body and said, Jesus, Rachel, what did you do? And this was just something that caught Rose off guard and obviously this is a moment that, you know, she's in a fog of shock and grief. So. Detective Pat Mary quickly saw that the O'Reilly's home was in disarray, as if it had been ransacked. There was broken glass, overturned furniture. Excuse me. As if Rachel's murder had been a robbery gone wrong. Like maybe somebody came in to. To rob place and didn't realize that somebody was there.

[A]

Clearly that's what it was supposed to look like because everything's gone, the back door's open, everything's left.

[B]

And the picture gave the image that Rachel had just come in from dropping the boys off. This is also later proven by cctv. But when she was found, she actually had her keys clutched in her hand. Basically, this told investigators that she was attacked just as she came home from dropping the boys off at daycare. So Detective Mary describes that the scene was utterly brutal. And he said, it is a sight I will never forget. My God. She was pulverized. Her hair was matted in blood over her ear and there was. You could see down to her skull. It was about five inches long. You could see that there were several. Force used to. There was severe force. Excuse me, used to inflict that. So the poor woman had no chance whatsoever. Absolutely none. It was savage, cold, just unbelievable. So the autopsy proved that Rachel had died from just horrific blunt force trauma from multiple blows to her head. Her body showed signs of a struggle. You could tell she put up a fight, she tried to defend herself, but obviously what happened happened so quickly. She was caught off guard and it was fierce. So her. The wounds to her heart, hands and her arms proved that she had truly tried to fight. So residents of the small village of Null, they were shocked and terrified. They're learning the news that their neighbor that who they see getting her 2 year old and her 4 year old out of the car into the house. Oh, this cute young family, they're learning that she was brutalized in her home and we don't know who did this. So there could be a lunatic out on the loose. So everyone was very scared and shocked. So Rachel's funeral was held one week after her murder on October 11, one day after she would have turned 31, she would have celebrated her birthday. As loved ones gathered, they each placed a letter that they had written to Rachel inside of her coffin. Joe placed his letter inside last, and the family just gave him a private moment to be alone with his wife before she was buried. So investigators went to neighboring houses because obviously they wanted to learn. Did anyone see something suspicious that morning? And really nobody had. So since Joe and Rachel had been married for 13 years, obviously Joe was going to be the f. Focal point.

[A]

Of interest for Investigators, everybody listening, first thing they thought.

[B]

So he told investigators, like I said, that he had left their house that morning at 5:30 in the morning. He left in his navy Fiat Marea and he was going to meet his co worker at Jackie Skelly gym in Park West. So this is kind of right in the center of Dublin. This is about 23 miles from their home. It would have taken him about 35 minutes to drive to this location. He had planned to meet his co worker, Derek Quirney at the gym at 6:30 and along the way he stopped to get gas. So once at the gym they didn't actually do a workout. They just kind of sat in the sauna together, they showered and then they left separately to drive to their offices. They worked at Viacom Outdoor Advertising within the Bluebell and just, excuse me, bluebell Industrial Estate. So Derek worked for the company as a delivery manager while Joe was operations manager. Joe arrived at the office right around 7:45 in the morning. And he told investigators that he and Derek then left the office again. This time was at about 8:45am they were going to the Broadstone bus depot in the city center. They were apparently checking on like advertising posters that they had up. So Joe said that then he came back to the office midday. He stayed there until he got that call from the daycare saying that Rachel hadn't picked their son up. So basically, from what Joe is telling investigators, he was gone since 5:30 in the morning, tied up with work. So when he was asked about the nature of the relationship, what kind of marriage did they have? He said it was a normal one. They had ups and downs just like any couple. But it was a good marriage. Of course he's denying to investigators that he had been unfaithful to Rachel. And he was asked, do you think Rachel has ever been unfaithful to you? And he did not think so. So because Rachel's family was in just such a state of shock and grief, they couldn't even begin to start to wrap their heads around who could have possibly done this to Rachel. She was a 30 year old mother of a 2 and 4 year old. She lived a quiet life in the country. She worked as an Avon rep and a Tupperware salesman.

[A]

Wasn't like going out partying, wasn't it? You know, all these places late at night, like not drug use or anything. It's just kind of like she was a mom that stayed at home and sold Avon and Tupperware.

[B]

And what was done to her, how she was murdered was so Brutal. There was so much anger and violence. It just seemed very personal. So Rose recalls that on the day of her daughter's burial, the police gave Joe the keys back to their house because, of course, an active investigation had been going on at the house. He wasn't allowed to stay there. So he was basically told by investigators they wanted him to meet them at the house because they wanted to do a walk through, see what may have been taken, because maybe it was a robbery. They were just getting to the bottom of things. So I will tell you, though, right off the bat that Rachel had a large sum of money that was in her purse when she was murdered. It had not been taken.

[A]

That'd be the first thing you would check, is it's somebody trying to steal money.

[B]

And we can all think of how we do things. When we come in the door, we set our things down usually in the same place. I would assume Rachel came in the door, she set her purse down somewhere. The. The person who did this to her, if they were there to rob money or the house, they would have checked her purse. So that wasn't the case. So these things are starting to come together for investigators. They did see that jewelry in a camcorder had been taken from the home, but they soon recovered these items in the surrounding area. So whoever took these items, they didn't sell them, they didn't do anything with them.

[A]

Took them, and then left them.

[B]

Like them.

[A]

That makes even less sense.

[B]

Makes no sense whatsoever. So when Rose spoke with Joe the following day, he told her that he had felt a great sense of peace after he went back to their house. He said, you know, of course, this is a house that he lived in with his wife and his two boys. He indicated that he planned to continue to live there. A lot of times when something terrible happens in a location, people are like, I need a fresh start.

[A]

Yeah, all you're doing is remembering your dead wife. And I'm sorry, that sounds so bad, but, like, that's all I would be able to think about and be like, oh, she used to be there, and she used to. You know, it's like, man, I just want to try to move on. You know, it's right.

[B]

And it's not even to say that, oh, this is the house we shared. This was the house where she was murdered, and he saw her body on their bedroom floor. So anytime you'd walk into your bedroom, you would just look at that spot where she had been laying. Okay, fine. People make their own decision. So he's saying he's going to continue to live there. So basically what he's telling Rachel's family is that after he had gone back to their house, he felt this great sense of peace. And he thought maybe if they came back to the house with, with him, they would also feel this great sense of peace.

[A]

Weird. Yeah.

[B]

But at the same time, Rose, in her mind, she's like hell to the no, I have no intention of going back to the place where just over a week before she found her daughter's beaten and unrecognizable body. So Jim thought about it and you know, he was just trying to think of anything to bring them some sense of comfort. So he said to Rose, well, I don't know if it did help Joe, maybe it would help us to just face it.

[A]

Sure. Because you're, you know, not people are usually aren't in this situation, so they're looking for options, but maybe, maybe something unexpected.

[B]

So Rose reluctantly returned to her daughter's house. And while she and Jim and their son Paul and their daughter in law Denise were there, they found Joe's behavior both bizarre and highly upsetting. As Rose was in Rachel and Joe's bedroom, the scene of the crime, she was stripping beds and trying to straighten up and everyone was there in the bedroom. When Joe began to reenact how he believed that the person responsible must have killed Rachel. Imagine he was doing this in front of her grief stricken mom who was trying to put one foot in front of the other and just survive each day.

[A]

It's not like a fun game, you know, like it's, it's kind of, it's known, you shouldn't be talking about it really. You know, you're trying to be together as a family and trying to get over things. Relive the whole thing.

[B]

Yes. And that's exactly what he was doing. So they were stunned when he got down on his knees and began to act out the blows to her body that would have resulted in the blood and that was still at that very moment spattered on the walls.

[A]

Oh my God.

[B]

I mean, that's crazy. So Rose only wanted him to stop, but instead he moved on to the bathroom. And as he's standing in the bathroom, he's theorizing that the killer went in there to clean up. And while there he said that the killer probably heard Rachel gurgling and went back. And the words he said was to finish her off. Jeez, that's so messed up and so troubling and disturbing for this grief stricken family. So then as they made their way to the kitchen. Rose felt utterly sick to her stomach. And Joe asked if anyone wanted to hear the answering machine messages from the day that Rachel was murdered. And everyone is just standing there in the kitchen, quiet. But regardless, Joe played the messages of himself calling his wife. And it's almost as if he wanted to prove that he had been concerned about her.

[A]

Yeah, there's some kind of play happening here in his head.

[B]

He's got some kind of agenda.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So as Rose is standing there, all of a sudden, she heard her daughter's voice in her head. Speak the words clearly. He did it. Rose admits, though, that this probably sounds strange. She could clearly hear her daughter, as if someone was kicking her in the stomach.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And at the time, she questioned, maybe I'm losing my grip on reality. But when she left her daughter's house that day, she knew in her heart and in her soul that without a doubt whatsoever, Joe had been responsible.

[A]

That's insane. I mean, yeah, I'll believe whatever she says. She's the mom and, you know, she. She's had the closest bond to her. You know, I'm. It's. You can't explain some things. And, you know, whether it was just because of what Joe was doing or whatever, like, that's. That had to be really jarring for.

[B]

Absolutely.

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[B]

Later that night, she's sitting with all these thoughts and she decided to share these thoughts with her husband Jim. He got upset and pleaded with her not to talk about it with anyone else. He chalked Joe's actions up to that day. What he was doing to maybe this is just his way of dealing with his grief and the fact that, you know, he had been acting very cool and calm. They said maybe he's just in a state of shock. I should say. He, Jim said this and we always say you never know how you're going to deal with grief when you're in it. So Jim felt that there was absolutely no way that Joe could have done that to their daughter. So according to Rose, it took quite some time for Jim to begin to wrap his head around the worst case scenario that their daughter's husband, the father of their grandchildren, could have been capable of murdering Rachel.

[A]

Well, Jim sounds like a positive, upbeat guy who's just like, you know, we, we're all going through stuff. We can't like stop and think this. Like, don't say stuff like that. He's just trying to think the best. Nobody thinks that the love of their daughter's life would try to murder them. And then, you know, the husband and the father of their grandchildren, like, it's, it's unimaginable. So he's trying to like make it all right.

[B]

But it's of course, and I could see that happening in our relationship. Oftentimes Mike has to talk me off the ledge. Thank goodness that Mike is the calm one and I'm the cuckoo one.

[A]

A little cuckoo.

[B]

But Mike brings Me down to earth. And I think that's what Jim was trying to do with Rose. And you have to remember that Rachel had been dating Joe since she was 17.

[A]

Yeah, her first love.

[B]

Her first love. And Joe was 19. So you think in your head they kind of like grew up together. How could he possibly do this? How can anyone do this, let alone to the mother of their children and their like, first love? So, you know, it sounds like Jim started to. Eventually the pieces fell into place and he's like, oh my goodness, this could be. So there were also red flags. They notice, you know, what, what Joe was saying to reporters when he was giving interviews. One reporter asked him about finding Rachel's body and he described in detail where she had been struck. And since Joe spent very little time with Rachel's body, Rose found it strange that he seemed to know so much about her injuries. Not to mention the fact that it's, it's inappropriate to, to talk about that with reporters.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Like, you just don't go into that kind of sick detail. It's almost like if he was the one responsible, that it was almost like he wanted to relive it.

[A]

Like he's proud and excited and wants to get credit for it.

[B]

Weird. So despite the fact that Joe initially claimed to have a great marriage with Rachel, obviously investigators are going to get to the bottom of things. I always say that with these killers. Do they really think that the investigators are just going to be like, oh, oh, your marriage was happy, case closed, let's move on.

[A]

Hey, sometimes it happens. Sometimes they just say they chalk it up to a murder or a death or a suicide. And we've done cases like that where the cops are just like, yep, suicide done.

[B]

And then, well, obviously Rachel had been brutally murdered. We know somebody murdered her. But did Joe not think they weren't going to look into his text messages and his emails and dig deeper?

[A]

Clearly not. He's stupid. Good.

[B]

So he did. By 7pm on the night of Rachel's murder, he fully admitted to investigators that they had had some difficulties in their relationship. He said that he had an affair in the past. He claimed that it was over, but as they dug deeper and obviously if you have, you know, if you're a good investigator, you're gonna get.

[A]

Dig deeper or any sort of investigator.

[B]

Thank you. It was clear that Joe's affair, it was far from over. He was currently in a relationship that had been going on for six months. And this is with a previous co worker, 34 year old Nikki Pelley. Remember the name Nikki from earlier in this episode. So they had been actively meeting up three to four times a week at her house before Rachel's murder. She had even met Rachel's two young boys.

[A]

And I was wondering how young they were. You said four and two. So the four year old knows this woman's name. Like that's they, she's got to know them pretty decently.

[B]

So they had met up with. She. Nikki had met up with Joe's kids on a number of occasions, usually on Saturday afternoons at her home or when they went out to the zoo together. So I assume because Rachel was doing Avon and Tupperware, Saturdays were probably a busy day for her.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

So Joe took this opportunity to take his boys to meet another woman.

[A]

Like, what a scumbag, man. There's so many of these guys that just like try to get their wife to divorce them or whatever and like, like are just outward with things. It's like you're taking your own kids to your girlfriend's out your mistress's house. Like that's crazy. Like how much of a piece of garbage are you?

[B]

Right. Because there's many people, even after the divorce, they're very careful with who they're going to introduce their children to. Like they want to make sure that the relationship is going somewhere.

[A]

Yeah. If you're a decent father, that's what you do. But there's. We're thinking of one guy that would probably do this, that used to be married to one of our friends.

[B]

And the fact that that's, you know, the four year old, like your four year old can talk and say, blah, blah, blah, Nikki.

[A]

It's like this narcissistic thing and egotistical. It's just like they're so full of themselves. They think they're so perfect and awesome that like they somebody else, like their children don't even come across their mind.

[B]

Exactly. Like he hadn't Even thought my 4 year old could repeat this.

[A]

This development might be weird for them. No, don't even think about them. Just think about your own penis.

[B]

Just what he wanted. Exactly. So according to Nikki, she and Joe had been planning a future together. And three weeks before Rachel's murder, he referred to her as my beautiful bride to be in a text message. Like I said, investigators are going to dig into this.

[A]

Yeah. If you've ever sent a text message, they're going to find it. I don't care if you deleted it.

[B]

So she had previously worked with Joe, but after she left that job, they reconnected at an event in January of 2004 and this kind of re sparked everything and they kept in contact after this function. So within the next month or so, the relationship became romantic and sexual. So after Joe made an appeal to find Rachel's killer on the Late Late show, this is only two weeks after his wife was brutally murdered. He leaves the Late Late show where he's like pleading with, you know, the public to find his wife's killer. He goes over and sleeps the night at Nikki's house at his mistress. So, you know, it's just painting the picture of somebody that does not give a crap.

[A]

I mean, clearly this was big news if he's on some show. Yeah, right. I mean, the Late Late Show I in the US is probably different than that one. But I mean, people know about this and you're talking about and you're in the public and then you're going to.

[B]

Go bang straight over to your mistress's house. So Rachel's family eventually learned that Nikki Pelly had actually given Joe an ultimatum that he had to leave Rachel by November of 2004 or the relationship would be over. So he had time constraints.

[A]

Well, that's fantastic for a female. Like I like to hear a strong female being like, listen, I'm sick of being strung along, but at the same time, this guy shouldn't be thinking of murdering his wife. The divorce is probably what she meant.

[B]

And you know, obviously it's very skeevy on her end. You're with this guy that's Married with a 2 year old and a 4 year old and you're, you want to be responsible for breaking up a family. You know, she's not, I'm not saying she's responsible for murder, but that's very scuzzy.

[A]

You know, I, it's, she's basically telling him, you know, you're telling me bride to be and all this stuff, I don't believe you. So either get divorced or not. And at least she's, she has some pride in herself. I mean, I'm not saying she's good or bad, but I'm saying I would want my daughter to if she, I mean, never be with somebody.

[B]

We don't want our daughter to get involved in a married relationship.

[A]

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, don't get involved with people that are married.

[B]

There's plenty of single people out there.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Okay, so just keep that in mind. So investigators also discovered emails from Joe's laptop that was seized from his workplace that he exchanged with his sister Anne on June 9th. This is four months before the murder. And he Wrote about how Rachel had issues dealing with their children and shouted at them on a daily basis. Now, again, this is Joe's perspective. So I'm not saying that this is true. He referred to her as a lazy. See you next Tuesday. How he talked about his wife.

[A]

Nice. That's really nice.

[B]

So when Anne asked if they were going out for a romantic meal together, he replied, where the hell did you hear I was going out for a night out with the. That. See you next Tuesday. A meal. I'd rather choke.

[A]

Jeez.

[B]

He also wrote me plus Rachel plus marriage equals over. So he indicated that Rachel repulsed him and he fixated on the thought of her getting custody of their children if they did divorce.

[A]

So. So he wouldn't have to care about his kids.

[B]

No, he didn't want her to have custody. And he wrote that he did not want to be Mr. Weekend Custody Custody. He also wrote about an anonymous complaint to social services that Joe's own mother, Anne had made. She called social services on Rachel to falsely accuse her of not looking after their children. I mean, that's like really dog. Yeah. So although Joe was a so sole suspect in his wife's murder, he was released without charge after he was questioned. While police continued to build their case, they just didn't have enough evidence at that point in time. So as investigators were able to gather electronic data, they had enough evidence to arrest Joel Riley and charge him with his wife's murder in 2006. So for two years after his wife's murder, he was a free man while they built their case. So Nikki Pelly was arrested for withholding information about Rachel's murder after investigators discovered that she and Joe called each other eight times on the day of the murder. She later said that Joe told her that he would kill Rachel if he thought he could get away with it. But she said she never took this comment seriously.

[A]

What about when his wife ended up dead? Did she take that comment seriously then? Obviously not. Which is why she's being charged.

[B]

Right. And I don't know what they talked about throughout those conversations that may have alluded to the fact that he wasn't where he said he was to investigators.

[A]

It's like, I wish an investigator, you could just get him on tape being like, like, listen, you're lying, you idiot. What you think when she died. Yeah. And you didn't think about coming to the police then. That's why you're going to jail. Okay.

[B]

I'd be a terrible, terrible interrogator, cuz I would just scream and curse at the person across from me, and you'd.

[A]

Want to jump out across the table.

[B]

It wouldn't end well. So Derek Quy. This is the colleague who provided an alibi for Joe that day. He was also charged with providing false information.

[A]

Good.

[B]

So he and Joe had gone to the gym together that morning. That had not been alive. But when Derek left the office for the bus depot, because, remember, they had to go check out those advertising posters. This happened somewhere around 9 in the morning. He was not able to find Joe at the bus depot when he arrived at 9:30. So he called him right around 9:25 in the morning to see where Joe was. Joe told him that he was down at the backs of. Back at the pits of the garage. So Joe's telling him, I'm. I'm here, but he doesn't see. But he couldn't see him, so obviously he could be lying. So then after Derek was arrested, he admitted that his timing could have been wrong as to when he did meet up with Joe at the bus depot that day. That's obviously what he should have told investigators in the first place.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

So Joe pleaded not guilty, and the trial began on June 25, 2007. It lasted three weeks. So the prosecution alleged that Joe went to the gym and then to the office. Office. As he originally told investigators. That had not been a lie. But rather than going to the bus depot, as he claimed, he left the office instead of going to the bus depot. He went back home, and he waited for his wife to arrive because he knew her schedule, and he knew when she'd be coming home. And when she unsuspectingly came into the bedroom of her own home, he bludgeoned her to death. So you could only imagine the shock and the horror that Rachel must have experienced walking into her bedroom, thinking she's the only one home. And her husband attacks her.

[A]

And you see them, you're like, oh, cool, he's home, and he's attacking me. All of a sudden, he's trying to murder me. This is crazy.

[B]

Yep. And he hit her with a series of heavy blows that left her unconscious. And it's likely that she laid on their bedroom floor for hours, slowly dying. So the medical examiner, this is Dr. Marie Cassidy, testified that Rachel had been struck anywhere from four to nine times in the head with a very heavy blunt object that caused two fractures in her skull. Some of the blows happened while she was in an upright position when she was initially attacked, but then, obviously, she was struck and fell to the floor. Some of these blows happened while she was lying on the floor. There were also eight lacerations to her head and a series of bruises to her neck, her arms and her shoulder. She died from blunt force trauma and she had choked to death on her own blood. Defensive wounds prove that she desperately tried to protect herself. Protect herself, excuse me. From this attack that, according to the prosecution, was done by her husband. So investigators had been unable to find the murder weapon, but they speculated that it may have been a barbell or not a barbell. Dumbbell. Thank you. So Joe is such a freaking. That while he was at his wife's funeral, he made a comment to somebody that was there that said, I don't know why the investigators are searching the fields. It's in the water. So after he made this statement, it was very clear to this person that he said this to that he realized he just said something that he should not have said. So he quickly elaborated. Well, if I did it, that's where it would be. There's water all around, and that would get rid of the DNA. Like, I'm sure the person that was standing with him at this funeral is like, what the f. Right.

[A]

I mean, I get where he's coming from. I. Because that's my first thought if I'm gonna get rid of something in the water. Because so many stories, it's like it's. They threw in the water, they never found it again. Yeah, I would agree with him, but it's like. Kind of like you. It's almost like, you know.

[B]

Right, exactly. So after Joe murdered Rachel, he took a shower and put his bloodied clothing in the wash. As blood evidence was found on the washing machine, he ransacked the house to make it look like a burglary. Of course, this is the prosecution's painting this picture.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And then on his way to the bus depot, he disposed of the jewelry and the items that he had taken from the house to reinforce the idea that it was a burglary. However, since he forgot to take the large sum of money that was in his wife's purse, this made investigators from the get go believe that this crime or the scene had been staged. So although Joe claimed to be at the bus depot In Broadstone at 9am, Derek said that he couldn't be sure of seeing him there before 11am Joe made sure that he did bump into Derek at the bus station because he wanted to establish an alibi. So electronic evidence and CCTV footage painted a very clear picture of both Joe and Rachel's movements from that day. There were more than 90 transmissions made to and from Joe's phone that day. So it was these calls and messages that served as a tracking device because he's connecting to cell towers.

[A]

So dumb.

[B]

And it basically recorded all of his movements around Dublin and and back to Null. So he left their home at 5:45 in the morning to meet Derek at the gym on the outskirts of Dublin. On his way, he stopped at a gas station to fill up his tank. While he was doing that, he received a call from Nikki. So they spoke at that point in time at for 28 minutes. And this was one of eight calls that they had between each other that. That day. So from the gym, he arrived at his office at 7:45am he sent an email to his colleague here, Kieran Gallagher, letting him know, I might be out of phone coverage for this morning, but let's have lunch together at 2. So, according to CCTV, Joe left his office at 8:07am he claimed to be going to the CIE Depot in Broadstone, but he didn't. He went back to his house. Nikki Pelly called him at 8:12 in the morning and his phone was just north of where he worked. So not only did CCTV show his car passing the quarry near his house at 9:25 in the morning, but then Derek called him at the same point in time because, of course, Derek's at the bus depot saying, hey, Joe, where are you? His phone was being routed through Murphy's quarry. So not only was his distinctive Fiat scene in CCTV footage, his cell phone was also pinging by the quarry. So there was no question that this was his car. So rather than being by the bus depot, he's near his house and Null. So Rachel left their house that morning shortly before 9 in the morning, and she headed off to drop their kids off at school. And then she dropped their younger son Adam off at daycare. And then at 9:41 in the morning, CCTV showed her car passing the same quarry near their home that Joe's car had passed only 16 minutes earlier. So he would have beaten her home by right around 15, 16 minutes. So Rachel got back to her house right around 9:45 in the morning. Of course, in her mind, she's coming home to a quiet house. Her boys are at school, her husband's at work. So based on evidence of the home inside the home, Joe was waiting for her in their bedroom. And as she walked in, she was still holding her car keys. He bludgeoned her to death, possibly with this dumbbell, maybe a wooden post. So about 14 minutes after Rachel came home, Joe's deed was done. He was now driving back in the direction of the office at 9:59 in the morning.

[A]

Just like you wanted to plan it.

[B]

Did he not think his cell phone could be tracked?

[A]

Clearly not, man. He's one of these guys that just thinks he's untouchable and he's awesome and he doesn't realize he's actually a huge coward and an idiot and an a hole and so many more terrible things.

[B]

I mean, not only is he a monster, but he's stupid, right? Like he was seen on CCTV and his cell phone was pinging.

[A]

Yeah, I mean this was 20 years ago. So you know, these this day and age, we all know we're being tracked 24 hours a day, but it's like you knew a little bit that back then, right? Like you still knew things were pinging.

[B]

You would think so.

[A]

I'm so against. Thank God for stupid criminals.

[B]

Right? And then at 9:52 in the morning, Joe's colleague who he sent that email to, Kieran Gallagher, he had planned to meet Kieran for lunch at 2. Kieran texted him letting him know that they he couldn't do that appointment they were canceling. But the point is this was also routed through the quarry near their home home. So this information proved that his alibi had been a lie. He had not spent the morning at his office or the bus depot as he had claimed. So of course now he's starting to do damage control and he's texting his wife as if she's still alive and as if he had not just killed her. And he sends her a message that says, you and the boys sleep okay. Wish Jackie a happy birthday for me please. Xxx so he indicated that when he sent this text he was in Philsboro, Dublin. But cell towers indicated that he was near his home. This is 34 miles or 55 kilometers away. So this text was likely sent after Rachel was dead. And then after this text, he left her several voicemails throughout the day, sometime between 11:52 and 1:45pm so at 1:15pm when he got this phone call from Tots United where Adam went to daycare, he was told that Rachel had not picked him up. He began calling her and leaving her messages. Each message got a little bit more frantic.

[A]

Okay, so that's good job by him trying to cover his tracks.

[B]

He's setting a scene. So on his way to get Adam, he called his mother in law to say, hey Rose, have you heard from or seen Rachel? Because she didn't come and get Adam. Of course, when he is making this phone call and suggesting that maybe Rose go to the house to check to see if Rachel is there, he knows that this mother is going to walk into that house and find her daughter. I don't care if she was almost 31 years old. That was her baby girl. Yeah, that she was gonna find her baby girl bludgeoned on the bedroom floor. But that's the kind of guy he is. He wanted someone else to find her. Rachel's body.

[A]

So everybody's thoughts and comfort are not even a concern to him. Not at all what he wants to.

[B]

Get done, his agenda. So when he arrived at the daycare at 2:05pm, the teacher noticed that he did seem a little bit flushed. And from there he went to Luke's school, which ended at 2pm, but he didn't arrive into till 2:12pm Excuse me. @ that point in time, he was told that another mother had actually driven Luke. So Luke was covered. So as part of the investigation, Rachel's body ended up being exhumed. This happened in March of 2005 because Rose made them aware of the fact that they all left letters to be placed in Rachel's coffin. They wanted to see what Joe's note to his wife may have said. Maybe he wrote a confession, who knows? So this letter that Joe wrote was dated on October 8, 2004, four days after Rachel was killed. And it read, rachel, I love you so very, very much. I can't think of what to do without you. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. This is the hardest letter I've ever had to write for reasons only we know. So he wished her a happy 31st birthday. And he also wrote, Rachel, forgive me, two words, one sentence. I'll say them forever. So he didn't necessarily confess, but he was apologizing for.

[A]

What? Yeah, I mean, you can chalk it up to just things he did.

[B]

Bad in the marriage or not being.

[A]

There.

[B]

Sure. And this was a five page letter that he wrote. So there's a lot of things that weren't included, but there was, it wasn't damning in that regard. So Rachel's birth mother, because of course, Rose and Jim had adopted her. This is Teresa Lowe. She had given her daughter up for adoption at 17 years old. And then she got back in contact with Rachel when Rachel was 18. So she attended each day of the trial and she also told Rose and Jim that she would fully support them in any legal battles that they might face to gain custody. Of their grandchildren, Rachel's birth sister Sandra. She was also at the trial. And then she later named her baby girl Sophia Rachel in honor of her. So in 2000, in July of 2007, Mike, the. The jurors came back with a verdict. And what do you think? They found Joe instantly guilty. Yes. A unanimous verdict, and he was sentenced to life in prison. Although in Ireland, I will tell you that the average life sentence is 20 years. And after you serve 12 years, you can officially start to apply for.

[A]

Parole. I don't get.

[B]

That. Only 12 years. You can start to apply for.

[A]

Parole. Yeah, I mean, he's. It's the thing with these sorts of murders, it's like. It's not like he's a serial killer, you know, but obviously, obviously, he killed his own wife in cold.

[B]

Blood. He is capable of killing the wife and mother of his children Completely violent and brutal. If he could do that to her, he could do that to.

[A]

Anybody. Yeah, Nikki, you're next. Or whoever else he chooses to get with. And then you're gonna fall for him because you think he's charming or whatever. And just like all these narcissists, it's.

[B]

Terrible. And by the way, he wasn't a very good looking guy either, so I don't know. Rachel's two sons, they were initially cared for by Joe's family, specifically by his mom, Anne, and then later his brother Derek, Eric. I will tell you, although Rachel's parents voice their intent to seek custody, there's really no clear public record to confirm that there was a custody battle. While sources suggest that Joe's family retained primary care for at least some time. So Joe's father. This is Joe O'Reilly Senior. He spoke out about how he was still in shock. He could not understand what would have prompted his son to commit murder. He indicated that Joe was a normal kid. He was quiet. He liked football. He was never violent. He admits that he is unable to ever forgive his son for what he has.

[A]

Done. Nice, good. Good.

[B]

Dad. Right? So from early on, investigators believe that, like I had said, a dumbbell was used for the murder weapon. Because I will tell you, this guy's not that smart. Apparently when the investigators were starting their whole thing, he told them, go check the workout room because maybe some of the weightlifting things are.

[A]

Missing.

[B]

Okay. It's like he put. Basically pointed them in that.

[A]

Direction. He's playing a game. He's like, yeah.

[B]

That'S. So in 2013, a dumbow was found in a stream that was not far from the O'Reilly's home water. Remember, he mentioned if he was responsible, he would have put it in the.

[A]

Water. Did it match the dumbbell.

[B]

Set? That's. That's the thing. They couldn't definitively link it because maybe it was a very basic set that they had that was widely available and sold in that area of.

[A]

Ireland. Have brands, but. Yeah, I get.

[B]

It. You know, they couldn't. Was it 100% say, well, how about.

[A]

This? Was it the.

[B]

Same? They didn't.

[A]

Say.

[B]

Right? They didn't say. But odds are that was probably the murder weapon, the dumbbell, and he discarded it in that Stream. So in 2009, Rose C. Wrote a book about her daughter's murder that was titled Remembering Rachel A True Story of Betrayal and Murder. So writing this book was a way for Rose to process information that she felt was truly too surreal to even deal with, which I can completely understand. So she found the whole writing process to be both painful as well as therapeutic. So writing also made Rose remember red flags in her daughter's marriage because she's thinking and thinking, and at the time, she didn't identify them as red flag. She dismissed these things when Rachel was alive, and that's completely understandable. So she recalls that Joe was withdrawing from their side of the family in the months leading up to her death, that she had seen her daughter in tears after what she assumed was an argument with Joe. When Rose spoke with Rachel's friends, they said that they were also unaware of what was really going on, other than little tiny bits of information that were basically just peppered amongst the group. And these bits did make it clear that she was unhappy. And Joe was controlling. He was highly manipulative, obviously. I mean, this guy's taking their two kids out on a Saturday to the zoo with his mistress while his wife is selling Tupperware in Avon. I mean, that is like, that's dark scumbag. So Rose feels regret that she didn't realize sooner that something was wrong in her daughter's life. But how could you if you.

[A]

Don'T know, you just want to feel something. You want to be like, you know, feel like you had some control over it. It's so.

[B]

Sad. It is so sad. So although she has learned to cope with the pain, Rachel is the first thing that Rose thinks of when she wakes up and the last thing that she thinks of when she goes to sleep. So the Calee family sadly faced another tragedy in 2010 when Rachel's sister Ann Calee died at age.

[A]

31.

[B]

Wow. You know, this is like, right at the Time they lost Rachel because was Rachel was buried, like, right at her 31st.

[A]

Birthday.

[B]

Yeah. So Ann died after losing her battle with cancer. So In January of 2018, she discovered that she had a tumor behind her eye. She underwent aggressive treatment, and she did go through a short period of remission, but sadly, she learned that the tumor had returned. And then Rachel's father, Jim, he suddenly died in 2024 after he spent many years fighting alongside his wife to stop Joe from getting parole. Because that is the last thing they want, is for their daughter to be dead and buried and removed from this world at age 30. And then this jackass ass gets to go out and live in the.

[A]

World. Yeah, he chills in jail for a little bit. Now he's back out.

[B]

Congratulations. How is that.

[A]

Fair? It's not at.

[B]

All. So since 2014, Joe has applied for parole every two years, all of which has been denied. And this is because he refuses to take responsibility or show any remorse. He's still claiming that he is not.

[A]

Guilty. He's a loser, coward.

[B]

And. And will he ever. But if he doesn't, he will not be removed. So he is currently detained in the Midlands Prison after he was moved doing due to issues with other inmates. So he was getting. Little Joe was getting picked.

[A]

On. Keep on picking on him, guys. Get after.

[B]

Him. So it sounds like unless he takes ownership of what he's done and shows remorse and can look Anne in the eyes and say, I did this, it sounds like he's gonna rot in prison, which, honestly, I'm perfectly content.

[A]

With. Yeah, rot in prison, then rotten.

[B]

Hell. And that is the sad and tragic murder of Rachel.

[A]

O'Reilly. I just have no respect for any husband and dad that treats their wife like that. I mean, it's just insane. And then, yeah, you can't say that. Some marriages definitely aren't perfect. Right. So there's other ways to go about things. How many times we got to say it, man? Like, the murder is not the way to do it. Then that's why somebody like this needs to stay in jail, because most people realize, okay, I just need to get a divorce and go about things the right way. Instead, he's like, you know what? I'm more important than anybody on this planet. I'm going to murder this.

[B]

Person. Right. And it's clear he was definitely a very, very, like, horribly selfish, manipulative.

[A]

Person.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, disparaging his wife after she's had a baby, saying she needs to lose weight, calling her a CNX Tuesday in an email to his sister.

[A]

But maybe they had some issues. Maybe. I don't know, you know, like there's always things behind the scenes, but it's like none of this is. Makes it okay to murder.

[B]

Someone. Never, never ever. You go ahead, proceed like the rest of the world and just get a.

[A]

Divorce. Yeah. If you're a guy who thinks that murder is the right way with your. Your wife or whatever, like you're a coward. You are 100 a coward and a loser and too weak to actually.

[B]

Do the right thing because he said he didn't want to be Mr. Weekend Custody. Well, how's that working out for you.

[A]

Now? Yeah, zero custody. Piece of.

[B]

Garbage. Awful. Just so sad. I am so incredibly sorry for the Callowee family and the fact that Rose had to be the one to discover her wife's, or, I'm sorry, her daughter's body. That is something as a mother I can't even wrap my head around. And my heart breaks for that woman. And I just send my love to the.

[A]

Family. Yeah, same.

[B]

Here.

[A]

Yeah. Thank you for telling the.

[B]

Story. But thank you guys so much for being here with you. We appreciate it so much. If you like what you do, if you want to support us or what we do, even. What did I.

[A]

Say? If you like what you do. What? Oh, if you like what you do, that's.

[B]

Okay. Lord almighty, I apologize, people, but what I was trying to say, if you like what we do. Yeah. There are different ways to support us. You could go over to YouTube and just subscribe to our channel. Our son is doing our editing videos. It's free. It supports us. Leaving a five star review on whatever platform you listen on. Or if you like bonus content, we've got you covered. We're over at Patreon as well as Apple subscriptions. And once a week on Wednesday, we release bonus.

[A]

Content. Yeah, some people say, hey, you release too much, like stuff that's behind a paywall. Every single Sunday is a free episode. Every single Wednesday is a bonus. It's really simple. And we'd love to. We'd love to have you over as the crime of coffee couple.

[B]

Club. Come on. So thank you guys so much for being here with us and we hope you have a good week. And until next time.

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