Woman on run for 8 years after best friends' murders arrested in South Africa
October 6, 2022
A woman has been arrested in South Africa on suspicion of the double murder of two best friends in Ireland, after eight years on the run.
The brutal killings of Anthony Keegan and Eoin O’Connor in 2014 sparked a global manhunt for Ruth Lawrence.
But on Tuesday the 42-year-old was detained by South African police in Pellissier, Bloemfontein, reports suggest.
The paper said elite unit the Hawks swooped for a dawn raid acting on an international warrant to arrest Lawrence, from North Dublin.
Mr Keegan and Mr O’Connor’s bodies were found on Inchicup Island, Lough Sheelin, on May 26, 2014, reportedly buried in a shallow grave and wrapped in plastic.
Lawrence appeared in a Bloemfontein court yesterday and was remanded in custody until Monday, October 10.
Hawks spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo said: ‘Her arrest comes on an Interpol warrant regarding the murder of Eoin O’Connor, 32, and Anthony Keegan, 33, in Ireland.
‘They were both found murdered in 2014 and after the murder of the deceased persons the suspect then fled the country to South Africa’.
Lawrence left Ireland with her then partner Neville Van Westhuizen, from South Africa.
The 39-year-old ex-boyfriend is also wanted in connection with the double murder but is already serving a life sentence in his homeland for a separate killing.
But MailOnline said he would be quizzed by Hawks following Lawrence’s arrest.
Police in Ireland do not believe the two victims were criminals but have not suggested a motive.
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