THE last contact Julieanne Lynch had with her 23-year-old daughter Kelly was a haunting voicemail on the night she died. No words were spoken, but Julieanne, 48, can’t get the 23-second message out of her head.
“I can hear something has happened to her and she’s upset. I can hear the pain and panic, and her struggling to breathe,” she says.
Kelly Lynch’s body was discovered under a bridge by the Ulster Canal in Monaghan, Northern IrelandCredit: Julianne Lynch
Kelly with her mum Julieanne, who is campaigning for justice for her daughterCredit: Julieanne Lynch
Kelly left the voicemail just after 4am on Saturday, March 16, 2024, after a night out in Monaghan, – a 50-minute drive from her home across the border in County Armagh, .
It’s believed that in the following two hours, Kelly died, although it would be a whole day before by the Ulster Canal in Monaghan.
“When I first listened to the voicemail the next morning, I didn’t understand what was happening. I immediately texted Kelly to say: ‘What was that about?’ She never replied, because she was, by then, dead,” says Julieanne.
“It’s so hard to cope with the idea that the message probably captures her last moments.”
What was originally deemed to be an open-and-shut case of a non-suspicious accident, has, in the intervening two years, become something much darker. A campaign for answers led by Julieanne resulted in the original investigation into Kelly’s death being reviewed.
“Too many questions were unanswered,” says Julieanne, who with husband Sean, 52, heads up the close-knit Lynch family, with children Kris, 28, Matthew, 20, Rory, 16, Poppy, 13, and Finn, six.
Kelly was their eldest daughter and was due to study child development at college that year, with dreams of working in a nursery. She’d struggled with her during and after the , but by 2024 was in a much better place.
“She was making plans for the future. Everything was stolen from her,” says Julieanne.
The last time Julieanne saw Kelly, she was leaving the family home to go to her boyfriend’s before their fateful night out.
“As she left, I said: ‘You be careful, keep in touch with me,’” remembers Julieanne.
“She said: ‘I will, Mummy. I love you, see you soon.’ I kissed her on the cheek, and that was it. There was no reason to believe Kelly was in danger, or that she was going to end up dead.”
After hearing the voicemail, Julieanne tried to call Kelly numerous times throughout the day.
“I could feel in my bones that something was wrong. Kelly had never gone that long without contacting someone,” she says.
On Sunday morning, Julieanne and Sean set off for Monaghan to look for their daughter, but on the way, the called with devastating news – Kelly’s body had been discovered.
Julieanne recalls: “It felt like the air was draining from my lungs. A black hole surrounds you and swallows you, the world around you disappears.”
Over the next few days, they began to piece together Kelly’s movements. Along with her boyfriend and his friends, she’d been out socialising in the town.
The police were too quick to accept it was an accident. I was not happy with the way the investigation was going
Julieanne
The last image of her was captured on CCTV at 3am outside a school and, according to reports, at some point after that she became separated from her group.
A post, written by the brother of Kelly’s boyfriend in November 2024, eight months after Kelly’s death, claimed that the couple had a “slight disagreement over a message that Kelly had received”, and that she “must have decided herself to walk on ahead while everyone was chatting”.
‘Serious concerns’
The post also says her boyfriend returned home, phoned around to see where Kelly was and then fell asleep and slept most of Saturday. On Sunday morning, he went looking for her along with his cousin. At 8.30am, they found her body in shallow water under the bridge.
A post-mortem concluded she had drowned, and the death was recorded as a non-suspicious accident.
However, when Kelly’s body was returned to her family for burial several days after her death, they saw she was badly bruised, which only raised more questions.
Kelly died aged 23 after a night outCredit: Julieanne Lynch
Julieanne says the search for justice continues to take its toll on the Lynch familyCredit: Julianne Lynch
“The police were too quick to accept it was an accident,” Julieanne says. “I was not happy with the way the investigation was going.
“There wasn’t a thorough collection of CCTV, statements weren’t gathered until weeks later. Her clothes were handed back to us eight days after she was found and not forensically tested. The scene wasn’t treated as a scene. We had a lot of serious concerns.”
Julieanne, an author, has relentlessly pushed for answers, and lodged complaints against the Gardaí, demanding Kelly’s death be classified as a criminal investigation.
In August 2024, police released a copy of the post-mortem report, which detailed 93 injuries on Kelly’s body and cast doubt on the drowning conclusion.
“There was no water in her airways. She had significant haemorrhaging around her neck and had a fractured thoracic vertebra and a fractured sternum. She also had a hole in the top of her head,” says Julieanne, who believes the injuries on her daughter’s body point to foul play.
“To think that somebody inflicted injuries on Kelly is a thing of nightmares,” she adds.
To think that somebody inflicted injuries on Kelly is a thing of nightmares
Julieanne
Last summer, Julieanne and Sean sought help from The Katie Trust, an independent supporting families of people who have died in circumstances that were initially classified as suicide, accident or disappearance, but where concerns and unanswered questions later emerge.
Founded by detective sergeant James Brannigan, a former senior investigator with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the trust was named after 21-year-old County Derry show-jumper Katie Simpson, who died in 2020 after what police initially treated as a non-suspicious incident.
Katie’s death was later reviewed and her sister’s partner, 36-year-old Jonathan Creswell, was charged with rape and murder. He was released on bail, and took his own life in 2024, before he could be tried in court.
Through The Katie Trust, the Lynch family commissioned a pathologist to conduct a second ”desktop“ post-mortem review.
“He has done an in-depth report into the injuries Kelly sustained by looking at the scene photographs, post-mortem photographs and post-mortem reports already completed,” James has said.
“He has explained in great detail the injuries she has sustained and how he believes they were caused.
In August 2024, police released a copy of the post-mortem report, which detailed 93 injuries on Kelly’s body and cast doubt on the drowning conclusion
“Some of these injuries were inflicted on Kelly after she had died, which is quite concerning. Most notably, a fracture to her T10 vertebrae and also a wound to her head.
“He has also outlined to us how she died, and it shows to us there has been third-party involvement in Kelly’s death.
“There are numerous marks on her body, which are not conducive to falling off a bridge or drowning. She has defensive wounds, too. As a homicide detective, I have grave concerns,” added James.
As a result of these concerns, the Gardaí began an internal review of their initial investigation, which is due to report on its findings soon.
Meanwhile, the search for justice continues to take its toll on the Lynch family.
“It’s exhausting,” Julieanne says. “Some days I feel I’ve got nothing more to give, but I push through because I did everything for Kelly in life, and I’m not going to stop now.
“I will not rest until I discover the truth about why and how we lost her.”
- Visit Thekatietrust.com .
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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