Runaway Joe

In 1967, an Irish-American escaped custody on a charge of murdering his wife in upstate New York. Almost 60 years later, Joseph “Joe” Maloney remains one of the oldest unsolved cases in the FBI’s books... A new multi-episodic series from RTÉ Documentary On One in Ireland. Starts January 19th 2024.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's 1985 and a country estate owner and movie industry worker in Ireland finds himself up before a Dublin court facing an extradition trial. His wife pleads his innocence. He tells the judge - and anyone who'll listen - "you have the wrong man". None of this story makes sense. Apart from his fingerprints. Fingerprints don't lie. Has his true identity finally been rumbled? The real question is - how did he end up here? (Ep1/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We travel to Rochester, New York, back to the beginning, to find out where this story really starts. What we find is a young girl who grew into a woman, living her dream and looking for true love. And a young boy who liked to talk with an Irish accent who grew into a man but never really grew up. Love blossomed between them. But then control kicked in. And what began as a whirlwind love story spirals into a hellish nightmare. This was never going to end well. (Ep2/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having been charged with the first-degree murder of his ex-wife, Joseph Michael Maloney is imprisoned and awaits trial. But in a huge embarrassment to the authorities, the defendant tricks his own lawyers - and the judge - into a ploy which allows him to escape. Local and state police, an army of bloodhounds and the FBI all take part in this pursuit. As they begin to close in on this fugitive the net becomes tighter and tighter. (Ep3/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Different countries. Different lives. One man becomes another and creates a life the other could never have imagined. Within two years of allegedly murdering his wife, Joe Maloney has become Michael O'Shea. He marries a shy Dublin woman and through a series of lucky breaks, begins to live the life of a wealthy property owner. Eclectic. Extravagant. Is this all fantasy? And if it is, when and where will it all end? (Ep4/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The actions of Joe Maloney have far reaching effects, beyond what even he could ever have imagined. Broken families. Broken homes. Broken lives. We manage to find close family members of both June and Joe and are shocked by what they have to tell us. (Ep5/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As new information is sent into us by listeners, we begin to piece together new, unknown parts of Joe Maloney's story. We also focus in on the transatlantic efforts being made to arrest him and to bring him to justice - all of which leads to blowing the cover on the alias identity of Michael O'Shea. (Ep6/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Joe Maloney arrested and firmly behind bars for the first time in almost 20 years, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. June is finally going to get justice - and Joe will finally be held accountable. It took so long to get to this point, but the wheels are in motion to return Joe to America. Surely nothing can change that now. (Ep 7/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Joe Maloney was released by the Irish authorities, it was always going to be unlikely that he'd simply hang around, waiting for justice to be served. Within days of his release, he slipped away. But where to? Almost 40 years later, we've not only traced his footsteps, but we're following them - right across Europe. (Ep8/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finale. Almost 60 years after the death of June Fisk, we're at the end of our journey in our efforts to find some justice for June and her family. And while we do everything in our power to find the last known location of June's alleged murderer, Joseph Maloney, this story takes several final twists: to places none of us thought possible (Ep9/9)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.