A 17-year-old boy who was kidnapped and brutally dismembered left a haunting final message for his mother before his tragic gang-related murder. The brutal killing of Keane Mulready-Woods in 2020 shocked Ireland, leaving the nation in disbelief. Involved in a drug conflict in Drogheda, the teenager was enticed to a residence on January 12 where he faced severe torture and decapitation.
His body parts were discarded from a moving vehicle in a bag on a sidewalk in Moatview. Subsequently, his head, hands, and feet were discovered in a burnt-out vehicle in Dublin. Keane’s death triggered a series of retaliatory assaults, culminating in the killing of the main suspect Robbie Lawlor, who was shot dead while collecting a drug debt. Before disappearing, Keane phoned his mother, informing her of his late arrival and requesting taxi fare to be left out.
Keane, who had been recruited as a drug courier for a local gang, was instructed to return home before nightfall and had been complying with the directives, as reported by the Irish Independent. At the time of his demise, he was on parole after being convicted of intimidating a local mother regarding her child’s drug debts to the gang.
It is believed that Lawlor targeted Keane suspecting his involvement in the murder of Lawlor’s brother-in-law, Richie Carberry, at his home in November 2019. Law enforcement suspects that Lawlor escalated from planning a “punishment beating” for a minor drug debt to torturing the teenager.
According to an insider speaking to the Irish Sun, “Lawlor fixated on Mulready-Woods and was determined to end his life as he believed Keane played a significant role in Carberry’s death. Lawlor’s violent tendencies escalated when he dismembered the teenager’s body and mocked his adversaries about it.”
The 36-year-old Lawlor had been linked to several homicides and had amassed numerous criminal convictions before his demise. In December, he was acquitted of attempting to murder his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend’s mother. Shortly after the acquittal, he was assaulted outside a gym by an individual associated with one of his alleged murder victims.
Lawlor’s gym bag was stolen, and his rivals flaunted images wearing his flip-flops. It is widely speculated that Keane was present during the attack, leading to a vengeful plot by Lawlor. Among the images circulated after Keane’s death was one with the ominous message: “Won’t be robbing a man’s flip-flops again.”
In February 2023, local criminal Paul Crosby received a 10-year prison sentence for his involvement in Keane’s murder, while his accomplice Gerard “Rocky” Cruise was sentenced to seven years behind bars. Another individual, Gerard ‘Ged’ McKenna, admitted to cleaning up and disposing of evidence from the crime scene.
During a heart-wrenching victim impact statement read on behalf of Keane’s devastated mother Elizabeth, she expressed, “No one could fathom the darkness and sadistic cruelty in our country. I can still hear him calling ‘Mam, Mam’ – and the haunting nightmares persist with us. Losing my child, my son, my baby, in such an inhumane, barbaric manner is horrifying,” adding that a part of her died as well. “I couldn’t shield him.”