The brutal murder of Mark Burke

Mark Burke was a 37 year old Irish man who disappeared on July 28th 2014. His body was found 3 days later on July 31st, but despite a huge police investigation and campaigning from his family, his case remains unsolved with very few leads.

Mark was born to parents Bernie and Noel Burke, the second youngest of 7 siblings. Very little is known about Mark's early life but he was from Sandyford, County Dublin and would grow up to have a partner and 7 children of his own. Mark worked as a painter and decorator and by all accounts, seemed to be a happy and loving family man. However, in 1998, things would change. Around this time, Mark started drinking excessively and became more reclusive, eventually becoming homeless. His father, Noel, described the changes in his son, stating "From a happy-go-lucky young fella, pleasant, lovely personality, he started going into himself, wouldn’t talk to anybody." Mark was living in and out of homeless shelters at this stage and would sometimes disappear, often for weeks at a time, but this caused his family no concern as they later explained that "We’d always know where to find him." However, nobody knew what had sparked such extreme changes in Mark and sadly, it would never be known what caused his behaviour to deteriorate so quickly. His father spoke of this, stating "To this day, we don’t know."

In 2009, Mark was robbed of €40 in the coastal town of Dún Laoghaire. He was severely beaten during this encounter and ended up in hospital, needing metal plates in his skull. Thankfully, the culprit was caught and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Noel spoke of this incident, explaining "They put him into Beaumont Hospital – nearly killed him. That's when the plates were put in his head in an operation." Sadly, however, Mark was beaten again in 2010 and required more plates in his skull.

On Sunday 27th July 2014, Mark was arrested and held overnight in Dún Laoghaire Garda station for an unspecified offence. Noel spoke of this incident, stating "He was known to the guards, but for nothing bad. The guards openly say that. And he wasn’t a well man." The following day, Mark was taken to the district court where the judge granted him his own bail. Mark Burke left the courtroom at around 2:30pm and this was the last confirmed sighting of him.

On Thursday 31st July 2014, partial human remains were discovered in a skip at Thornton's recycling plant in Ballyfermont, Western Dublin. The body had been dismembered and was badly damaged by acid, to the extent that it was impossible to tell who the victim was. Several weeks after the body was found, and with no sign of Mark anywhere, his family started to feel uneasy about the situation. Whilst Mark had frequently gone missing in the past, they always knew where to find him. This time, they could find no trace of him anywhere and with news of the discovery lingering in the back of Noel's mind, he reported Mark missing. He also enquired about the body that had been found, due to physical similarities between it and Mark and the timeframe in which he was last seen and the body was discovered. DNA was taken from Mark's mother, Bernie, and forensic testing confirmed that the remains were, tragically, Mark Burke.

The inquest into Mark's death took place about 1.5 years after the remains were confirmed to be him. While the specifics are vague, some disturbing details came out about the discovery of Mark's body during this time. His internal organs had been removed and he had been dismembered with a chisel, the pieces strewn throughout the surrounding area. Searches recovered around 60% of his body but his face, jaw, teeth, hands and internal organs were never recovered. Additionally, his remains had been soaked with acid, to the extent that distinguishing tattoos were completely gone and physical identification was completely impossible. It was concluded that Mark had been murdered elsewhere and then his body dumped in the recycling plant, with organ harvesting a possible motive for the killing.

Unfortunately, it was around this stage that the case effectively went cold. Despite a huge police investigation, there was absolutely no evidence found that could identity a perpetrator such as DNA or CCTV footage. Additionally, despite numerous appeals, absolutely no witnesses came forward to say that they'd seen Mark after his last confirmed sighting in court. In fact, the investigation simply raised more questions than answers as it revealed that Mark wasn't a troublemaker and wasn't involved in any form of organised crime. A Garda spokesperson would later state "It’s a complete mystery as to who would want to kill Mark and why the perpetrators went to such extraordinary lengths to conceal his identity."

In July 2024, ten years after Mark's murder, the Garda revealed that they suspected Mark may have been murdered in Goatstown, County Dublin and his body transported by lorry to the recycling plant where it was dumped. They told the family that they were aware that this was an area where Mark was known to frequent and hoped it could offer further clues to his last known movements or possibly even a murder site. However, this has been the only update in over 10 years and there is still no evidence or knowledge of what happened to Mark Burke after he was last seen leaving the courthouse in July 2014, over a decade ago. Sadly, unless fresh evidence is unearthed or someone makes a confession, Mark's brutal murder remains unsolved.

Sources: https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2024/0726/1461919-mark-burke-appeal/ https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/a-family-tortured-the-mysterious-disappearance-of-mark-burke-1.3581118

https://www.thesun.ie/news/7357174/dublin-skip-victim-mark-burke-garda-justice/

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/breakthrough-2014-unsolved-murder-mark-29600057