'Murder' suspect identified in RTÉ podcast examining disappearance of Icelandic poker player

A potential suspect has been identified in the search for Jón Jónsson, an Icelandic poker player who disappeared on February 9, 2019 in Dublin, after flying in for a Poker Festival. 

It is a case that has bewildered both An Garda Síochána and Icelandic police forces as Jón, who attended the event with his partner Kristiana Guðjónsdóttir, was last seen leaving the Bonnington Hotel and walking down the Swords Road past the entrance to Highfield Hospital at roughly 11am. 

There has been no sight of him since. 

However, new information has come to light following the release of RTÉ's and Icelandic broadcasters' RÚV's six-part podcast series, 'Where is Jón?' 

Co-producer of the series, Liam O'Brien, spoke on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Monday, March 3, about the case and what the team have learned after 18 months of investigating. 

He said, "Jón disappeared within a three minute window from that main Swords Road. So, he was last seen on CCTV about 11:12am, that Saturday morning, and then three minutes later, a bus captured some CCTV coming down that road. Jón was not in that so that narrows the window." 

After much research into the case, the producers believe they could have potentially found out what has happened to the Icelandic poker player. 

Speaking on this, Liam continued, "There are only four possibilities (of what happened to Jón). He took his own life. He deliberately disappeared. He was in an accident where his remains are hidden somewhere, and then that somebody did harm to Jón and it's really in that last option that some harm came to Jón, that's where all the information and all the clues have pointed to."

In the time since his disappearance, Jón's family have been contacted by anonymous sources claiming to know happened to the man. 

Liam confirmed that gardaí were too victims of this, saying, "There was a search that took place in Santry Demesne in February 2024, just after the fifth anniversary of Jón's disappearance and that took place because two anonymous notes were given to Gardaí, one in August 2022 and another handed into a Priest's house in Ballymun in August 2023. Both suggest that, well, both stated that Jón was buried near trees, near water in Santry Demesne. So last February, a search took place."

Unfortunately, no discoveries or new information were found through this search. 

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In fact, it was only in recent weeks that Jón's family have come to understand exactly what was and wasn't searched in the area and quite an extensive part of the park has yet to be delved into.

Playing a clip from Jón's brother, David commented on this. 

He said, "It doesn't make any sense. We were under the impression that they searched the whole park with dogs. I believe they did not. We were under the impression that divers went into the lake. I believe they did not. So in my opinion, and I believe most of us feel the same way, we want and we need the park searched thoroughly, so we will definitely be very thorough and very strict on that happening when we visit Dublin in a few weeks."

The family of Jón Jónsson will visit Dublin to meet with the garda investigative team this week. 

On the discoveries made in the series, Liam spoke on the theory that he has come to believe is fact, stating, "We have identified a specific person of interest. The Gardaí are aware of that individual. He appears to have a violent background.

"We have received information from listeners, and also Jón's family members have received information that what happened Jón was actually a case of mistaken identity in Dublin, that another Icelander who came to Dublin for the Dublin Poker Festival was supposed to have harm visited upon him, but instead, and unfortunately for Jón, he was the victim of that," he concluded. 

The investigation is now being treated more like a criminal investigation rather than a missing person inquiry, with the Jónsson family pleading to upgrade the case to either a murder or criminal investigation to free up funding, manpower and resources in order to move the case forward.

The family of Jón Jónsson will appear on RTÉ’s Late Late Show on Friday, March 7, at 9:35pm on RTÉ One. 

If you have any knowledge or information on the disappearance of Jón Jonsson, please contact any garda station and RTÉ in confidence via documentaries@rte.ie.