Appeal for missing Icelandic man renewed as Gardai search Dublin park

Gardaí are continuing to appeal for the public's assistance in tracing the whereabouts of Jon Jonsson, as they have begun a search in a public park this morning.

"Gardaí have begun a search of Santry Demense, a public park in Dublin, this morning as part of the investigation into Jon's disappearance," said Jon's family.

"The family was made aware of Gardaí's intention to search the area several days ago and we have been in contact with people on the ground today for status updates."

Jon Jonsson went missing five years ago after playing poker in Dublin.

Jón, who is from Iceland, was 41-year-old when he was last seen in Whitehall, Co Dublin.

He was last seen at approximately 11am on Saturday, February 9, 2019.

He is described as being 6 foot tall, of medium build, with short brown hair. He was wearing a black padded jacket at the time of his disappearance. 

According to the gardai, Jón a hotel room key card from the Bonnington Hotel in his possession when he went missing.

“Jon’s family have continued their search for Jon over the last 5 years. The Garda investigation into the disappearance of Jon has also continued over the last 5 years. The investigation to date has created over 270 jobs/ lines of enquires and numerous statements have been taken and hours of CCTV were reviewed.  Despite ongoing investigations and enquiries, Jon has yet to be located,” said a spokesperson for the gardai.

During the course of the investigation, the investigation team received two items from anonymous correspondence, the contents of which have been assessed.

A CCTV showing Jón leaving the Bennington Hotel was aired on Crimecall in 2019.

In 2020, an article in the Irish Independent stated that ‘significant developments’ had emerged into the disappearance of Jón, who vanished after a poker tournament in Dublin.

According to The Independent, the police in Iceland had been informed that Jon was killed “by accident” over ‘squandered gambling money’.

“An imprisoned criminal in Iceland has played an "instrumental" role in communicating a dramatic version of events, now under investigation, which it is claimed culminated in the murder of the taxi driver,” stated the article.

Claims that were refuted by his family in a statement shared on the ‘Jon Jonsson missing in Dublin’ Facebook page.

“In the article, the reporter claims that Jon’s family was made aware of the information, detailed in the article, by an informant. This is utterly untrue as no such information has been received by the family nor have we received any leads from an imprisoned informant.

“Furthermore, our contacts at Garda and the Icelandic police have confirmed to members of the family that they haven’t received any information as described in the article nor did they communicate any such information to the reporter, Ali Bracken, or the Independent. So the story is at best based on information from an unreliable source or, at worst, completely made up,” read the statement.

Recently, Jón’s sister, Anna Hildur, said that the family was taking part in a documentary series in partnership with the Icelandic public broadcaster RÚV and RTÉ.

“All of us, Jón's family and friends, are involved in the series. If you were part of the search in Dublin for Jón or played poker with him or met him during his time in Dublin, or know anything at all, the podcast makers would love to speak with you - contact [email protected] and/or [email protected],” she said.