Irish Police Search Dublin Park for Missing Poker Player Jon Jonsson

Police in are searching a park in the city as part of an investigation into the 2019 disappearance of an Icelandic poker player.

Jon Jonsson, who was 41 when he , was last seen leaving Dublin’s Bonnington Hotel on Feb. 9, 2019. The father of four had arrived alone in the city from Iceland a day earlier to play in the Dublin Poker Festival. The tournament was due to commence the following morning, when he would be joined by his fiancée, and the couple planned to enjoy a 10-day stay in the city.

But around 11 a.m., the hotel’s security cameras captured Jonsson leaving the hotel and heading out along Swords Road before apparently disappearing into thin air.

The recent development appears to have been sparked by two anonymous letters sent to the Garda (Irish police), which prompted them to renew their appeal for information about Jonsson’s disappearance last week.

“The Gardaí Investigations Team are appealing to the author or authors, or any other person in relation to the correspondence, to make direct contact with us in the strictest of confidence,” Superintendent Darren McCarthy said in a news conference.

On Tuesday, Garda investigators cordoned off a section of Santry Demesne, also known as Santry Park, about two miles from where Jonsson was last seen.  

The operation involves specialized search teams who are being assisted by the Garda dog unit and water unit. The search will focus on wooded areas and a lake in the park, according to McCarthy.

In October 2020, The Irish Independent reported that an unnamed man serving prison time in Iceland claimed that Jonsson was killed accidentally by a fellow countryman. The inmate claimed the pair had argued about money after Jonsson had been entrusted with the killer’s cash and had lost it in a game in Dublin the night before his disappearance.

Jonsson’s family refuted this report, stating that neither Irish nor Icelandic authorities had received any such information.

“The story is at best based on information from an unreliable source, or at worst, completely made up. Needless to say, the publishing of the story in the Independent and subsequently in Icelandic media has caused Jon’s family unnecessary harm,” the family wrote on the website  jonjonssonmissing.com.