Irish journalists probe FBI fugitive Mick O'Shea's death in Andorra care home

A team of Irish journalists investigating the fate of longtime FBI fugitive Joseph Michael Maloney, alias Michael “Mick” O’Shea, plans to visit Andorra this week to pursue a lead suggesting he spent his final years in a local care home.

The investigators, linked to the 2024 RTÉ podcast Runaway Joe and its recent book adaptation, will be in the Principality from Wednesday, September 9, to Friday, September 11. Their focus is verifying whether Maloney died here around 2005 or 2006, based on an unconfirmed tip from a conversation relayed by a friend’s brother. They intend to examine records from care homes operating at the time, including the now-closed Solà d’Enclar, and speak with former staff or residents about any American or Irish man known as Joe or Mick.

Journalists Pavel Barter and Tim Desmond led the RTÉ Documentary On One series, which traced Maloney’s path from a prior sighting in Cyprus. The project, expanded into the book Runaway Joe: A Murder, a Hidden Identity, a Six-Decade Manhunt this year, has drawn public tips to resolve the case. Richard Fitzpatrick, Pavel Barter, and two podcast producers have joined the family’s effort.

Maloney, born in 1935 in Rochester, New York, faced accusations of poisoning his first wife, June Fisk, at their son’s fifth birthday party in June 1967. He escaped US custody during a pretrial psychiatric evaluation and fled. By 1969, he had resettled in Ireland as O’Shea, buying Capard House estate in Rosenallis, County Laois, with his second wife. Irish police identified him via fingerprints in 1973 through Interpol, but no extradition treaty existed. US confirmation in 1985 led to his detention at Mountjoy and Portlaoise prisons, but Ireland’s Supreme Court invalidated the process in July 1986 due to a treaty technicality, allowing his release and disappearance.

No solid proof supports the Andorra connection. The team welcomes tips at pavelbarter@gmail.com or +353 87 247 3579 and emphasizes seeking facts whatever the result. Maloney was never convicted, despite FBI suspicions.