In Ireland, one in four women who have been in a relationship have been abused, by a current or former partner. On average, in the US 20, people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner.
Joe Maloney allegedly spiked his wife June's drink in 1967 at their son’s fifth birthday party by using methyl alcohol while making her a cocktail.
The words methyl alcohol have been said a lot throughout the series, but do you know what happens to a person who drinks methyl alcohol or wood alcohol?
It oxidizes into formaldehyde, which is the main component in embalming fluid. The person is literally embalmed from the inside out, which can lead to the blood vessels narrowing and the victim falling into a coma.
After that, your vital organs shut down. That is how Joe Maloney is said to have killed his 26-year-old wife June. A loving sister, a hard-working nurse and the mother of his two children.
It has been said that most domestic homicides occur within the first year of a person leaving an abusive relationship.
Joe watched June suffer for nine days until she died. He then escaped to Ireland and abandoned his children, Joey and Patty Ann.
But this week, you will learn that those aren’t the only two people Joe abandoned. Dear listener, you will discover there is a lot more that you didn't know about this story.
Prepare yourself for a major plot twist, as the podcast team uncover information the FBI and other authorities have never been aware of in their search for Joe Maloney.
Before you read or stream this week’s episode, please know that it contains descriptions of coercive control and domestic violence - if you are affected by any of the issues addressed, please go here.
If you have any information or knowledge of Michael O’Shea/Joe Maloney, please send it through to documentaries@rte.ie
Here is the full breakdown for episode five, The Ripple Effect.
Karen
If you don’t like spoilers, STOP reading because I will not be held responsible for your disappointment.
Journalist Pavel Barter was convinced Joe Maloney had two children. That is what everyone told him… But then he did a little digging on ancestry.com, which is where he found Karen.
It turns out that June wasn’t Joe’s first wife, she was his second. When he was 19, he married a girl he met in high school, Joan Howland. A year into their union, Joan became pregnant, but the marriage was short-lived.
Joan ended up in hospital with a broken nose. She fell over a coffee table…
In hospital, she met another man, whom she would leave her husband for. While pregnant with Karen, she filed for divorce and moved to Florida.
Throughout her childhood, Karen was told that her stepfather was her biological father.
Karen brings new tales to the podcast that paint her biological father in an even darker light and showcase his repeated problematic and violent treatment of women.
"When my parents were dating, before they got married. He picked up a woman, apparently a hitchhiker. He had a gun, and she supposedly shot him in the foot."
My dad. Apparently when he was born, there was something wrong with him, that something happened to him. And I heard this through my aunt, but she never really elaborated about it. And I think my grandmother spoiled him a lot and they sent him to Ireland - Karen Maloney
Coercive Control
Throughout the episode, Detective Garda Sergeant Laura Sweeney, who works with the National Domestic Abuse Unit, educates the listener on the realities of domestic abuse and brings us closer to the day-to-day experience of June Maloney and the other women in Joe’s life.
Cathy Blair, the couple’s former babysitter and a close friend of June's, sheds light on what Joe was really like as a husband and father.
She said Joe talked about himself constantly, contributed nothing towards childcare and would ignore his children when asked to care for them.
"June would call me and ask me to sit. I would arrive. The children would still be in bed at noon. Joe would tell me he didn't allow the boy downstairs and made them stay in bed. He would refer to them as her kids."
He also was a huge believer in extramarital affairs, well, for himself at least…
His former friend Neal Dunkleberg said Joe believed his wife or girlfriend should uphold monogamy, but the rules didn’t apply to him.
At one point June moved out of the house for several weeks as Joe was "entertaining" another woman.
The episode goes beyond where the Maloney children are now and asks how many children are really out there. Do not fret; the documentary makers are determined to resolve this question later in the series.
The friends of June describe how Joe would torment and lie to her. He once told her he rigged the house with dynamite as he did not want her leaving.
Detective Garda Sergeant Sweeney explains that June would have been able to sense the slightest change in her husband's mood. She would have done anything to de-escalate a situation in order to cope with the abuse.
"It's literally being hunted without actually being able to see the hunter when you're in close proximity with the abuser."
Joe’s coercive control soon escalated to physical violence.
June kept the house and children spotless, was baking and cooking for her husband and children every spare moment she had, in spite of having to work she also took the children to church every other Sunday when she was off - Catherine Blair
The Ripple Effect
Joe was starting to exhibit psychopathic behaviour at this point. Detective Sergeant Laura Sweeney explains that domestic abusers are narcissists, so their needs supersede everything.
"There is no way that you could be a domestic abuser and be a good parent."
In 1967, June hit a breaking point, and according to Cathy, when Joe left on a solo trip to Ireland June, and her children came to live with her.
It is worth noting that despite having just received a hefty inheritance from his deceased parents, Joe left his family with nothing. Instead, he bought a red Ford Mustang.
June and her kids lived with Cathy for a month until Joe returned and continued to refuse to financially support his children.
The episode works to highlight the risk and hardship involved in not only leaving an abusive relationship but doing so while becoming a single mother in the 1960s.
Shortly after, Joe would attack June with a knife stabbing the fabric rooftop of her convertible while she was inside.
Before June’s death Joe allegedly told Cathy that he wanted to kill his wife and that nobody would be able to "pin it on him." He added that if she did not come back to him he would "make it so nobody else will want her."
According to Detective Garda Sergeant Sweeney, most domestic homicides will occur in the first year of a person having left their abusive relationship.
She doubts Joe cared his attack was taking place on his son’s birthday. It was likely just a good opportunity to kill his wife.
1960s, you know, single woman saying, right, I'm going to try to find accommodation on my own, look after my children on my own, then yes, you would have to say, wow, how tenacious, how tenacious of her. But when you put in the backdrop of domestic abuse and what she lived with and endured and that she was able to find and identify a pathway out of that abuse. That's, you know, that's phenomenal - Detective Garda Sergeant Laura Sweeney
Fatherhood
Karen has fleeting memories of her biological father. She pieces them together for the podcast alongside the abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather.
She was not told the truth about her familial situation until she was ten. The same year, her father allegedly murdered his second wife, June.
Karen was in hospital after a concussion from a bicycle accident and overheard her aunt and the doctor refer to her surname as "Maloney Firth."
This prompted her mother to tell her the truth about her father. All she wanted was to be reunited with her real Dad. She had no idea he had just been charged with first-degree murder and had gone on the lam, and the chances of a family reunion were extremely slim…
I used to daydream. My mom knew my, you know, mothers know their children. If they're, you know, she knew that I used to dream. I used to cry at night. You know, my stepfather would send me to bed early for no reason at all. And I would just lay there and cry and cry - Karen Maloney
The Fisk Family
The murder of June Maloney irrevocably altered the lives of her loved ones. Her brother Dale’s daughter Amy Emerick gave an exclusive interview to journalist Pavel Barter for the podcast. In it, she detailed how the impact of her aunt's murder was felt for generations.
Amy was told very little about her aunt except that she was kind, loving and worked as a nurse. Her parents went to Joe’s house the night June was poisoned to celebrate getting engaged.
June’s family never found out who adopted Joey and Patty Ann. Their father was still their legal guardian, so they were taken by the state and disappeared into the system.
Joe Maloney literally destroyed their entire family unit.
"He robbed me of that time with my aunt. And he robbed me of meeting my cousins or having more family. He took away three family members from me."
It was hard for them because they were… my parents were just engaged. And they were at Joe and Junes' home, like for a little party because they had gotten engaged. And apparently that was the evening that he poisoned her drink - Amy Emerick
Searching for Joe
Karen spent the remainder of her childhood daydreaming about life with her biological father until she found out what he did. She was 16.
Karen had run away from home because of her violent stepfather. Upon her return, her mother dug out some newspaper clippings about the murder to finally convince her daughter that her biological father was not coming back for her.
But at 18, while in a foster home, she went in search of her father’s family. Karen reveals to the podcast that she called every James Maloney in Rochester New York, trying to find her uncle.
She managed to wrangle his middle name from her mother and got a hit.
"I called and a woman answered, and I asked her if, you know, Is your husband Jim Maloney? Yes. Does he have a brother named Joe? She was quiet? And she said, Yes. And I said I'm his daughter."
To find out how her family reunion went, you will have to hit play.
But I will say this, Karen has been searching for her father for over 50 years and the makers of this podcast are committed to bringing her closure.
I used to daydream that my dad would come back. I mean. I'm sorry. I'm 66 years old almost, and I'm still wanting to see my dad. I'm sorry - Karen Maloney
The makers of Runaway Joe are slowly edging closer towards real concrete answers, partially thanks to listeners' tips, so keep sleuthing and remember every little detail counts.
If you have any information or knowledge of Michael O’Shea/Joe Maloney, please send it through to documentaries@rte.ie
New episodes of Runaway Joe are available every Friday, from wherever you get your podcasts - catch up here.
