A true-crime manhunt spanning six decades and continents
In 1967, Joseph Maloney allegedly poisoned his wife, escaped custody, and vanished. Pavel Barter follows the trail across decades and the Atlantic, investigating a hidden identity and one of the FBI’s oldest unsolved cases.
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Runaway Joe
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A true-crime manhunt spanning six decades and continents
In 1967, Joseph Maloney allegedly poisoned his wife, escaped custody, and vanished. Pavel Barter follows the trail across decades and the Atlantic, investigating a hidden identity and one of the FBI’s oldest unsolved cases.
- Book Synopsis
-
AN INVESTIGATION INTO ONE OF THE OLDEST UNSOLVED CASES ON THE FBI'S BOOKS, SPANNING SIX DECADES AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.
1967. ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.
At his son's fifth birthday party, Joseph Maloney was alleged to have poisoned his wife. While awaiting trial in the psychiatric wing of a Rochester hospital, he escaped and vanished.
Years later, a charming stranger calling himself Michael O'Shea surfaced in Dublin.
Claiming roots in the west of Ireland, he married a local woman and sold his garage business to buy a grand country estate.
For years he lived as a country gentleman and worked at the pinnacle of Ireland's film industry - until a US extradition treaty exposed his true identity.
Arrested in 1985, Maloney escaped justice again when his trial collapsed on a technicality. He fled Ireland, leaving US and Irish investigators clueless as to his whereabouts - until an RTÉ Documentary on One podcast picked up his trail decades later.
Runaway Joe is the story of a man who reinvented himself with chilling ease - a portrait of a remorseless manipulator whose acts left devastation across continents.
Ideal for readers who…
- love deep-dive investigative true crime that spans decades, jurisdictions, and international manhunts
- are fascinated by fugitives, false identities, and the chilling mechanics of reinvention
- want a case-driven narrative with legal twists, extradition drama, and escaped-justice turns
- enjoy podcast-to-page storytelling and the process of reopening a cold case through new leads
- like tense, propulsive non-fiction that reads like a thriller—while staying rooted in reporting
- About The Author
- Pavel Barter is a reporter for The Sunday Times newspaper in Ireland who has produced and presented award-winning radio documentaries for RTE in Ireland and other broadcasters. These include Grief of a Nation, the story of an Irish photographer who captured the events surrounding JFK's assassination, which won Gold at the New York Festivals in 2021.
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9781804442579
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Eriu, (02 April 2026)
- Number of Pages
- 288
- Weight
- 414 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 234 x 153 x 26 mm
- Categories: