Gardaí have started a murder investigation after receiving confirmation on Thursday afternoon that the human remains found in East Cork earlier this week are those of missing Corkman, Kieran Quilligan.
Detectives investigating the disappearance of Mr Quilligan (47) received confirmation that DNA samples taken during a postmortem on the remains found near Rostellan in East Cork on Monday have proven a match with DNA samples given by a relative of Mr Quilligan.
Gardaí said on Tuesday that it may take several days to get the result of tests on DNA samples taken by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster at the post-mortem at Cork University Hospital as the samples had to be sent to the Forensic Science Ireland laboratory in Dublin.
However, the samples were fast tracked by FSI scientists who examined them along with DNA samples provided by a member of Mr Quilligan’s family and scientists confirmed to investigating gardaí on Thursday that tests had proven a match, thereby establishing the remains were those of Mr Quilligan.
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A Garda liaison officer has been keeping the Quilligan family briefed on developments and members of the Quilligan family have already visited where his body was found.
Mr Quilligan’s badly decomposed remains were found at the bottom of an excavated ditch some seven kilometres from Midleton, just off the Midleton to Whitegate road past Whitewell Cross and the turn off for Rostellan, by a sniffer dog and his handlers around midday on Monday.
The two-man cadaver dog team had begun searching around two hours earlier and once the dog uncovered the remains, which it is understood were not buried, senior gardaí called in technical officers to cordon off the area and they requested the services of the State Pathologist’s Office.
Gardaí haven’t released the results of Dr Bolster’s post-mortem on Mr Quilligan for operational reasons, but it is understood they indicate that he suffered blunt force trauma injuries to both the head and body including multiple bone fractures consistent with a beating.
It is understood gardaí are satisfied that Mr Quilligan was initially assaulted by a number of men at St Finbarr’s Place in Cork city on September 1st before being bundled into a car on Fort Street and abducted and driven to a location in Little Island in East Cork.
Gardaí are trying to establish whether Mr Quilligan died following the first assault or whether he was further assaulted at Little Island and died there but they are satisfied that he was deceased when his body was dumped near Rostellan where his remains were discovered.
Gardaí have remained tight-lipped on a motive for the fatal assault but one line of inquiry they are looking at is whether Mr Quilligan, who had a heroin addiction, may have fallen foul of a criminal gang after he robbed a heroin dealer aligned with the gang in the days preceding his disappearance.
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