State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy was due at Mayo General Hospital last night to carry out a postmortem on an elderly man from the Erris peninsula whose body was found in "highly suspicious" circumstances on Sunday.
Gardaí would not identify the victim yesterday but he was named locally as John Gaughan, a bachelor in his seventies, who lived alone in a house overlooking the Atlantic at Glosh, Blacksod.
The alarm was raised at about 12.20pm last Sunday when a neighbour spotted Mr Gaughan's body lying in the driveway to his home.
Supt Joseph Gannon, who is heading the investigation, said last night that there were injuries to the body and the circumstances of the death were "highly suspicious". The scene was examined by officers from the Garda Technical Bureau before the removal of the body to Mayo General Hospital.
A van not belonging to the dead man was taken to Belmullet station for forensic examination and house-to-house inquiries were being conducted by gardaí.
Fr Michael Harrison, a curate based locally in Binghamstown, said that the sudden death had come as a deep shock. Neighbours said Mr Gaughan was a quiet and inoffensive individual.
According to Supt Gannon, the man was last seen alive at his home on Saturday night.
One theory is that he was hit by a vehicle on the roadway and crawled to the spot where he died but there are a number of other avenues of investigation.
Dr Cassidy was due in Castlebar last night where she was to be joined by Supt Gannon and a number of other officers involved in the inquiry.