A body pulled from a Boston quarry was last night identified as that of Mr P.J. McDonagh, the 19-year-old UCG student who has been missing since 1994. Mr McDonagh was visiting relatives in Boston when he disappeared on June 27th, 1994.
The Massachusetts District Attorney, Mr Jeffrey Locke, said yesterday the cause of death had not yet been determined. "We were conducting a homicide investigation which brought us fortuitously to this," Mr Locke said.
After the body was taken from the water earlier yesterday about a dozen friends and relatives of Mr McDonagh, who had been waiting at the quarry's edge, left in tears after some said prayers by the waterside.
Another body remains in the water. Divers failed to locate it after silt was stirred up during the recovery of Mr McDonagh's body.
Authorities believe the second body is that of Ms Karen Hammond (21), a mother of two, who disappeared in January 1995.
Last week divers, acting on a tip, located the bodies in the quarry.
Mr McDonagh was last seen with friends after spending the evening drinking at a Boston pub.
Police had searched the site at least twice before, once in 1995 and again in 1996 when they used a high-tech sonar camera to scan the waters.