Gardaí believe a car involved in a collision that killed a pensioner before the occupants fled was stolen and had been used in a robbery a short time earlier.
The dead man was aged 81 years and from Co Wexford where Monday night's events unfolded.
He has been named as James Brennan from Enniscorthy.
A middle aged woman travelling as a passenger in Mr Brennan's car was also injured, though she is expected to survive after being treated at Wexford General Hospital.
The stolen car carrying the men who fled on foot was a Volvo S60. It had been taken in a robbery in Wicklow town.
Garda sources said when the collision occurred at about 10.30pm near Ferns, Co Wexford, those in the stolen Volvo were unable to drive away because the car was so badly damaged.
They took to the nearby fields, leaving the dying Mr Brennan and his passenger trapped in their Toyota Corolla.
A short time later a second car, a red Volkswagen Passat, was taken in a robbery at a farmyard close to the crash site.
Gardaí believe the occupants of the stolen Volvo that collided with Mr Brennan’s car stole the Passat and used it to flee the area before the emergency services arrived at the scene of the road traffic crash.
Subsequent investigative work has established that just after 10pm a robbery occurred at a service station in Arklow, during which two occupants of a car drove off without paying for petrol.
Gardaí believe the men involved in that incident were the same men in the same vehicle which collided with Mr Brennan’s car minutes later.
Garda sources said CCTV at the service station in Arklow captured the robbery and that the images of the men were being studied.
However, the identities of the suspects have yet to be established.
Garda sources said while burglary gangs from Dublin often stole cars to use in crime sprees in the south east, it was also possible the men involved in the incident were living in Wexford.
Members of the public who can offer any assistance or information on the incident are asked to contact Enniscorthy Garda station on 053-9242580, the Garda confidential telephone line on 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.
