The Garda in Longford was last night investigating the murder of a woman whose body was found in the bathroom of a house in the town on Saturday night.
The victim's remains were discovered just after 9pm when the owner of the rental property called to make preparations for new tenants who were due to move in. The property had been vacant for two weeks.
The owner of the house, on Great Water Street, contacted the Garda immediately on discovering the body. The scene was sealed off and a Garda investigation begun. The woman, who has been named locally as Sharon Coughlan, a mother of two who worked as a barmaid in the Market Bar, which is also in the centre of Longford town.
Ms Coughlan's body was found in a downstairs bathroom and it is understood that clumps of hair and blood were also found at the scene. She was found face down and it is understood that her remains had been locked into the bathroom.
Garda technical experts carried out an extensive forensic examination of the house yesterday. In the afternoon, a number of Garda search teams were called in to search scrubland to the front and rear of the recently renovated house.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis arrived at the scene at around lunchtime yesterday and carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the house. The remains were then taken to the Midlands Regional Hospital in Mullingar for a full postmortem. The results of that indicated Ms Coughlan had been strangled.
The Garda was initially treating the case as a suspicious death. However, the inquiry was upgraded to a murder investigation when the results of the postmortem became available.
It is not known how long the dead woman's remains lay in the premises. Ms Coughlan lived in a house just a few doors away from where her remains were found.
The deceased, who was 37, had two young children. She had been living with her partner in recent times.
The Irish Times understands her family became concerned for her welfare at the weekend after they had not seen her for a number of days and were unable to contact her by phone. They had reported her missing to the Garda.
No arrests have been made in connection with the case. However, the Garda in Longford was following a number of lines of inquiry last night.
The area around Great Water Street - including St Mel's Road and Bannon Terrace - was sealed off throughout yesterday. Garda teams also conducted door to door inquiries in the area in an effort to piece together the dead woman's last movements.
Anybody with information on Ms Coughlan's last movements or any of the details of her killing is asked to contact Longford Garda station on (043) 50540.