Murdered Waterford mother of one Meg Walsh (35) died from head injuries following a severe beating with an implement, a postmortem examination by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy has established.
The investigation team last night staged a reconstruction of the parking of Ms Walsh's silver Mitsubishi Carisma in the Uluru car park in Ardkeen, Waterford, in the hope that it would jog the memory of anyone who saw it there between October 1st and 4th.
Gardaí yesterday would only confirm that Ms Walsh suffered "severe trauma injuries to the upper body", but The Irish Times has learned that these included severe head injuries likely to have been caused by several blows with an implement.
Dr Cassidy's preliminary post-mortem results do not include an exact time of death for Ms Walsh, but gardaí believe that her naked body was in the River Suir for a considerable period, possibly close to two weeks, prior to being found near a city-centre quay in Waterford on Sunday.
Gardaí have yet to establish a motive for Ms Walsh's murder and the exact location where she was killed prior to being dumped into the River Suir, while they still have to find the implement or tool used to kill her.
Supt Dave Sheahan of Waterford Garda station confirmed yesterday at a press briefing that gardaí had launched a full murder investigation. Supt Sheahan said he believed that "a person or persons in the Waterford city area is fully aware of what happened to Meg Walsh," and he urged that person to come forward to local priest Fr Paul Murphy if they find it too difficult to approach the investigation team.
Anyone coming forward would be treated with understanding as it was "essential that the honour and memory of Margaret Walsh be fully vindicated and the grief and trauma which her young daughter and family are now suffering be brought to an early conclusion."
Supt Sheahan said gardaí were anxious to speak to anyone in the Ardkeen or Ballinakill areas who saw the 01 W 2060 registered car between 7am on October 1st and 1.03am on October 4th when it was found by gardaí in the Uluru car park.
"The sightings and movements of this vehicle which was owned by the late Meg Walsh is considered critical to this investigation," said Supt Sheahan who revealed that gardaí are still searching for a number of personal items belonging to the dead woman.
Garda divers yesterday continued their search of the River Suir near where Ms Walsh's body was spotted on Sunday afternoon as they sought to locate her black and grey Motorola RAZR V3 mobile phone, her car keys and her remote control for the car.
Ms Walsh, who lived at Ballinakill Downs with her husband, bus driver, John O'Brien, was reported missing to gardaí at about 10am on October 2nd by a work colleague when she failed to appear for work at Meadowcourt Homes where she was a secretary. Ms Walsh had been socialising with friends in the Woodlands Hotel near her home late on Saturday, September 31st, into the early hours of October 1st, with the last confirmed sighting of her coming from a friend who left her at her home at about 6am on October 1st.
Meanwhile, gardaí believe that Ms Walsh's body is more likely to have been placed a few hundred metres upstream from where it was found at Meagher's Quay in Waterford, rather than downstream of the city centre and carried back up by an incoming tide.
They are also inclined to discount the possibility of Ms Walsh's body being left across the Suir at the northern wharf, while they have also discounted as incorrect some reports which said that her body was found wrapped in a carpet.
Ms Walsh will be buried in Bweeng in north Cork following a requiem Mass in her native Killavullen near Mallow on Thursday.
