POST mortems carried out on the two women found in a house in Grangegorman last Friday have shown that both died from stab wounds. Further tests are being carried out to establish if one was sexually assaulted.
The investigation into the murder of Ms Sylvia Shields (57) and Ms Mary Calanan (61) continued yesterday, with gardai seeking people who were in the Orchard View Road area of Grangegorman, Dublin, on Thursday night and early on Friday morning.
Knives found upstairs in the house are being examined. It has not yet been established if the knives were in the house or were carried in by an intruder.
Gardai are interviewing staff at St Brendan's Hospital, across the street from the house where the two women lived. Both were outpatients of the hospital. Gardai are examining the possibility that the murderer may have been a patient, but emphasise that this is only one avenue of investigation.
"We are checking to see if there is any property missing from the house," said Det Supt Cormac Gordon. "We are trying to ascertain the motive of the person going into the house.
The two women died in what has been described as a "frenzied" attack. An intruder may have entered the house through a downstairs window, which was broken.