A body found during a search in Co Wicklow on Monday has been confirmed as that of missing Romanian teenager Mariora Rostas.
Gardaí said the 18-year-old died as a result of gunshot wounds after being "abducted and brutalised" while she was begging on Lombard Street in Dublin more than four years ago and that a murder inquiry was now under way.
A preliminary postmortem has been carried out on her remains and further tests are ongoing. Authorities are liaising with the Rostas family in Romania regarding the repatriation of her remains.
Gardaí said the discovery of Ms Rostas' body had significantly advanced the case and that several motives and lines of inquiry were now being investigated.
Supt John Gilligan of the Garda Press Office said there was "a lot more work to be done" but that the force was determined to bring those responsible for her death to justice.
He appealed for anyone with information about her abduction – in particular two individuals who anonymously called the gardaí in June and September of 2008 – to contact Pearse Street Garda station on (01) 6669000 or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666111.
Chief Supt Michael O'Sullivan, of the Dublin South Central Division, said Ms Rostas' body was found wrapped in a plastic sheet in a semi-decomposed state in a shallow grave at Kippure near Manor Kilbride.
The discovery followed a 13 day dig in the area arising from new information passed on to the team investigating the case.
Ms Rostas – who Chief Supt O'Sullivan described as a "harmless and defenceless young woman" who had arrived in Dublin just three weeks earlier – had died in "appalling and incomprehensible" circumstances.
A total of seven people – five men and two women - have been arrested since the investigation into her disappearance commenced in January, 2008. The arrests were made in November, 2008 and October, 2009.
Ms Rostas was seen talking to a man, believed to be the gangland suspect, in a car described as a silver Ford Mondeo before her abduction on January 6th, 2008.
She got into his car, which has since been seized by gardaí, and is believed to have been driven to a house in the Brabazon Street area of the south inner city where she was held against her will before being sexually assaulted, shot and buried.
