Gardaí investigating the murder of Mr Lee Conkey (30) who was strangled and his body dumped down a remote country lane near Togher, Co Louth earlier this month, believe "his killing may not have been premeditated".
Garda Supt Fergus Doggett, of Drogheda, said they had not ruled out the possibility that whoever was behind his death had not necessarily meant it to happen.
Despite alleged links to the INLA, Mr Conkey, who is from the North but lived in Dublin's St Teresa's Gardens, is not thought to have died at their hands.
The INLA are known to be particularly vicious and violent and have shot people they have fallen out with.
However Garda sources do not believe Mr Conkey's death was linked to any subversive group although he was friendly with a number of individuals with links to the INLA.
"At this stage we are following a number of lines of inquiry and a team of detectives is working on the investigation," Supt Doggett added.
Gardaí are also continuing to search for Mr Conkey's new Yamaha motorbike which he was driving when he left home on Friday, August 1st.
It was a black and silver 1,000cc model, registration number 03-D-56939 and valued at around €14,000.
Anyone who may have seen this bike since August 1st or know of its whereabouts is asked to contact the incident room at Drogheda Garda station.