Gardaí have opened a murder investigation after forensic tests on the exhumed body of a woman who died five years ago in Co Clare suggested she had been murdered.
Art student Emer O‘Loughlin (23), of Ennistymon, was found dead in April 2005 in a burned-out caravan she was staying in at Ballybornagh, near Kinvara on the edge of the Burren.
A postmortem examination failed to establish the exact cause of her death, but the circumstances were being treated at suspicious. It took some time for the remains of the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology student to be identified after being discovered in the wreckage.
The decision to reopen the case followed a review by the Garda Serious Crime Review Team which decided advances in forensic sceince, pathlogy and anthropology since her suspicious death offered a new direction.
Ms O'Loughlin's body was exhumed this morning and tests were today carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis and Dr Lorraine Buckley at University College Hospital Galway.
Gardaí say they are now satisfied that Ms O'Loughlin was murdered and have reopened their investigation into her death.
The believe people have knowledge of the circumstances surrounding her death and have appealed for anyone with information to contact Gort Garda station on (091) 636 400 or the Garda Confidential Number 1800 666 111.
