AS Miriam O'Donoghue was buried in Dublin yesterday gardai issued a photograph of the 42 year old mother in an effort to prompt new leads in their murder investigation.
Mrs O'Donoghue died last weekend at her home in Mulhuddart, Co Dublin, and a week long investigation by 60 detectives based at Cabra has not yet yielded a definite line of inquiry.
Investigating officers are dismayed at the suggestion that they have a prime suspect, saying the case is "wide open".
At her funeral at Our Lady help of Christians Church on the Navan Road yesterday mourners, including her husband and two children, were told that "life had its fair share of problems for her" but she always had "a great spirit".
Ms O'Donoghue's estranged husband Paul, reported finding her body at her home on Sunday night. He had been minding their 7 and 11 year old children for the weekend, and told gardai that when he arrived at her home in Aisling Gardens on Sunday evening there was no response at the Front door. He went round to the back of the bungalow, and found her body inside.
Mrs O'Donoghue's body was lying in the back bedroom of the house. A post mortem determined that she had died from asphyxiation consistent with "a blow to the throat".
The room had been disturbed, with drawers open and items strewn around, but gardai have not yet decided if a burglary took place, as they have no evidence that anything was stolen. The back door to the house was open and there were no signs of forced entry.
Mrs O'Donoghue had moved into the rented bungalow on the quiet avenue last summer after separating from her husband. Last week neighbours said they knew very little about her. While the Garda is running a "murder investigation", Ms O'Donoghue's death is officially classified only as "suspicious". The post mortem did not determine conclusively that her death was not an accident nor could it determine the precise time of death.
Mrs O'Donoghue could have died any time between her last known sighting at about 9.30 p.m. on Friday and the discovery of her body at 8.30 p.m. on Sunday. However, Ms O'Donoghue was to have met a friend last Saturday to visit a wedding fair, and failed to appear, indicating that she may have died late on Friday night, or early on Saturday morning.
She was last seen on Friday night when takeaway food was delivered to her home. Gardai have yet to establish if the planned visit to the wedding fair is significant - it is not known whether she had established a new relationship since the break up of her marriage.
The investigation is focused on drawing up a list of suspects from convicted or known burglars in the area, following the theory that Mrs O'Donoghue's death may have resulted from a burglary which went wrong. But detectives have not ruled out the theory that she knew her attacker, and that he or she had been invited into her home.