Gardaí investigating the death of a 13-year-old girl in Cavan town are awaiting toxicology reports on her body before deciding on whether to launch a criminal investigation.
Jamie Maughan, whose body was found in the garden of a vacant house on Friday, was buried yesterday following a funeral Mass at Cavan Cathedral, attended by over 1,000 mourners.
A post-mortem by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster proved inconclusive.
Yesterday Supt Joe Sullivan, who is heading the Garda inquiry, said newspaper reports suggesting the girl had died from a drug overdose or had choked on her own vomit were based on "speculation".
"We won't get the toxicology reports until Tuesday at the earliest. We are treating the death as suspicious and cannot yet point to the involvement of a second party. Until then, and if that happens, we cannot call this a criminal investigation," he said.
The body of the girl, who went missing eight days ago, was found by locals in the back garden of a house in Harmony Heights. Supt Sullivan denied reports that Jamie's family had asked gardaí to search the house as early as last Monday.
The Garda Technical Bureau was also examining two houses close to where the body was found, one of which was being rented by a young Brazilian man who was friendly with Jamie. Gardaí have interviewed the man and a number of his friends who lived in both houses. The men are working at the Liffey Meats plant in Ballyjamesduff, 20 kilometres from Cavan.
At the funeral Mass Father Kevin Fay told the congregation that while they may be looking for answers, "there is no answer to this tragic and poignant death and the loss of a beautiful life".