As commuters and their children began to return home to the Maelduin housing estate in Dunshaughlin yesterday afternoon, they were met with a full-scale Garda crime scene investigation on their doorsteps, writes Liam Reid, in Dunshaughlin.
As darkness fell, members of the Garda Technical Bureau, dressed in white forensic suits, moved in and out of the house as uniformed gardaí stood outside the cordoned-off house.
Located in the heart of the Co Meath commuter belt, the house is one of 150 almost identical homes on the estate.
Many residents were at work or away from their homes when a local doctor raised the alarm shortly after 11 a.m. yesterday. He had been called to the house by the family of Ms Colleen Mulder, who was found dead in an upstairs bedroom.
Gardaí who visited the scene noted marks on the woman's body. A suspicious death investigation was launched immediately. Shortly after 1 p.m. members of the bureau arrived to carry out a forensic investigation of the house.
A mother of six - ranging in age from 12 months to late teens - Ms Mulder was originally from Northern Ireland.
Like many of the residents, the Mulders hadn't been living in the Meath area very long. According to locals, they had moved from Bangor in Co Down 18 months ago. Some members of the family were working in a fast-food company near Blanchardstown, in Dublin.
Like so many people living in new commuter estates, few of her neighbours knew her well.
Dunshaughlin Parish Priest, Father Joe Clavin, who visited neighbours of the Mulders yesterday afternoon to comfort them, said the death had shocked the community. He said it had been particularly upsetting for local children in the estate who knew the Mulder children.
He said he had met Ms Mulder only once but described her as pleasant and friendly. The Mulder parents were not well known by neighbours, he said, a common feature of large commuter estates.
"They kept themselves to themselves," Father Clavin said.
The priest said a sudden death like this was "sad at any time but particularly upsetting at Christmas".
As the afternoon progressed, children and teenagers looked on as gardaí worked on the crime scene at the house. Some were visibly upset and shouted angrily at a small group of journalists who had gathered there. Earlier on, older members of the family had also remonstrated with journalists and photographers outside the house where the woman was found dead.
The older members of the family remained close by throughout the day and at one stage came to collect the family dog. The younger children were reported to have been taken into care yesterday afternoon.
Following a preliminary examination at the scene by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, a hearse arrived shortly after 5 p.m. to take the woman's body to Dublin City Morgue for a post-mortem. As the body was being removed, local children from nearby houses placed small bouquets of flowers on the coffin before it was driven off.