Three held in 15-year-old murder case

A MAN was last night being questioned in connection with the murder of Marie Kilmartin nearly 15 years ago.

Two other people, a man and a woman, were also being quizzed on suspicion of withholding information in relation to the killing.

The arrests, the first since 1994, mark a significant development in the unsolved murder of the 35-year-old mother of one.

Ms Kilmartin disappeared after leaving her home in Portlaoise on December 16, 1993. She left after receiving a phone call from an unidentified male.

Her body was found fully clothed and dumped in a bog 18km outside Portlaoise, just across the border in Co Offaly.

She had been strangled to death. A large concrete block and other debris were put on her chest to hold her down in a bog drain, where she remained undiscovered for six months.

Yesterday a Garda team arrested three people in the local area.

A male, aged in his 60s, was arrested in the morning and detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act in relation to Ms Kilmartin’s murder. He was questioned at Portlaoise Garda Station and can be held until this morning.

Another man, aged 42, and a woman, aged in her 60s, were arrested and taken to Tullamore Garda Station. One was arrested yesterday morning, the second later in the day.

They were detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, in relation to the suspected withholding of information in relation to the murder.

Their detention period can be renewed after 24 hours, to a maximum total period of three days.

All three people were arrested in the Portlaoise area. Officers would not comment on whether the three were related.

Gardaí were reluctant to describe the arrests as a breakthrough and declined to speculate if the arrests would lead to charges or a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions. No file has been sent on the case to date to the DPP.

The course of the investigation will depend on how the detention period goes and what, if anything, those arrested say during questioning.

Local gardaí have continued investigating the murder over the last 14 years.

Senior officers are expected to wait until this morning before deciding on their next course of action.