Clues say killer knew Marie
These clues pointed to a murder that was planned, a killer who had local knowledge and, perhaps, a killer who knew her.
Unlike many of the other missing women in the Leinster-midlands area in the 1990s, gardaí located Marie’s body. On June 10, 1994, six months after she disappeared from her Portlaoise home, Marie’s body was found hidden in a bog, 18km outside the town.
She had been strangled to death and a concrete slab held her body down. A pram and parts of a gas heater were placed over her to conceal the body.
As the years rolled into a decade, little progress was made in finding her killer, despite the work of local detectives.
Yesterday’s arrests of three people, all living in the Portlaoise area, are the first since June 1994, when two men were questioned. It is not clear if the arrests mark a breakthrough in the case and officers will wait and see what, if anything, the three say in custody.
Marie had a troubled past, but was considered by people who knew her to be coping relatively well up to her disappearance.
In his book ‘Unsolved’, reporter Barry Cummins said Marie had been diagnosed at an early age as having a psychiatric condition. She was 20 years old when she became pregnant.
She chose adoption for her daughter, who was baptised Áine. Aged 13 when Marie was murdered, Áine was 20 when she found out Marie was her natural mother.
Mr Cummins said while the motive was difficult to establish, the available evidence “pointed to somebody who knew Marie well”.
