Homelessness crisis: ‘We tried everything to save Michelle from a life on the streets’
Rita Murphy, who lives in the Glen on the northside of Cork, spoke of her grief yesterday following the death of her daughter, Michelle O’Riordan, 27, and said she wasn’t homeless, but admitted she always feared her daughter would be found dead.
“She made a choice to live this way,” Rita said. “She knew she had the offer of a bed in my place, or in her dad’s place.
“We, her family and her friends, we tried everything but she wouldn’t listen to us. We’re just heartbroken.”
Michelle’s body, and that of Paddy O’Driscoll, 53, originally from Skibbereen, Co Cork, and who had been homeless for several years, were found in the Lee on Sunday evening
While formal identification of the remains is not likely until today, gardaí have appointed family liaison officers to both families.
It is understood that Mr O’Driscoll lost contact with his family several years ago. Gardaí issued a public appeal for help tracing Michelle on Friday after she was reported missing by her father.
Rita said they were very concerned for her safety having lost contact with her on December 5.
Gardaí interviewed several individuals and viewed CCTV footage before confirming sightings of her on Anderson Quay, near Cork Simon’s emergency shelter, and then on Custom House Quay at 5.30pm on Thursday, December 4. She was accompanied by a man, believed to be Mr O’Driscoll.
Gardaí then focused their search on a stretch of water over the weekend, involving the Mallow Search and Rescue Unit, the Cork branch of the Missing Person’s Association, and Crosshaven Coast Guard.
The Mallow Search and Rescue Unit’s side-scanning sonar identified Michelle’s body on the river bed on Sunday evening, before the device identified a second body nearby a short time later.
Naval service divers recovered both bodies just before 8pm, where the river’s north and south channels meet.
Rita was devastated when the call came through. “Michelle was using the homeless services for a good few weeks,” she said.
“She knew she had a bed at home but she didn’t use it. We were worried about her all the time. I knew in my heart and soul I was going to get bad news at some stage.
“But when she went missing, I knew she was gone. I knew she’d be found dead. I think I always had a sense, in the back of my head, that this would happen. We’re just devastated.”
Michelle, who grew up in Mayfield, attended the convent primary school in Lotabeg before attending St Aloysius secondary school.
Rita described her as a lovely person who just fell in with the wrong crowd. “She had a great heart. She was jolly out,” she said.
“She was such a chatterbox when she got going. And she took such pride in how she looked, with her clothes and make-up and everything. But she went downhill in the last few weeks and lost a load of weight.”
Autopsies were conducted on both bodies at Cork University Hospital yesterday and the results of toxicology tests are awaited but gardaí were not treating the deaths as suspicious last night.
Homelessness crisis: 'Troubled lives of those living on the margins'
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
