Gardaí fear Jastine was random victim; Murder probe as body set to be identified

Gardaí are to conduct a detailed examination of the mobile phones and digital devices of Mark Hennessy and Jastine Valdez to determine if there was any contact between them — but suspect she may have been a completely random victim.

If the attack is confirmed to be random, gardaí may also examine Hennessy, a married father of two young children, in relation to other unsolved attacks or missing person cases.

The development comes as the garda search operation for Ms Valdez yesterday turned to a murder investigation with the discovery of a female body in dense gorse in the Rathmichael area of south Co Dublin.