Gardaí in fresh appeal over 1984 murder of Marie Tierney

Kilkenny woman, last seen going on night out 33 years ago, was found dead in undergrowth

Gardaí have made a fresh appeal for information about the murder of a Kilkenny woman in 1984.

Marie Tierney, of Clinstown, Jenkinstown told her husband Jim she was going out to enjoy herself on the night of October 21st, 1984.

The 34-year-old’s remains were found on the city’s Bleach Road exactly two months later. The mother-of-two had been murdered.

A man who was trying to gain access to a field by the River Nore to help an injured swan on December 21st, 1984, came across the body in dense undergrowth at the side of the road and raised the alarm. He initially thought the remains were a mattress.

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In his evidence at Ms Tierney’s inquest, the then State pathologist Dr John Harbison concluded that she had been strangled and dumped in the ditch. He said it appeared she had lay there for two months and that the body had been transported there by motor vehicle.

Gardaí located the Tierney’s family car, a Renault 18 estate, at the Newpark Fen off the city’s Castlecomer Road on October 24th, 1984. Statements from a number of witnesses put the car abandoned in Newpark at approximately 11pm on the day Ms Tierney was last seen alive.

Detectives feel that due to the passage of time relationships may have changed and people may now feel in a position to contact gardaí with information they may not have shared previously.

More than 500 lines of enquiry have been opened and some 200 witness statements have been recorded in the case. Gardaí will be speaking to everyone who made statements and are appealing to any person who may have information into the death of Ms Tierney to come forward.

Gardaí are also appealing to any member of the public who saw the Renault 18 car or anyone walking or cycling at or near Newpark or Bleach Road on the night of October 21st, 1984 to come forward.