GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the disappearance of missing 60-year-old west Cork widow Ann Corcoran, believe that somebody in the greater Bandon area may have information which may assist them.
In driving sleet and rain, up to 30 gardaí, including the West Cork Divisional Search team joined by a Civil Defence group, continued to search locations around Kilbrittain.
Although gardaí are officially treating the matter as a missing person’s case, they privately feel they may end up investigating a homicide and have already begun carrying out certain inquiries which are standard practice in murder investigations.
Ms Corcoran lived alone at her farmhouse at Maulnaskimlehane, near Kilbrittain, since she was widowed in 2007. She has not been seen since she met a friend at the Speckled Door pub near the Old Head of Kinsale on the evening of January 18th.
Ms Corcoran spoke to a friend the next day, January 19th, on her mobile phone and they believe she made the call from her home. But her phone has shown no activity since then.
Gardaí believe it is unlikely Ms Corcoran would leave the west Cork area without informing friends.
Detectives have begun checking to see if there are any suspects within the west Cork area with a history of violence towards women. They are also trying to establish if anyone has been behaving in an unusual manner in the area in the past two weeks.
Gardaí are hoping that a forensic examination of Ms Corcoran’s green Peugeot 206 found in Oldcastle, just outside Bandon, on January 28th, will throw up some DNA or fingerprint evidence which would point their investigation in a definitive direction.
They are hoping for DNA evidence which they might be able to match against their own database of people convicted of serious crimes, including violence against women.
Gardaí are also examining CCTV footage in the Bandon area in the hope that it may show Ms Corcoran or somebody else using her car.
Gardaí believe the vehicle was moved to Oldcastle from Clancoole where it was spotted on January 24th.
It is understood that gardaí are checking ATM transactions to see if money has been withdrawn from Ms Corcoran’s account in the days after she disappeared.
Searchers armed with slash hooks cut away bushes in an area around Ms Corcoran’s farm where they earlier found a shoe which gardaí believe may belong to the missing woman. They are also searching scrubland at Baurleigh, outside Bandon, where some illegal dumping has taken place.
Meanwhile, gardaí have confirmed that a badly decomposed body found on Monday evening by a man walking near the banks of the river Bandon at Ballinadee was not that of Ms Corcoran.
A postmortem confirmed the remains are those of 35-year-old Pakie Williamson who has been missing from his home in Bandon since September 15th last.