GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the death of a woman whose badly decomposed remains were found in the boot of a car in a rented lock-up have upgraded their inquiries to a murder investigation after a postmortem found the woman had been shot in the chest.
The remains are those of Helen Donegan, a 30-year-old mother of one who had been missing from her home in Celbridge, Co Kildare, for almost seven weeks.
Her identity will not be formally announced by gardaí until DNA testing has concluded.
A man arrested within hours of the body being found in Newcastle, Co Dublin, on Tuesday evening is still being held.
He is being questioned on suspicion of murder. He can be held for up to seven days without charge.
The 45-year-old suspect was known to Ms Donegan. Gardaí are examining a shotgun in an effort to establish if it was the weapon used to inflict the single fatal wound.
Gardaí feared for Ms Donegan’s safety from the time she was reported missing on May 7th by her partner, who is the father of her 12-year-old child.
Ms Donegan, a drug user, was last seen at 8am on May 6th at her home in St Patrick’s Park, Celbridge. She was originally from Ballyfermot in west Dublin.
Searches have been carried out in recent weeks in Kildare and Dublin by gardaí trying to trace Ms Donegan. One of those searches took place at a lock-up in a transport yard at Kilmactalway, Aylmer Rd, just outside Newcastle village on Tuesday at 5pm. Gardaí found Ms Donegan’s badly decomposed body in the boot of a silver grey 02 Saab estate car.
She is believed to have been killed about the time she was last seen.
Gardaí are working on the theory that Ms Donegan was shot and her body put into a blue Seat estate which was parked at another garage in Co Kildare before the remains were transferred to the Saab, which was then locked away in the Newcastle yard.
Vehicles were being fixed in the yard and other garages beside where the body was found during the weeks the remains lay in the Saab’s boot.
Gardaí have appealed for anyone who may have seen the Saab or the blue Seat estate around the time of Ms Donegan’s disappearance to contact them.
Gardaí are also appealing for information from anyone who saw unusual activity around Ms Donegan’s home between May 4th and May 17th.
Detectives also want to speak to people who saw anything unusual at the transport yard and lock-up where the remains were found.
Members of the Garda Technical Bureau spent yesterday examining the lock-up and the other garage where the remains were kept for a period. The Saab and the Seat are also undergoing forensic analysis.