GARDAÍ ARE conducting a murder investigation after the body of a young man was found in a field in Co Kerry.
Gardaí last night confirmed the body was that of John McManus, originally from Fitzgerald Place in Fermoy, north Cork, who had been missing from his flat in Wellington Road in Cork city since October 30th.
Mr McManus’s body was identified to gardaí by relatives at Cork University Hospital yesterday evening, before Assistant State Pathologist Margaret Bolster commenced a postmortem.
Although gardaí were not releasing the cause of death for operational reasons, it is understood Mr McManus suffered significant trauma to his upper body and head.
Gardaí believe some implement was used to beat him. They were also hoping the postmortem would indicate when Mr McManus was killed.
They have yet to establish whether he was killed in his flat or elsewhere. They believe his body was then dumped in the field in Ballyduff, outside Listowel.
Detectives believe there was a disturbance at Mr McManus’s flat at Verdon Place, Wellington Road, on the night of October 30th and have not ruled out the possibility that two or three people could have been involved in an attack.
Detectives found a large quantity of blood in the flat. They are still awaiting the results of tests by the State Forensic Science Laboratory to establish whether the blood belonged to Mr McManus.
The house on Wellington Road remained sealed-off last night as Garda technical experts continued a forensic examination, while the area in Ballyduff where Mr McManus’s body was found was also being examined.
Mr McManus’s body was found by gardaí in undergrowth in the field at about 5.30pm on Thursday night during a planned search of the Ferrybridge in Ballyduff.
Garda Dan O’Connor from Ballybunion Garda station had been on patrol in the area at about 1.15pm on Thursday when he spotted a man jumping over a ditch from the field at Ballyduff, getting into a car and driving off.
Garda O’Connor pursued the man and stopped him and impounded the car for having no insurance. Garda technical experts were last night examining the car. There had been no great effort to conceal Mr McManus’s body and gardaí suspect whoever put it there intended to return to bury it.