Gardaí tight-lipped on cause of 22-year-old Cork mother’s death

A postmortem has confirmed the need for further investigation into the death of a 22-year-old woman in Cork, say gardaí. But they are remaining reticent as to how they believe she died.

Investigating officers said they were not releasing the results of a postmortem by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster on mother-of-one Amy McCarthy.

“The postmortem has confirmed our belief that the death merits further investigation, but we are not going any further than that at this point,” said an informed source.

There are “a complex of factors at play” in the investigation into death of Ms McCarthy and toxicology tests, which may take some weeks, will play “a significant part”, according to the source

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Ms McCarthy was found in a second floor room in a vacant office block on Sheares Street at the back of the Mercy University Hospital by paramedics at about 7am on Sunday morning.

Paramedics had been called after emergency services were alerted by a man in the derelict office building when he failed to rouse Ms McCarthy on Sunday morning.

Derelict building

Ms McCarthy, a native of Greenmount on Cork’s southside, was pronounced dead at the scene and gardaí were called.

Dr Bolster carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the scene before it was removed to Cork University Hospital for postmortem.

Gardaí spoke to three men who were in the derelict building when paramedics were called. However, they are trying to establish if there may have been others in the building who left before they arrived.

Meanwhile, they are continuing to trace the last known movements of Ms McCarthy and have appealed to anyone who may have seen her on Saturday to contact at the Bridewell Garda station.

They are appealing in particular to anyone who can assist in tracing the whereabouts and movements of Ms McCarthy from Saturday afternoon until Sunday morning when her body was discovered.

Garda technical experts are continuing with a forensic examination of the scene and officers have also begun harvesting CCTV footage from premises on Sheares Street and surrounding areas.

A downstairs window to the premises was smashed possibly by people seeking to gain entry to the building and gardaí believe it is only in recent days that people began to use it as a squat.

Anyone who may have noticed or heard anything unusual in the Sheares Street area or have any information that can assist with the investigation is asked to contact the Bridewell Garda station on 021-4943330.