Gardaí appealed to people attending Masses in Co Louth yesterday for help in their investigation of the murder of Dublin man Mr Lee Conkey, whose body was found dumped in a laneway in an isolated part of Co Louth on Saturday afternoon.
The 30-year-old father of two was not positively identified until yesterday afternoon - 24 hours after gardaí publicised details of his appearance, including tattoos.
He was not recognised by local gardaí and there was speculation that whoever was responsible for strangling him and then leaving his body on the laneway would have needed some local knowledge.
The post-mortem findings suggest an object was used to strangle him.
Garda Supt Fergus Doggitt has appealed for the public's assistance. "Anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Togher to Annagassin area on Friday night should contact gardaí in Drogheda," he said.
The body had been left face down in a ditch beside the laneway, which is beside a disused quarry about half a mile from the village of Togher. It is about five miles from the Louth coastline.
"We don't know what to say. Nothing like this has happened before and we just hope no one from the area is involved," said one local woman, who did not want to be named.
The victim was dressed only in leather biker-style trousers and was wearing a gold chain with the pendant "dad" on it.
There was nothing on him to identify him and it is thought he was killed elsewhere and his body dumped down the lane.
It was around 50 yards from the entrance but was still close enough to the road to be seen relatively quickly. Two locals found it while out walking at around 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Mr Conkey, with an address at St Teresa's Gardens, Donore Avenue, Dublin, was last seen alive by his family at 10 p.m. on Friday when he left home.
"The motive is a mystery to us at the moment," said Supt Doggitt.
The scene at Togher was sealed off by gardaí and examined by the deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, on Saturday evening.
The body was removed to Louth County Hospital in Dundalk where she carried out a post- mortem on Saturday night. It is understood there were no other significant injuries to the body.