A murder trial heard yesterday that the woman victim had gone to the home of her estranged husband to collect money for a car she was selling him.
Her remains were found where a fire had been made close to his home.
At the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Gary McCrea (40), of Ballybulgin, Laghy, Co Donegal, denied the murder of mother-of-four Dolores McCrea (39), of Ballintra, Co Donegal, between January 20th and January 22nd, 2004.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Paul O'Higgins SC, told the court that Ms McCrea had four children with her husband, Gary McCrea and their marriage, near the end had not been a happy one. In April 2003, Ms McCrea left the family home with her children, Mr O'Higgins said.
On the day Ms McCrea disappeared, she left her home in Ballintra to play darts in Donegal town, driving her red 1997 Peugeot 306, the court heard. The next day, Mr O'Higgins said, she was going to sell this car to her husband for €1,000. An arrangement had been made, the prosecutor said, that Ms McCrea would call to Mr McCrea to collect the money. At 7.20pm, Ms McCrea left her apartment, saying goodbye to her father, the court heard. Mr O'Higgins said the last person to see her alive was Martin McGrath, who left when Ms McCrea arrived at the accused's home. "She didn't turn up at the darts match," Mr O'Higgins told the jury.
The next morning, the court heard, Ms McCrea's children were concerned that she wasn't at home. "There was growing concern among her children, her sisters and her parents," Mr O'Higgins told the jury. Her daughter, the court heard, had texted Ms McCrea the previous night but her mother's phone seemed not to be operating.
When gardaí arrived at the accused's home, Mr O'Higgins said he alleged Dolores McCrea came for the money for her Peugeot and was collected in a silver car.
The next day, January 22nd, 2004, gardaí began looking around the McCrea farm. Behind some sheds, they found the smouldering remains of a fire, which was contained inside an old caravan frame, the jury heard.
"As gardaí poked around that fire, one garda found a bone," Mr O'Higgins said. "More pieces of bone started to emerge from the smouldering fire," he added. A local doctor was called, who believed the bone to be that of a human, Mr O'Higgins said.
The jury heard that among the skeletal remains discovered at Mr McCrea's farm was a neck bone which it was "not possible to say whether this was broken before or after". The prosecutor told the jury that on the previous Friday, Mr McCrea had collected 20 quad tyres and brought them back to his farm to allegedly burn bushes.
On the day Ms McCrea disappeared, Mr O'Higgins told the jury the accused man went to a local garage and bought two 22½ litre drums of diesel.
"When gardaí visited the house a day-and-a-half later, there was only 7½ litres left," he added.
At 8.10pm the same day Ms McCrea disappeared, "a neighbour noticed a redness in the sky in the Ballybulgin area" the court heard.
The bones discovered in the fire were so badly burned that the DNA had been destroyed.
Various sections of a jaw and teeth were discovered, the court heard. When these bones were reviewed, it showed a "high degree of consistency" with the dental records of Ms McCrea.
Mr O'Higgins added that after the jury had heard the evidence in the trial, they will have "no reasonable doubt that Gary McCrea killed Dolores McCrea and then disposed of her body".
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Michael Hanna.