Gardaí release photo of murdered Swiss girl

Gardaí investigating the murder of a 17-year-old Swiss student in Galway on Tuesday have released a photograph of the victim…

Gardaí investigating the murder of a 17-year-old Swiss student in Galway on Tuesday have released a photograph of the victim.

Swiss student Manuela Riedo was found dead in Galway on Tuesday
Swiss student Manuela Riedo was found dead in Galway on Tuesday

Manuela Riedo's body was found at 9.25am on Tuesday in dense scrubland on the southern shore of Loughatalia, below the Dublin-Galway railway line.

Gardaí, who say the investigation is progressing "satisfactorily", have said it is unlikely her parents will be coming to Ireland in the coming days.

Today a book of condolence was opened at the Galway Language Centre. Patrick Creed, director of studies at the centre where Ms Riedo was studying, said a private memorial service would be held in St Augustine's Church at 5pm this evening.

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A detailed description of Ms Riedo has been released by the Gardaí, who are appealing for information from anyone who may have seen the 17-year-old on Sunday or Monday night.

Ms Riedo was 1.64m (5'4") tall, with brown shoulder length hair.

When last seen she was wearing calf-length black suede boots, a grey sleeved top with narrow pink stripes, and a red and black cardigan, which had two black sleeves and a diamond-black shape on the back.

She was also wearing a waist-length wool coat and grey and black herringbone and grey jeans.

Ms Riedo was carrying a large black handbag that had a cherry pattern with green leaves on it. She had a small diamond stud in the left side of her nose and wore a silver band on her middle finger.

Gardaí are investigating whether the murder of Ms Riedo may be linked to recent sexual assaults in the Ceannt station and city centre area over the past three months.

One man had been arrested over a reported assault in late September and was released. Files were being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

A postmortem showed that Ms Riedo, a student from Berne who had only been in Galway for three days, died from asphyxiation.

She was one of a group of 43 students who had arrived in Dublin on Saturday night. The group then travelled to Galway for a two-week English language course.