GARDAI in Tralee said yesterday there was no obvious motive for the brutal killing of a 40 year old mother of three in the town. Ms Margaret O'Sullivan's blood spattered body was discovered at lunchtime on Monday by her 12 year old son, Eric.
It is understood she had stab wounds to the neck and back. The murder weapon has not been found and gardai said they were now conducting a full scale murder hunt.
The murder scene had been sealed off and a team from the Garda Technical Bureau combed the tiny apartment, off Castle Street in Tralee, where Ms O'Sullivan lived alone.
She had been separated from her husband, Daniel, who lives at Spa Road, Tralee, with their three children, Oliver (19), Eric (12) and Vicky (7).
According to gardai, no one in the apartment complex heard anything unusual on Monday, or prior to that.
Ms O'Sullivan was last seen alive on Saturday, gardai said, and they have appealed for any information on her movements between 10 a.m. on Saturday and 12.30 p.m. on Monday.
Gardai would not comment on whether the apartment had been broken into or the fact that Ms O'Sullivan was said rarely to have locked her apartment door. Occupants share a common entrance in the recently developed scheme.
Yesterday, six wreaths were laid at the entrance by friends and relatives.
Her estranged husband, who was in Mosney, Co Meath, when he heard the news, would not comment on his wife's death.
Ms O'Sullivan was known as a vivacious and outgoing person who liked dancing but lately she was said to have become withdrawn and seldom left her apartment.
When last seen, she was wearing casual clothes. These were also the clothes she was wearing when her son found her dead, lying on her bed.
A post mortem examination has been carried out and the results are expected to confirm that she died from multiple stab wounds. A knife is the suspected but unconfirmed murder weapon.
However, gardai are following no definite line of inquiry. The investigation is being led by Chief Superintendent John O'Connor and Inspector Barry O'Rourke, who said Mrs O'Sullivan had suffered a "severe physical assault".
Ms O'Sullivan's death brings to five the number of people who have died violently in Kerry in the past year.
The body of Patrick Daly, a 69 year old bachelor farmer, of Kilcummin, near Killarney, was found in a well adjoining his firm on January 23rd. In April, Anne Marie Duffin's body was discovered by her son when he returned home from secondary school at Blennerville, outside Tralee.
In April last year, two men in their 20s died after one shot the other in Kerins Park, Tralee, during a row over a girl and then shot himself.
Before her marriage, Ms O'Sullivan lived at Kerins Park.
Two men have been charged with the murder of Mr Daly, while a youth has been charged with the Duffin killing. He is being remanded in custody.
Gardai said they were satisfied there was no connection between Ms O'Sullivan's death and Ms Duffin's death in April.