Appeal for help identifying body found in Galway in 2014

Gardaí seeking to identify a man’s body found in woodland in Co Galway two years ago believe he may have been visiting the city for the annual arts festival or races before his death.

Scientific tests commissioned by gardaí in Salthill yielded some small clues, but no definitive information about his identity.

Officers have appealed for information on the second anniversary of the discovery of the decomposed body near a bird sanctuary in Rusheen woods, bordering Rusheen Bay and Barna's Silver Strand, on September 27th, 2014.

The man, believed to have been between 43 and 48 years of age, was about 1.83m (6ft) tall, and of a strong build with black hair.

A postmortem and forensic tests found nothing suspicious and foul play is not suspected in the case.

The tests dated the man's death to about six to eight weeks before the discovery, which would suggest he was in the city towards the close of the Galway Arts Festival or during the summer horseracing festival at Ballybrit.

“The weather was good at the time, so the leather jacket he was wearing would have stood out,” Inspector Paudie O’Shea of Salthill Garda station said.

Banknotes

The man was also wearing jeans and clothing with the “Athletech” brand name, a gold watch, and he carried two sterling banknotes – £10 and £5 – and a single front-door type key.

Insp O’Shea said the owners of a rented property or a bed and breakfast may be missing a key and in a positon to assist the investigation.

International checks with police databases and circulation of an image based on facial reconstruction proved fruitless, and further tests included isotopic analysis of a tooth.

This suggested that the man had dental work consistent with practices in Ireland, England and north America, Inspector O'Shea said.

He said the man may have travelled from England, the US or Canada in the weeks before his death.

The gardaí do not believe he was from Galway, but Rusheen woods, where he died, “clearly meant something to him”, Inspector O’Shea said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Salthill Garda Station on (091) 514720, or any Garda station.