POST MORTEM results are expected to show today whether the Dublin mother of four, Mrs Patricia Murphy (34), was sexually assaulted before she was strangled.
Gardai are trying to piece together her last movements before her near naked body was found at a building site near her home in a north Dublin suburb.
Mrs Murphy disappeared after leaving work in a Drumcondra guest house at 10.30 a.m. on Monday. Her body was found by workmen around 8 a.m. yesterday.
Gardai said she was reported missing by her husband, David, who called to Whitehall Garda station about 1 a.m., seven hours before her body was discovered.
Detectives would not speculate about what happened to Mrs Murphy. Her journey home on foot from the guest house in Drumcondra to her home in Griffith Avenue should have taken about 15 minutes.
Work had been going on throughout Monday at the site, at Woodpark, a cul de sac off Griffith Avenue near the Murphys' home, and the body was not left until after the workmen had gone, gardai believe.
Gardai were last night still searching for the clothes Mrs Murphy was wearing when she left her work. These were black ski pants, a black polo neck sweater, a pink and blue anorak and white shoes. She was 5ft 2in tall with brown hair.
Gardai believe she was killed in The Griffith Avenue area and left near a skip on the site during the hours of darkness.
There were marks on her head and neck, and preliminary inspection of the body suggested she had been strangled. Gardai yesterday said there was no obvious sign that she had been sexually assaulted. Conclusive post mortem results on the cause of death are not expected until today at the earliest.
Mrs Murphy and her family moved to Griffith Avenue from Kilrush, Co Clare, less than two years ago. She had had a number of part time jobs and had only started work in the Lismore guest house at the end of last week.