Two teenagers found murdered on the Isle of Man had suffered extreme violence, according to police.
Friends Samantha Barton and George James Green, both 16 and in social services care, had both been strangled.
Detectives, who described the double killing as unprecedented on the island, said all the crown dependency's 244 officers are involved in the murder hunt as all police leave was cancelled.
The body of spina bifida sufferer Samantha, who was born in Dublin, was found on Friday evening by a uniformed police officer who called at the Leece Lodge home where she lived on an unrelated matter.
Her death is being linked with that of her friend George, who was discovered at lunchtime the next day in a thicket of trees about a quarter of a mile from the home on the outskirts of the island's capital Douglas.
At a briefing Detective Inspector Guy Pickard, the officer heading the murder inquiry, said: "One element focuses on a number of other young people who were in care, who lived similarly unusual lifestyles."
Security was stepped up at the local airport and ferry ports, but DI Pickard said there was no reason to suspect that the killer had fled the island.
"I can reassure people that the Isle of Man Constabulary is doing everything it can at this stage to bring it to any early conclusion," the officer added.
PA