With their well-appointed home all paid for during the summer and having just celebrated 33 years of happy marriage, Mark and Louise O’Connor should have been looking forward to relaxing in their upcoming retirement years.
However, on Monday their remains, and those of their adult son, Evan, were discovered at their bungalow in rural Co Louth.
A suspect, aged in his 30s, was arrested on foot in the area.
That Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan confirmed gardaí were not looking for anyone else for questioning was a reflection of the shock and concern the triple killing caused across the country. He stressed there was “no ongoing threat to the public in Co Louth”.
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The O’Connor family home, in the townland of Drumgowna, around 5km west of Louth village, was a crime scene on Monday. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau could be seen around the property in their white forensic suits.
Local people who spoke to The Irish Times said the community was shocked. One woman said “people don’t know what to say, really they’re numb”.
“You never think it’s going to happen on your doorstep. I didn’t know the family, though I knew who they were. It’s just shocking to think three of them are gone like that.”
Another man said the family “were the type of people to do you a favour, lovely people”. He added many in the area did not realise anything had happened until news of the killings began to emerge on radio bulletins “and then Tallanstown was mentioned”. He described Ms O’Connor as “a really lovely woman”.
Mr O’Connor worked for the National Advocacy Service, which provides advocacy for people with disabilities. Earlier this month the couple had celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary, with Mr O’Connor saying they were “still very much in love”.
Many of his social media posts referenced his love for his wife, and many of the images he shared featured the couple and their three adult sons.
“I am blessed to have been married to the wonderful Louise Doherty O’Connor all these years,” he said in one post.
In June, he posted a photograph of the couple collecting the deeds of their house from EBS as they had just finished paying their mortgage.
Mr O’Connor was a keen runner and had competed in the Boston marathon in April. Local sources said he had regularly competed in Parkrun events in Co Louth and that his family often accompanied him in support.
Ms O’Connor frequently raised money for charities and also promoted volunteerism in parts of the developing world and was a carer for her son, Evan, who was autistic.
Sinn Féin TD for Louth Ruairí Ó Murchú said that the whole community is “utterly shocked” at the news.
“This is a truly shocking and appalling incident which has absolutely stunned the whole community all over Co Louth,” he said. “The fact that three members of one family seem to have died in dreadful and violent circumstances on a Monday morning in a quiet and rural area of mid-Louth is appalling.”
