Gardaí are to carry out further searches of an area in Buttevant, north Co Cork, today after a postmortem examination concluded that a skull found in a field there is that of a 41-year-old local man who went missing almost four years ago.
An examination of the skull by assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster involved a comparison with dental records. This confirmed that the remains are those of married man William O'Brien from Boherascrub, Buttevant. Mr O'Brien went missing from his home on April 23th, 2002.
He was last seen at Pepperhill, Buttevant, although gardaí later received reported sightings of him in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, on April 29th, 2002.
Gardaí carried out an extensive search of the Buttevant area, with sniffer dogs from Dublin and sub-aqua units brought in to assist. Appeals were also made on Crimeline.
However, the search, which involved up to 25 gardaí and about the same number of civilians over a period of some six weeks, failed to find any trace of Mr O'Brien, who had worked as a cattle dealer.
The discovery of the skull was made on Wednesday afternoon by a landowner in a field at Tullig, approximately threequarters of a mile cross-country from Mr O'Brien's home.
Gardaí believe that the skull may have been brought there by a fox or a dog.
Gardaí from north Cork will today be joined by gardaí from Cork city, Limerick and West Cork divisions to carry out an extensive search of the area in an attempt to try to find the rest of Mr O'Brien's remains.
