GARDAI investigating the murder of shopkeeper, Mrs Joyce Quinn (44), are not ruling out the possibility that she knew her killer or killers.
Her body was found shortly before 10.30 a.m. yesterday as locals, gardai and about 80 Army personnel searched the area around the Kildare village of Milltown. She had been missing since Tuesday night.
The body was semi naked when found on open ground and partly concealed by a gorse bush. Most of her underwear had been removed, gardai said.
They could not say if she had been sexually assaulted. It is believed she suffered a single stab wound in the chest.
Chief Supt Sean Feely, who is leading the investigation said Mrs Quinn had locked cup her shop as usual at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. "She always had a habit of taking the drawer out of the cash register and placing it on the back seat of the car" he said. Her family became concerned when she had not arrived home as normal at 7.15 pm and they reported her as missing to gardai shortly after 10 p.m.
Mrs Quinn's husband, Ray, and his son David (16), had been searching the graveyard beside her shop and at around 11.50 p.m. David found her black Citroen car parked out of view in the schoolyard across the road. There was a stain, possibly blood, on the seat, and the drawer of the till was empty.
Chief Supt Feely said her handbag was found 20 feet from the car. About 20 people and a Garda dog unit searched for Mrs Quinn overnight. At first light two Air Corps helicopters joined the search.
At 10.25 a.m. Naas Garda station received a 999 call from a man who had been searching along with another man independently of the main search. The man, believed to be a next door neighbour of the Quinns found the body about two miles outside Milltown opposite the Cill Dara Golf Course.
One Garda source said attempts were made to conceal the body under gorse bushes and it was lucky that it had been found. A relative identified the woman's body as Mrs Joyce Quinn.
Last night the body remained at the scene awaiting removal to Naas General Hospital. A Garda source said officers were using laser equipment to try to obtain prints from the skin. This is the first time such technology had been used. The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, is expected to, carry out a post mortem this morning.
Asked if he thought her attacker or attackers could be from the area, Chief Supt Feely said this was possible because of the location of the car. He said gardai were still unsure whether Mrs Quinn was murdered in her car and taken to the Curragh or if she was murdered where the body was found. The gate to the school yard was usually unlocked and this was common knowledge among locals.
"You wouldn't know that spot if you were a stranger," he said. "But at this stage we can't assume anything." Chief Supt Feely said he had no evidence to connect the murder with the disappearance before Christmas of Josephine Dollard or the recent murder of civil servant Marilyn Rynn.
Gardai are appealing for anyone who saw anything suspicious between 5 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday to contact them at Kildare Garda station or at a special investigation line (045,) 521698.
