Gardaí fear woman was murdered four weeks ago

Gardaí fear a woman whose badly decomposed remains were found in a wooded area in suburban Dublin was murdered four weeks ago and her body lay undiscovered since then.

The body was found in Blanchardstown, west Dublin, yesterday afternoon during a search for missing local woman Linda Christian.

Ms Christian, a 29-year-old single woman, was last seen on June 24th in Blanchardstown, where she is from. Gardaí issued a public appeal for information on whereabouts not long after she disappeared.

At the weekend, the Garda renewed that appeal, saying Ms Christian’s family had become “very concerned for her welfare”.

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Locals reported a foul smell coming from Coolmine Woods, which heightened at the weekend.

And when a Garda search team combed the area yesterday, they discovered the badly decomposed remains.

While the condition of the body made immediate identification impossible, Ms Christian’s family were informed of the find.

Gardaí were last night waiting for the results of a postmortem on the remains before they could determine the cause of death and whether it was a case of foul play.

However, all of the resources of a murder inquiry were committed to the investigation immediately after the remains were found.

The body was examined at the scene by a pathologist before being removed and the Garda technical bureau forensically examined the cordoned-off scene.

Coolmine Woods is located between Clonsilla Road and Snugborough Road in Blanchardstown. It is a popular walking spot and short cut in the locality.

‘Bad smell’

Last night residents in the adjacent Coolmine Park Housing Estate said they had reported a bad smell to the local council several times over the past week.

"There was a particularly bad smell in the area," said Mary Reddin. "We were sitting in the back garden over the weekend enjoying some of the sun but had to go back inside.

Lisa Kirwan, who was out walking her dog last night, described her "horror" of after the discovery in an area she passed through on a morning jog just hours beforehand.

“It’s absolutely horrifying to think that a woman my age may have been killed in there,” she said.