Jaw bone key to identity of Dublin mountains skeleton

Gardaí believe a jaw bone found among the skeletal remains of a woman discovered in rural Co Dublin at the weekend will reveal her identity. Investigators have been in contact with the families of women who have gone missing in the Leinster area in recent years, including the high-profile missing persons cases investigated as part of Operation Trace.

However, The Irish Times understands while a definitive date has not yet been established for how long the body lay undiscovered, the person's death is not believed to date back long enough to be any of the high-profile cases.

One of those women, American student, Annie McCarrick (26), was last seen alive in 1993 in Johnny Fox's Pub in Glencullen, Co Wicklow, not far from the spot where the remains were found last Friday by a woman walking her dog.

Recent years
While there has been speculation in the media in recent days that the remains may be those of Ms McCarrick, a number of Garda sources said the bones appeared to be those of a person who died as recently as between two and four years ago.

“There are still tests that we have to do and we can’t be absolutely certain but it is looking like these remains have not been there anything like 10 to 20 years,” said one source.

“You are looking at around two years and at a push up to three or four, but the date range is too recent for it to be any of the high-profile cases.”

A more recent case that is being investigated is that of Esra Uyrun (38), originally from Turkey, who went missing in Dublin in February 2011.

She was last seen leaving her home on Collinstown Grove, Clondalkin, at 7.15am on Wednesday, February 23rd. She was never seen again although her car was found in the Bray area.

The woman who made the discovery on Friday was on Kilakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, south Co Dublin, at about 7.30pm when her dog went into undergrowth and would not come out. The dog owner went in after the animal and found what she believed to be human remains.

The gardaí were alerted and the scene was sealed off immediately and secured by the gardaí overnight.

On Saturday, Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis visited the scene and carried out a preliminary examination there before the remains were taken away for a full postmortem.

DNA testing
Some of the remains are missing, most likely taken away by animals, but gardaí believe sufficient sections of the skeleton have been recovered to enable dental and DNA testing which should confirm the woman's identity.

The scene remained sealed off over the weekend as gardaí combed the area, using finger- tip search techniques in the event any items of interest lay nearby. The investigation is being aided by forensic anthropologist Dr Lorraine Buckley, who has expertise in dating bones and gathering evidence from them. Some clothing, including pink socks, were found at the scene but it was unclear last night if that was refuse or a garment linked to the dead woman.

Garda sources said DNA samples from missing persons' relatives are often retained, as are the dental records of the missing. They expect that cross-checking the DNA profile from the remains and the dental characteristics should establish the deceased's identity.

Visible
It appears the soil in the area where the body was found may have shifted, with the remains becoming visible as a result.

Gardaí are examining if the woman met foul play and was buried in a shallow grave or dumped at the spot.

However, they also said they had not completely ruled out the possibility the case was a suicide and that the body may have decomposed unnoticed and had been partially absorbed into the earth and hidden as more undergrowth grew over it. “If it was a grave, the bones certainly weren’t six feet under, they were close to the surface,” said one source.