Mother's death being treated as suspicious

Gardaí in Navan were last night continuing to treat the death of a woman whose body was found at a house in Dunshaughlin yesterday morning as a suspicious death rather than murder.

Detectives investigating the death of Ms Colleen Mulder said they would await the results of a post-mortem before deciding if the investigation should be upgraded.

A man in his 40s was being held at Navan Garda station last night. He was arrested just before noon yesterday.

The man was being questioned on suspicion of having committed offences under the Non Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act.

He was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. Under this he can be held for two consecutive six-hour periods. With his consent, gardaí could have suspended questioning between midnight last night and 8 a.m. this morning, allowing for his detention until 9.30 a.m. today.

However, if he did not consent to the suspension and was not charged with any offence he was due for release early this morning.

At 11 a.m. yesterday the family of the dead woman called a local doctor after Ms Mulder was found unconscious in her bed at the family home.

The doctor confirmed the 41-year-old mother of six was dead and he alerted gardaí.

While the body had sustained no obviously serious injuries, gardaí noticed marks on her neck, and began treating the death as suspicious. The scene was sealed off and members of the Garda Technical Bureau examined the house.

The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, carried out a preliminary examination of the body at the scene.

He then requested that the remains be taken to the Dublin City Morgue, where he was due to perform a post-mortem late last night.

Ms Mulder's children range in age from one to 18. She was from Northern Ireland and had moved with her family from Bangor, Co Down, to Dunshaughlin around 18 months ago.

A number of members of the family worked at a fast-food restaurant in Blanchardstown. Ms Mulder's older children remained in the house for much of yesterday.

The younger members of the family were taken into care shortly after gardaí arrived at the house.

Gardaí began house-to-house inquiries yesterday afternoon and these were expected to continue today as many of the houses in the Maelduin estate were unoccupied yesterday. The estate, which is off the Ratoath Road, just north of Dunshaughlin village, is home to many people who commute to Dublin every day to work.