GARDAI said yesterday there were no significant developments in their murder investigations. They denied a man had been brought in for questioning in relation to the murder of Joyce Quinn (44), the Kildare shopkeeper found dead on the Curragh on January 24th.
The post mortem showed Mrs Quinn had been raped and stabbed in the throat and heart. Gardai continued their search yesterday for the murder weapon and for a mobile phone she carried for security.
Neighbours found Mrs Quinn's partly clothed body during a search of the Curragh on Wednesday morning. Her son David (16) had found her car earlier near her shop in Milltown village on Tuesday night. A cash till from the shop was found empty on the back seat. Gardai speculated that the day's takings would have been about £400. There was blood on the front seats of the Citroen AX.
Mrs Quinn's husband, Comdt Ray Quinn, has appealed to the public to make a special effort to help gardai in their search for Ms Josephine Dollard, the Kilkenny woman who has been missing for more than 70 days. Ms Dollard went missing while hitching a lift from Dublin to her home in Callan on November 10th.
Gardai have traced her last known movements to a telephone kiosk in Moone, Co Kildare. From there she called her sister at about 11.30 pm. to say she had got a lift. She has not been seen since. Comdt Quinn said the apparent lack of progress in finding her was placing a terrible strain on the Dollard family. "At least, our anxiety while Joyce was missing was short lived," he said.
Gardai in north Dublin report no progress in finding the killer of Ms Marilyn Rynn (41), a civil servant in the Department of the Environment, whose body was found near her Blanehardstown home 16 days after she went missing on December 22nd. A post mortem showed she had been raped and strangled.
Ms Rynn attended an office Christmas party in the Shieling Hotel in Raheny, Dublin, on the evening of December 22nd. She took a taxi from the hotel to Eddie Rockets restaurant in O'Connell Street at 2 a.m. From there gardai believe she took a Nitelink bus to Blanchardstown at about 3 a.m.
In Co Galway last night, two men were arrested in Ballinasloe and questioned in Galway under the Offences Against the State Act in connection with possible burglary and firearms offences. "Operation Shannon" is concentrated around east Galway and south Roscommon.
Garda officers said yesterday at a minimum the investigation should reduce attacks on elderly people in remote rural areas. Mr Casey was found dead in the home where he lived alone. He had been savagely beaten and died from asphyxiation.
The murder of another farmer who lived alone, Mr Patrick Daly (69), of Kilcummin, Co Kerry, is being investigated by gardai in Killarney. The body of Mr Daly who had also been savagely beaten, was found concealed at the bottom of a well on his farm. The post mortem showed he died of injuries to the head.
The investigation is also continuing into the murders in Tallaght, Dublin, of Mr Edward McCabe (30), and Ms Catherine Brennan (29), in November. They were shot at close range as they sat in Mr McCabe's car early on November 24th. Mr McCabe had a criminal record though his wife has denied he was involved in drug dealing.
Two days later, Mr Christy Delaney (46), was shot in a house in Ballygall Road West in Finglas, Dublin. Gardai said he was probably murdered because of drugs or an unpaid debt. In another Dublin murder in November, Mr Erie Shorthall (22), was shot in Ballyfermot. Gardai said he was a minor figure in the area's criminal underworld.