THE murder yesterday of a young man in a field on the outskirts of Tralee, Co Kerry, brings to four the number of violent deaths in the county since January 1996.
The victim has been identified locally as James Healy (16) of Shanakiel, Tralee.
His parents, Ms Kathleen Healy, and his father, Mr James Healy, were not available for comment last night.
The body was found by two passers-by in a field adjoining the FAS plant and a nearby factory.
According to gardai in Tralee, a four-foot piece of electrical conduit (designed to carry electric cable underground) was found on the body and could be the murder weapon.
The victim, who had suffered severe head and facial Injuries, was dressed in a black, padded jacket and jeans, and was lying face upwards.
Last night members of the Technical Bureau from Dublin were on their way to Kerry.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, was also due to carry out a post-mortem examination.
Last night, as a heavy mist covered Tralee, the body lay shrouded in a plastic tent erected by gardai.
It is believed there were signs of a struggle in the vicinity where the body was found.
Gardai appealed on Kerry local radio yesterday for any witnesses to the killing to come forward and were carrying out intensive house-to-house interviews in the vicinity. Shanakiel, on the outskirts of Tralee, is the housing estate nearest to where the body was found.
This latest killing brings to four the number of violent deaths in the county since January 1996 when the body of a man in his 80s, Mr Patrick Daly, was found in a well outside Killarney. Two people have been charged in connection with the killing.
In April of last year the body of Ms Anne-Marie Duffin, in her 30s, was found at her home near Blennerville, on the Tralee-Dingle Road. A youth is in custody in connection with that death.
Ms Margaret (Hannah) O'Sullivan, in her 40s, was found dead at her apartment in Tralee in August 1996. A man is also in custody in connection with her death.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Democrats last night called for the new post of Deputy State Pathologist to be based in Munster. With 12 murders in Munster last year, the Cork North Central TD, Ms Mairin Quill, said the Minister for Justice's "insistence" that the deputy's post be Dublin-based was "inexplicable".
Citing the murder of the French woman, Ms Sophie Toscan du Plantier, near Schull just before Christmas, Ms Quill, in a statement last night, said: "The State Pathologist was not in a position to examine Mme du Plantier's body for 24 hours.
"The gardai's investigation may have had more success had they been able to call on the services of a Cork-based pathologist."