The body of a man discovered in a wooded area of Galway has finally been identified after two people came forward with detailed information to solve a five-year-old mystery.
The deceased was found by a man walking his dog near a bird sanctuary in the coastal area of Rusheen Bay Woods in September 2014.
It prompted an exhaustive investigation and public appeals for help given no identification, and only a few personal possessions, was found on the body.
The deceased was believed to have been in his mid-40s. Fingerprinting and dental examinations were conducted, and a detailed facial reconstruction was created by Dr Christopher Rynn at the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification at the University of Dundee, Scotland.
But, in the end, it was a simple house key that closed the case.
On Wednesday, gardaí said two Polish men, who had only become aware of previous garda appeals for information, had recently come forward.
They told them another Polish man had briefly lived with them in a house in Galway in late September 2014. He advised them to rent his room out after a certain period of time if he did not come home.
They later changed the locks but kept the old mechanism. As a result, investigating gardaí were able to match the key found on the body to the lock supplied by the men.
"This led to a definite line of enquiry as to the person's identity, and this past week a DNA comparison was conducted via Interpol in Poland, confirming the man to be a Polish national," gardaí said.
The man's death was not treated as suspicious and although now identified, he has not been publicly named. Given that initial efforts to find out who he was had turned up nothing, State arrangements were made to bury him anonymously in Bohermore Cemetery, Co Galway. His family have since been contacted.
The breakthrough finally brings an end to an open investigation that had received much publicity and which had prompted trawls of local and international missing person’s databases.
When the man was found, his few possessions included the single silver key with an "ERA" inscription, money in both sterling and euro, a gold American watch and clothing believed to have been bought in the United States or Canada.
Gardaí have now learned that he travelled from Poland to the US in the early 1990s and then to Ireland in 2014 shortly before his death.
“Great credit is due to the dedicated gardaí who have been working this case to establish the identity of this man since 2014,” said Superintendent Patrick McHugh.
"The circumstances of this case are both sad and tragic. The family and An Garda Síochána are grateful to the individuals who came forward to provide us with the key to solving this matter.
“Taking the crucial step of contacting the Gardaí has ensured that this man’s family are now aware of the whereabouts of their loved one.”
