Gardaí have started a murder inquiry into the death of Susan Dunne, whose body was found in a house in north Kerry yesterday morning.
Postmortem results have confirmed she was murdered.
A 19-year-male remains in custody in Listowel in connection with the death.
Ms Dunne’s body was found by a neighbour shortly before 10am in a bedroom of her bungalow at Ballinageragh, Lixnaw, around 12km from Listowel.
It is understood that Ms Dunne, who was in her early 50s, suffered a number of serious injuries, including to the head, when she was found in the house, which is down a quiet boreen around 2km from Lixnaw village.
Gardaí later arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with Ms Dunne’s death and he was brought to Listowel Garda station where he was last night being held under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Local Lixnaw parish priest, Fr Maurice Brick, who was called to the scene at about 1.30pm and administered the last rites to Ms Dunne, last night spoke of the terrible sense of shock in the community at the news of the tragedy.
“This is a rural community where people are very tightly knit and they look out for each other, particularly for their neighbours. The events of today have numbed everybody and people are trying to support one another,” said Fr Brick.