Gardaí are to launch a murder inquiry following the discovery yesterday of the body of 35-year-old Meg Walsh who was missing from her home in Waterford for the past fortnight.
Ms Walsh's naked body was found floating in the River Suir opposite Thomas Meagher Quay in the centre of Waterford city at around 3.05pm by work colleagues searching the river.
Gardaí believe the body was in the river for some time.
While gardaí were last night awaiting the results of a postmortem by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy to establish the exact cause of Ms Walsh's death, one informed source said she had suffered a wound to the right side of her head.
Gardaí would not say last night whether the wound may have been fatal or how it was suffered.
However, a senior Garda source confirmed that officers are set to launch a full murder inquiry into Ms Walsh's death.
Ms Walsh's employer, Noel Power of construction firm Meadowcourt Homes, had put two boats on the River Suir to help gardaí search for the missing woman and it was one of these teams that found the body.
The search team notified gardaí and Ms Walsh's body was removed from the water around 3.40pm and taken to Waterford Regional Hospital for the postmortem.
Ms Walsh was reported missing at about 10am on October 2nd when she failed to appear for work and gardaí under Supt Dave Sheahan of Waterford launched a major search operation.
The last confirmed sighting of Ms Walsh was at about 6am on October 1st by a friend who left the house at Ballinakill Downs in Waterford city where Ms Walsh lived with her husband, bus driver John O'Brien.
Ms Walsh's silver Mitsubishi Carisma car was later discovered 2.5 kilometres miles away in the Uluru car park, near the entrance to Waterford Regional Hospital at Ardkeen at about 1am on Wednesday, October 4th.
