Bone samples from the skeleton of a woman who lay dead for eight months in her Co Mayo home are being sent to Britain for forensic examination, the inspector in charge of the investigation has said.
Insp Tom Fitzmaurice of Claremorris Garda station said it appeared that Ms Agnes Lyons (70) had been dead "about eight months" before her skeleton was discovered by the family GP in Aughamore, near Ballyhaunis, two weeks ago.
"It may have been a little longer but we are fairly \ that she was dead eight months," said Insp Fitzmaurice.
The doctor was called to visit the bungalow by Ms Lyons's brother, Sonny, to tend to his other sister, Mary Ellen, who had hurt her leg in a fall.
When he inquired about Agnes and went to check, he found her skeleton in bed.
Ms Mary Ellen Lyons, who is now receiving psychiatric care, is 66, while Mr Sonny Lyons, currently in a nursing home, is 74. He is a former milk salesman.
Insp Fitzmaurice said it appeared Ms Lyons died of natural causes.
His officers were preparing a file for the coroner's court which was due to hear the inquest into the death in Castlebar next month, he said.
"We are waiting for the final forensic results from the State pathologist's team.
"There was no body tissue left for them to work with and as far as I know they had to send some samples to England. We're just hoping they can pin down the exact date of death."
He said there was nothing to suggest anything suspicious.
"They were very private people, kept themselves to themselves and no one in the locality suspected there was anything wrong when they hadn't seen either of the sisters for a long while."
He said Mr Lyons, for the most part, had lived in a separate part of the house to that occupied by his sisters and "didn't interfere too much".
The sisters lived in two rooms on the other side of the small house, he said.
Sonny was "in reasonably good health" Insp Fitzmaurice said, though Mary Ellen was "in total denial about the whole thing really".
"All you can say really is that it's just a very tragic thing, but it happened," Insp Fitzmaurice added.
