GARDAI were last night continuing to question a 32-year-old man following the discovery of a woman's body in Co Louth.
The 57-year-old woman, believed to be originally from Poland, was found at a house in the Clonmore estate in Ardee after gardai were called to the property at around 11.30am yesterday.
RTÉ last night reported that the victim had been attacked and suffered severe injuries. The broadcaster also said that a murder weapon, believed to be an axe, had been recovered.
Speaking at a press conference last night, Superintendent Des McTiernan said: "When we got there we found a female very seriously injured who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
"Now, we have that scene preserved at the moment in time. We have our technical bureau endeavouring to establish the facts as they happened."
The victim, whose name had not been released last night, was a mother-of-two adult children. She is understood to have lived in Ireland for the past 10 years.
It was reported that her husband was at work at the time of the brutal killing. It is also believed that her daughter was in Poland when she told of her mother's death.
Gardai arrested a 32-year-old man, who is believed to have been known to the victim, at around 1pm yesterday. He was detained in the Ardee area and was last night still being questioned at Drogheda garda station.
As investigations continued at the scene at Clonmore, gardai also identified three other places of "significant interest" where they believe the suspect visited in and around the Ardee area.
These areas include the Bridge Street area of Ardee town, the Cherrybrook area estate and the Mandistown area in Drumconrath.
Mr McTiernan added: "We have so far one person arrested. We're not looking for anyone else. There are a number of other people who are assisting the investigations.
"We have the person who we believe was involved in the incident arrested and detained in Drogheda Garda Station."
But he appealed for anyone who was in the Clonmore estate and may have seen or heard anything from early morning until 11.30am, to contact them.
"I suppose at this moment in time I'm appealing for people to bear with us," he said.
"We are quite anxious to get on with the investigation and bring it to a conclusion bearing in mind the tragic circumstances of the whole incident."
