Gardaí investigating the murder of 22-year-old Rachael Kiely in Cork ten days ago have taken blood samples from a number of men. Ms Kiely's body was found in a park near a housing estate in the suburb of Ballincollig. It is understood the samples were given voluntarily by six men who are believed to have been in the park in recent weeks.
For the past ten days a team of 50 detectives and uniformed Gardaí have been working on the ground, making house-to-house enquiries and taking statements to piece together the final hours of Rachael Kiely's life. At the same time, forensic and technical experts have been conducting a complementary investigation, analysing samples taken from the murder scene, as well as those taken during the post mortem examination conducted by the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison. The results of those forensic tests will be available in the coming days. In the meantime, six men have agreed to Garda requests to voluntarily provide blood samples.
The men are believed to have been in the Regional Park in Ballincollig, where Rachael Kiely's body was found, at some time over the past number of weeks and the blood samples were taken for comparison with the samples already being tested. Gardaí have already interviewed more than 500 people in connection with this investigation, which has now entered its second week.
