Man arrested in connection with murder of Josie Ray in Nenagh released without charge

Gardaí investigating the murder of 89-year-old widow Josie Ray in Co Tipperary are to prepare a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after releasing without charge a man arrested for questioning about the killing.

Gardaí confirmed this afternoon that the man in his 50s, who had been arrested on Friday afternoon for questioning about the murder, had been released with charge by investigators.

However, detectives are continuing to question a woman in her 50s who was also arrested on Friday as part of the investigation and she remains detained at a Garda station in Co Tipperary.

It’s understood that both the man and the woman were known to Ms Ray, a mother of five and grandmother and great grandmother who lived at St Joseph’s Park, Nenagh in north Tipperary.

Well known around Nenagh, Ray was found unresponsive at her house by a family member at around midday on Sunday and they immediately contacted the emergency services.

Ms Ray was pronounced dead at the scene and gardaí immediately cordoned off the scene and requested the services of the State Pathologist’s Office and that Garda National Technical Bureau.

A postmortem on Ms Ray’s body by Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Yvonne McCartney on Monday confirmed that Ray had died from asphyxiation and gardaí launched a murder inquiry.

Officers began door-to-door inquiries in the St Joseph’s Park area while they also began canvassing homes and businesses for CCTV footage to see if they could identify any possible culprits.

Garda technical experts were able to establish that there was no sign of forced entry at Ray’s two storey terraced house leading to the belief that she may have known her killers and admitted them.

Gardaí confirmed during the week that they were pursuing “a strong line of inquiry” in their investigation and garda sources suggested on Thursday that arrests might well be imminent.

Yesterday’s arrests came just hours after Ms Ray was buried at Killodiernan Cemetery near her native Carney in north Tipperary following her funeral mass at St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh.