A MAN IN his 70s who was arrested yesterday in connection to the murder of a woman in 1984 has been released without charge.

Marie Tierney was reported missing by her husband on 22 October 1984.

The mother-of-two had left their family home in Jenkinstown in Kilkenny the previous night but not returned.

Her car was discovered on the day she was reported missing but her body was not found for two months. A male pedestrian discovered her body in a ditch on Bleach Road, Kilkenny, on 21 December. She had been strangled.

More than 500 lines of investigative enquiry have been opened and over 200 witness statements have been recorded by gardaí. No one had been arrested in relation to the investigation until yesterday.

In a statement released today, the Garda Press Office said a file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

In October last year, Mary Tierney’s remains were exhumed from Conahy graveyard in Kilkenny and taken to Waterford University Hospital for examination.

She was 34 when she disappeared and her two children were aged 12 and 13 at the time.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Crimecall a number of years ago, Marie’s sister Breda described her as “devoted to her children” and “as close as you could get” to a perfect parent.