The man leading the investigation at a graveyard in Annyalla into one of The Disappeared, Joe Lynskey, said exhuming remains from a family grave was the only way to move the case forward. Jon Hill of the Independent Commission for the Location of Victim's Remains (ICLVR) said a number of sets of remains were removed from a family grave plot from Annyalla graveyard yesterday.
Mr Hill told the Joe Finnegan Show that the focus now is to establish if what they found "exceeds what should be" in the grave and if they include the remains of Mr Lynskey. The investigator said ICVLR received information about activity which happened at this specific grave plot around the time of Mr Lynskey's disappearance which was "unusual and suspicious by nature" so warranted further investigation.
He said after a process of elimination, investigators reached the stage that exhumation was the only way to move the case forward but, that it was carried out with respect to the family involved and the graveyard itself. The human remains exhumed from the graveyard following consultation with a forensic anthropologist will now undergo a formal identification process.
Mr Hill said he would know "in a few days' time" how long that process is likely to take. He urged people who may have information to continue to come forward to the ICLVR. Four of the so-called Disappeared remain unaccounted for. They are Cistercian monk Joe Lynskey from Belfast who is missing since 1972; Columba McVeigh, Seamus Maguire and Robert Nairac. A search for the remains of 19-yr-old Columba McVeigh in Bragan Bog, Monaghan failed to find his remains.
