Latest pathology report states Monaghan woman 'died by homicide'

A privately funded forensic report on the death of Kelly Lynch has found the 23-year-old died by homicide and that her death was due to a “violent physical assault”.

The third pathologist to investigate the death of the young woman from Co Armagh also found she suffered 93 injuries to her body including two, which were inflicted after her death.

Kelly Lynch’s body was found in the Ulster Canal near Mullaghmatt in Monaghan Town on St Patrick’s Day 2024.

She had been in Monaghan Town for a wake and was drinking with others on the night of March 16.

Her family had been led to believe that she wandered off alone and fell from a bridge into the canal. Now they want to see a formal murder investigation launched.

The latest report also concludes Ms Lynch did not fall nor jump to her death and that she did not drown nor succumb to the effects of hypothermia.

The initial autopsy carried out on March 18, 2024, found Kelly died from drowning; while a second pathologist later ruled the cause of death as hypothermia.

Ever since they learned of her shocking death, Kelly’s parents, Julieanne and Sean Lynch, have been searching for answers about what happened their daughter between the last sighting of her alive at 2am on March 16 and 30 hours later when her body was discovered at 8:30am on March 17.

The couple are critical of the initial garda investigation and expressed concerns about the preservation of the scene and the securing of CCTV footage of the area between where Kelly was last seen alive and the canal.

In October 2024, then-Garda Commissioner Drew Harris, met with Mr and Mrs Lynch and ordered a peer review into the original garda investigation, which, is still ongoing at this time.

In the meantime, the Lynch family reached out to the Katie Trust, a charity run by retired PSNI Detective Sergeant James Brannigan.

According to their website, the Katie Trust was established to 'help families who have lost a loved one in circumstances initially classified as suicide, accident, or disappearance but where concerns and unanswered questions later emerge'.

The charitable trust was set up in memory of Katie Simpson, a showjumper from the North, whose death was initially treated as suicide until Mr Brannigan was successful in having her death investigated as murder, highlighting systemic issues along the way.

James Brannigan told the Celt: “I told Sean and Julieanne from the start that my investigations may find there was no third-party involvement in Kelly’s death, and they accepted that.”

The Katie Trust engaged the services of a third, privately-funded pathologist who is Irish-trained but currently working in the United States.

Describing the US pathologist’s report as “excellent”, Mr Brannigan said he sent him post-mortem reports and photos and photos from the scene at the canal.

“I instructed him to look at all the evidence honestly and objectively and to give us his honest opinion,” Mr Brannigan told the Celt. “And he didn’t just do that but backed up all his assertions with evidence that he could show from the examination he carried out.”

In a statement, An Garda Síochána said, following a meeting with Mr and Mrs Lynch, Drew Harris directed a senior investigating officer, external to the Cavan-Monaghan-Louth Division, to conduct a peer review into the initial garda investigation into Kelly’s death.

“This is an ongoing peer review and An Garda Síochána appeals to anyone with direct information on the death of Ms Lynch to contact Gardaí,” a spokesperson said.

“The senior investigating officer is keeping the family up to date with the progress of the review. An Garda Síochána is also assisting the Coroner’s Inquest and fully co-operating with the Fiosrú investigation. These processes are ongoing,” the garda statement said.

Speaking to the Celt, Kelly’s distraught mother, Julieanne, said the results of the latest report have left her and husband feeling “vindicated”.

“We’ve always maintained Kelly’s death was homicide,” Julieanne said, “But we also felt that our concerns were not listened to. This report now shows our concerns were justified,” she said.

While the family await the findings of the peer review, the grieving mother says the investigation into her daughter’s death “needs to be escalated to a homicide investigation”. “I just know as a mother my daughter was clearly murdered and this new report should prompt a murder investigation.

“It’s the very least the guards could do for Kelly,” Ms Lynch said.

An Garda Síochána, the Katie Trust and the Lynch family ask anyone who has any information about Kelly’s last hours or which could assist the investigation into her death in any way to make it available to gardai in Monaghan on 047 77200 or via Crimestoppers using the freephone 1800 25 00 25 or on the Garda Confidential Line on 1800-666-111.