The 17-year-old language student's partially clothed body was discovered by a dog walker on waste ground off a pathway that links the mature Renmore estate with Galway city centre early last Tuesday morning. Her parents, Arlette and Hans were too distraught last week to come to Ireland to recover their daughter's body. In a weekend interview, Arlette said, "We have no future now, it is the end for us. She walked out of this house so full of life but she will not walk back in." The teenager's body will be accompanied by officials from the Swiss embassy in Dublin when it is flown home today to be with her parents in Hinterkappelen.

Supt Tom Curley, who is heading up the murder hunt, yesterday said the investigation was "progessing satisfactorily". "We are keeping an open mind and we are not ruling anything out at this stage."