Ashling Murphy Murder

Ashling Murphy was fatally stabbed on the banks of the Grand Canal in Tullamore on the 12th of January 2022. A large number of FSI staff contributed to efforts to assist this murder investigation. Their contribution included urgent and out of hours work to perform forensic DNA and Fingerprint analyses on a large number of exhibits. These analyses provided significant findings including a male specific DNA profile (Y-DNA profile) match between Jozef Puska and samples from Ashling Murphy’s fingernails. In addition, DNA and fingerprint matches were obtained between Jozef Puska and a bicycle left at the scene.

On the 9th of November 2023, following a three-week trial at the Central Criminal Court, Jozef Puska was found guilty of the murder of Ashling Murphy. Two current FSI scientists, a seconded Garda Member and a retired FSI scientist presented significant forensic findings at this murder trial.