{"id":52154,"date":"2025-09-30T06:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T06:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/52154\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T06:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T06:13:07","slug":"couple-killed-in-co-louth-had-recently-celebrated-33rd-anniversary-and-paying-off-mortgage-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/52154\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple killed in Co Louth had recently celebrated 33rd anniversary and paying off mortgage \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their well-appointed home all paid for during the summer and having just celebrated 33 years of happy marriage, Mark and Louise O\u2019Connor should have been looking forward to relaxing in their upcoming retirement years. <\/p>\n

However, on Monday their remains, and those of their adult son, Evan, were discovered at their bungalow in rural Co Louth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/a> confirmed garda\u00ed<\/a> were not looking for anyone else for questioning was a reflection of the shock and concern the triple killing caused across the country. He stressed there was \u201cno ongoing threat to the public in Co Louth\u201d.<\/p>\n

The O\u2019Connor family home, in the townland of Drumgowna, around 5km west of Louth village, was a crime scene on Monday. Members of the Garda Technical Bureau could be seen around the property in their white forensic suits.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Three members of same family killed in knife attack in rural Co Louth homeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Local people who spoke to The Irish Times said the community was shocked. One woman said \u201cpeople don\u2019t know what to say, really they\u2019re numb\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never think it\u2019s going to happen on your doorstep. I didn\u2019t know the family, though I knew who they were. It\u2019s just shocking to think three of them are gone like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another man said the family \u201cwere the type of people to do you a favour, lovely people\u201d. He added many in the area did not realise anything had happened until news of the killings began to emerge on radio bulletins \u201cand then Tallanstown was mentioned\u201d. He described Ms O\u2019Connor as \u201ca really lovely woman\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"MarkMark O’Connor and his wife Louise with son Evan. Photograph: Facebook <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor worked for the National Advocacy Service, which provides advocacy for people with disabilities. Earlier this month the couple had celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary, with Mr O\u2019Connor saying they were \u201cstill very much in love\u201d. <\/p>\n

Many of his social media posts referenced his love for his wife, and many of the images he shared featured the couple and their three adult sons. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am blessed to have been married to the wonderful Louise Doherty O\u2019Connor all these years,\u201d he said in one post.<\/p>\n

In June, he posted a photograph of the couple collecting the deeds of their house from EBS as they had just finished paying their mortgage.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Connor was a keen runner and had competed in the Boston marathon in April. Local sources said he had regularly competed in Parkrun events in Co Louth and that his family often accompanied him in support. <\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Connor frequently raised money for charities and also promoted volunteerism in parts of the developing world and was a carer for her son, Evan, who was autistic.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Louth Ruair\u00ed \u00d3 Murch\u00fa said that the whole community is \u201cutterly shocked\u201d at the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a truly shocking and appalling incident which has absolutely stunned the whole community all over Co Louth,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that three members of one family seem to have died in dreadful and violent circumstances on a Monday morning in a quiet and rural area of mid-Louth is appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their well-appointed home all paid for during the summer and having just celebrated 33 years of happy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,61,60,9689,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-52154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-louth","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}