A body has been found by gardaí searching for missing pregnant nanny Aoife Phelan.
The remains were discovered in the garden of a house on Timahoe Road, in Portlaoise, Co Laois, a garda source confirmed.
Ms Phelan, 30, was last seen on Thursday October 25 after meeting a friend.
A 24-year-old man arrested over her murder was last night released without charge.
“A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions,” a spokesman added.
Forensic experts using a mini-digger and shovels have been excavating ground at the rear of a house in Ms Phelan's home town.
Garda divers were also examining a river bed about 12 miles away amid fears her body had been thrown in to the River Barrow from the M7 on the Laois/Kildare border.
Ms Phelan, from Cashel in Ballyroan, Portlaoise, had met a friend at the Borris Road roundabout in the town at about 6.30pm on October 25 and was last seen at 8.10pm that night when she left a friend’s house on Colliers View.
She was four months pregnant and worked as a live-in nanny in Portlaoise.