Gardaí believe Peader Doyle (66) was already dead when he was taken into a post office in Carlow town by two men to claim his pension.
Sources told The Irish Times that information in the investigation has shown that the pensioner did not die suddenly at Hosey’s shop and post office on Staplestown Road at 11am last Friday.
Evidence also proves Mr Doyle was alive earlier that morning rather than being dead for many hours, or even days, before the bizarre incident.
A postmortem has determined there was no foul play but was only able to estimate the time of death as some time on Friday morning.
It remains unclear whether Mr Doyle died in his home on Pollerton Road, about 500m from the post office, and was already dead when taken from the house.
“We are looking at things like witness statements and CCTV footage to see what condition Peader [Doyle] was in as he was being taken from the house to the post office,” one source told The Irish Times.
The two men propping up Mr Doyle's remains in Hosey’s post office on Staplestown Road were both known to him.
One of them went voluntarily to Carlow Garda station to give a statement, in which he insisted that Mr Doyle was alive when they left home and had taken a drink of water just before leaving.
The incident on Friday resulted in paramedics and gardaí being called when it became clear Mr Doyle was dead, though his fully clothed remains were being propped up by two men who were trying to collect his pension.
The men departed the scene, leaving the remains of Mr Doyle behind, and were not paid his pension.
Mr Doyle’s funeral Mass is due to take place on Monday at the Church of the Holy Family, Askea, Carlow Town, at 11am.
