The remains of the young woman, who was murdered a fortnight ago in Scotland, arrived at Cork Airport from Glasgow today on an Aer Lingus- Stobart Air flight.
The flight also carried Karen's devastated parents and three older brothers who have been praised for the dignity with which they carried themselves throughout the entire ordeal.
The body of the young nurse, who was studying in Glasgow at the time of her disappearance and subsequent murder, was brought back to her family home on a farm in Co. Cork by her heartbroken family.
21-year-old Alexander Pacteau, the individual accused of Karen's murder, exercised his legal right to request a second postmortem on the body of the young woman found in a storage shed on a remote farm in North Glasgow.
Clarification regarding the second postmortem had to be established before Karen's remains could be released to her family.
Karen will be removed to the Church of St Michael the Archangel in Analeentha for a Requiem Mass at 2pm on Tuesday and is due to be buried in St. John's Cemetery in Burnfort.
