Larry Murphy, a suspected Irish serial killer who detectives say may have murdered an Irish American woman Annie McCarrick as well as several others, is due to be freed in August this year, authorities have confirmed.

The news comes as police are investigating what may be a hidden grave just two miles from Murphy's old home. Police  confirmed they conducted an examination of the open plot last month and removed earth fragments for analysis.

McCarrick, whose family is from Long Island, New York  disappeared in Wicklow in 1993 and her body has never been found. Her heartbroken parents spent lengthy spells in Ireland trying to trace her movements, but were never able to find any clues to what happened after she apparently left a nearby bar alone.

Murphy was eventually convicted of the rape of a Carlow businesswoman who he took to the Wicklow Mountains, but she was saved when men out hunting came across him assaulting her. His ten-year sentence is now up.

 Murphy is one of  Ireland's most notorious criminals.

He attacked the Carlow woman in a vicious, well planned kidnap that saw the woman repeatedly raped in a brutal manner.

Now police are checking whether the new found  open grave could be linked to  Murphy.

The hidden plot was discovered near Humewood Castle in County  Wicklow – just two miles away from the rapist’s home.

Murphy  is a suspect for the disappearance of some of the six women missing in Leinster in the 1990s.

Police investigated him in  the disappearance of Jo Jo Dullard, Deirdre Jacob and Annie McCarrick in the 1990s.

Missing woman Jo Jo Dullard was last seen in Moone, Co Kildare, just 13 miles from Humewood Castle. The other victims were also in the area.

While still free , the rapist lived in the village of Boley, which is located just two miles from the latest gravesite.

One of the men that made the new grim discovery told the Evening Herald how the hole looked remarkably like a grave.

"My friend and I were shooting in the wooded area just outside the grounds of Humewood Castle when we discovered this strange hole," he said. "It was dug out like a grave. It was six feet long, two and a half feet wide and three feet deep.

"It looked like it was dug a number of years ago, there was moss growing in it. It is in a pretty open area and can be seen from the road.

Murphy, who was married with kids  has refused to cooperate with the police.