Partial human remains have been discovered on the farm of missing Co Kerry farmer Michael Gaine, An Garda Síochána confirmed on Saturday evening.
The alarm was raised after people spreading slurry in a field on the Gaine farm near Kenmare discovered the suspected human remains.
When gardaí arrived into the area on Friday evening the field was sealed off as a crime scene, as was the slurry pit. DNA testing is required before the remains could be confirmed as those of Mr Gaine, who vanished two months ago.
However, gardaí now suspect the popular sheep farmer was killed, and possibly dismembered, before his remains were concealed in the slurry tank on his farm. When slurry was drained from the tank for spreading on the field, some of the remains passed out of the tank where spotted when the slurry was spread in the field.
State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Collis and Forensic Anthropologist Laureen Buckley, assisted by the Garda Technical Bureau, have carried out preliminary examinations at the scene on Saturday afternoon.
Searches are ongoing to recover any further human remains, said the Garda in a statement.
Gardaí were alerted to the find by a family member and two neighbours after they began spreading the slurry they had drained from the tank as they were working on the farm on Friday evening.
The discovery was made by the family member and neighbours at around 6pm on Friday. Gardaí immediately designated the slurry tank and the two well-kept fields where the slurry was spread, close to the farmstead, as a crime scene.
The State Pathologist arrived at the scene at Carrig East near Kenmare, along with officers from the Garda Technical Bureau and detectives, late on Saturday afternoon.
Shortly before 5pm Dr Collis and accompanying gardaí made their way to the large slatted cattle shed on the property.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, a large slurry agitator - a large metal mixer which is used to break up solids in slurry tanks so they can be spread - along with the pump and gutter unit into the slatted unit appeared to be the focus of examination by the pathologist and gardaí. Slurry spreaders were also being examined.
A line of uniformed gardaí were also methodically searching one of the fields which had been declared a crime scene using metal pickers. A number of yellow evidence markers had been placed at various locations in the fields.
A large media presence, and several friends of missing man, were at the scene at the remote mountain farm outside Kenmare.
Locals who spoke to the media said they are saddened but will be relieved for Mr Gaine’s friends and family if his remains are found.
Mr Gaine’s 1,000-acre farm straddles the Ring of Kerry Road and it is understood the sealed off area is located near Mr Gaine’s farmyard, which is six kilometres northwest of Kenmare town.
Mr Gaine (56) was last seen in Kenmare on Thursday, March 20th and was reported missing the following day. His bronze Toyota Rav4 was discovered in his farmyard – off the N71 at Carrig East – with his wallet and phone inside.
His disappearance was so sudden and out of character that gardaí suspected foul play from the outset.
Mr Gaine visited a Centra shop in Kenmare on the morning of his disappearance and it is assumed, though unproven, that he drove his car from Kenmare to his farm yard.
Extensive searches were carried out on surrounding lands by members of the Defence Forces and Kerry Mountain Rescue, as well as volunteers, but no trace of Mr Gaine was found.
Gardaí had previously searched the slurry tank, draining the main chamber and then filtering slurry from a smaller chamber into the main tank but they found no sign of Mr Gaine’s body.
On April 29th, almost six weeks after Mr Gaine vanished, the case was upgraded to a homicide inquiry. Gardaí said that “based on the entirety of the information available to the investigation team” a decision had been made to reclassify the missing person inquiry.
Investigators believed that he had been killed, and his killer had disposed of his remains either by burying them on the mountain farm or disposing of them in a lake or some other body of water.
To help them rule out the possibility that Mr Gaine’s body remained on the surface, gardaí recruited the assistance of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to track the movements of birds of prey.
They asked the NPWS to monitor the birds to see if they were congregating in any one area and they tracked the birds to a hillside location only to discover that they drawn to a dead animal.
Gardai also requested the NPWS to put up night drones to monitor the movements of foxes, in case they too were being drawn to any remains that were above ground on the hillside farm.
At the time they reclassified their investigation from a missing person’s inquiry to a full murder investigation, the team based in Killarney Garda Station had made over 320 formal enquiries, taken almost 130 witness statements and viewed over 2,200 hours of CCTV and dash cam footage.
Gardai also appointed a Family Liaison Officer to brief Mr Gaine’s wife, Janice, and other family members.
The decision to upgrade the investigation to a murder inquiry came just days after Ms Gaine and her sister-in-law, Noreen O’Regan made a video appeal for anyone with information to contact gardai
Ms Gaine said: “We just want Michael to come home – we want to know what happened to him because if we can’t find Michael, I don’t know what I am going to do.
“He was my best friend, my husband and the whole thing has been devastating – he loved his home, he loved his farm, he loved his farm, he loved his animals, he loved his rallying.
“He had lots of friends, he was a very popular guy and his disappearance is totally out of character.”
