Michael Gaine was reported missing from Kenmare, Co Kerry on March 21.An Garda Síochána

The Irish Mirror reported on Friday, May 23 that the man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering missing Kenmare farmer Michael Gaine and subsequently released without charge is American man Michael Kelley.

Kelley, who is now residing in Tralee - about an hour's drive from Kenmare - spoke with the Irish Mirror just days after he was released from Gardaí custody.

The Irish Mirror reports that Kelley, a farmhand, is from Maine and that he is a self-described asylum seeker.

Having been released and not charged, Kelley is free to leave the country. 

Speaking with the Irish Mirror, Kelley admitted that he was the man who was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of murdering Gaine, but denies any involvement.

Gaine, 56, was last seen in a Centra in Kenmare, Co Kerry on Thursday, March 20. He was reported missing the following day. On April 29, Gardaí reclassified their missing person investigation to a homicide investigation. 

On Saturday, May 17, Gardaí announced that they had resumed operations the evening prior at lands in Carrig East - where Gaine's farm is located - and had declared a crime scene. Later on Saturday, they confirmed that partial human remains had been discovered.

A man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of murder the following day, Sunday, May 18. He was released without charge on Monday.

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Kelley has now suggested to the Irish Mirror that he is being framed.

“There may be elements that want to string me up,” Kelley told the Irish Mirror.

“People who have an interest in organized crime - people who are involved in organized crime.”

When asked by the Irish Mirror if he accepts that Gardaí are treating him as a suspect, Kelley accepted that, adding that it was "a matter of public record."

When asked if he said anything to the Gardaí, Kelley told the Irish Mirror: “Well, of course, but that’s all stuff that is privileged between the guards, the solicitor and myself.”

Kelley told the Irish Mirror several times that he denies any involvement with Gaine's disappearance and presumed murder. 

When asked what he believed had happened to Gaine, Kelley told The Irish Mirror: “It would be incautious for me to comment on that on the advice of my solicitor.”

Asked about the partial human remains that Gardaí said were discovered on Gaine's land last weekend, Kelley said he is aware that Gardaí claimed the body parts were found in a dismembered state, but said that he had "not seen the evidence to that effect."

He said: "I’ve seen only that they recovered body parts from the slurry tank, but I have not seen that those body parts have been identified as Michael Gaine."

Indeed, Gardaí said on Saturday that "DNA analysis will be required to carry out formal identification of the recovered human remains." As of Friday evening, they have not publicly confirmed whether or not the remains are Gaine's.

Kelley continued: “So we have body parts, but we don’t know that they’re Michael Gaine’s, and I was not shown any evidence of that myself.”

Kelley again denied that he had any involvement.

Asked if he believed someone else was involved, Kelley said, “that’s the obvious deduction isn’t it, somebody is.”

When asked if he accepted that this was a murder, Kelley said: “No, it's an alleged murder.

"What it is is a missing persons case in which a man is missing and in which body parts have been found. So those are Michael Gaine’s body parts in that tank. Belonging to him, maybe not of him, but they are his property. So you understand those body parts in that tank are Michael Gaine’s property.”