Michael Gaine was reported missing from Kenmare, Co Kerry on March 21, 2025.An Garda Síochána

"Human remains found at farmland at Carrig East, Kenmare have been identified as being the remains of Michael Gaine," An Garda Síochána has confirmed.

It was first reported on Sunday that Gaine's remains had been formally identified. The remains were reportedly discovered in a slurry tank on the farmer's land.

"Gardaí continue to appeal to the public for assistance in this investigation," a spokesperson told IrishCentral on Tuesday.

"The Garda investigation team can be contacted at Killarney Garda Station on 064 667 1160, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or speak with any member of An Garda Síochána."

The Michael Gaine investigation

Gaine, 56, was last seen in Kenmare town in Co Kerry on Thursday, March 20, and was reported missing the following day.

CCTV footage from March 20 showed him buying phone credit in Centra in Kenmare at 9:48 am. He then left in his bronze-colored RAV4, registration 152 KY 366, which has since been found parked in his farmyard, just off the N71 at Carrig East.

On April 29, Gardaí officially reclassified their missing person investigation to a homicide investigation.

They said at the time that throughout the investigation, they had undertaken over 320 formal jobs/enquiries, taken nearly 130 witness statements, recovered approximately 2,200 hours of CCTV/Dash Cam footage, and conducted extensive searches.

Gardaí added that despite the extensive enquiries carried out until that point, Gaine's remains had not yet been recovered.

The day after Gaine's case was reclassified, his wife Janice and sister Noreen issued an emotional appeal for information.

"We just want Michael to come home," Janice said. "We want to know what happened to him."

On Saturday, May 17, lands at Carrig East in Kenmare - where Gaine's farmyard is located - were declared a crime scene by Gardaí.

Later that day, An Garda Síochána confirmed that "partial human remains" had been found following preliminary examinations at the scene by State Pathologist Dr. Sally Anne Collis and Forensic Anthropologist Laureen Buckley, assisted by the Garda Technical Bureau.

Gardaí said that DNA analysis would be required to carry out formal identification of the recovered human remains.

The following day, Gardaí announced that a man in his 50s had been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Gaine. However, the man was released without charge the following day.

Michael Kelley

Last week, the Irish Mirror reported that the man who was arrested and subsequently released was Michael Kelley, a farmhand and self-described asylum seeker from Maine in the US.

Kelley, who lived on Gaine’s land for about three years, told the Irish Mirror he “watched from a distance” as officers searched the tank in which the remains, since identified as Gaine's, were found. 

As of Friday, Kelley was residing in Tralee, about an hour's drive from Kenmare. Having been released and not charged, Kelley is free to leave the country.

The American man denies any involvement with Gaine's disappearance and murder, and 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 last week. “People who have an interest in organized crime - people who are involved in organized crime.”

On Tuesday, the Irish Mirror reported that Kelley admitted he was an "illegal immigrant" in Ireland and had been “hiding underground” in the country for seven years.

Discussing his legal status in Ireland, Kelley told the Irish Mirror: “The thing is my legal status is that I am illegal. When I left the asylum system, I was no longer an asylee.

“Basically, I have an ongoing deportation order, the conditions of it is I have to report to the garda station every say four or five days and they issue an extension."

“They just then issue me an extension.. until they’re done here with whatever it is they're doing.”

On his illegal immigration status, Kelley said he was “not fighting it” and accepts his name was flagged up on a Garda system in recent weeks.

“No, I'm not fighting it. They have an obligation, they've found an illegal, they found me and I’ve appeared on their screen after having been underground.

"I am illegal, I am subject to deportation, under the law and that is a matter of fact, but they’re basically kicking the can down the road by having me come in and report to them.

“I don’t see that they’re going to deport me in the middle of this case. They’re not saying on the one side of their mouth that they’re afraid that I’m gonna run away and on the other side that they’re gonna deport me. I mean which is it?

“I have asked for an ombudsman to review my asylum, but that's gone nowhere and I‘m not surprised. I may have a claim to Irish citizenship based on the standing laws of this country based on my ancestry,” he added.

Kelley told the Irish Mirror he believes that if Gardaí had any evidence, he would have been charged already, and added that he has "a hard time believing that they’re going to charge me now."

He acknowledged he may be questioned again.

Asked if he could leave the Republic, Kelley told the Irish Mirror: “Well, one can cross the border into the United Kingdom without legal documents, but I don’t suppose that would do me any good.”

Before the remains discovered on Gaine's land had been formally identified, Kelley suggested to the Irish Mirror over the weekend that the remains could have been someone else's.

However, when told that the remains were indeed Gaine's, Kelley told the Irish Mirror: “I would like to take that at face value.

"I’m not here to contradict them in their statement, but for the record, I do want to state that the thing that seems to throw doubt on their narrative is they say they discovered Mr. Gaine's remains in the tank after they had thoroughly searched it.

“In other words, first (in the first week) they conducted a thorough search of the tank, and then presumably at that time somebody had to sign off that the tank had been searched thoroughly and emptied of any evidence.

“What they appear to be saying to you, me and everyone else is that they went back and searched it again. So, how is it possible to find them after they thoroughly emptied the tank and searched it?"

Kelley, who was working the farmland as Gardaí investigated in recent weeks, claims he “didn’t get near” the tank as officers searched it and claimed he did not believe Gardaí were telling the whole story about the body discovery.

“Something is wrong with their story,” he claimed.