Gardai have announced that they’ve upgraded the investigation into missing farmer Michael Gaine to murder.
They have not released any information as to why this is happening.
Earlier, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae has stated that “somebody somewhere knows something” in connection with the disappearance of Michael Gaine, as a new Virgin Media TV documentary takes a closer look at the missing person case involving the Kerry farmer, reports The Mirror.
It has now been four weeks since the 56-year-old was last seen in a Centra store in Kenmare on Thursday, March 20, before he went missing without any trace.
His vehicle was later discovered at his farm near Molls Gap, just outside Kenmare, with personal belongings such as his mobile phone left inside, reports The Mirror.
Since the report of his disappearance on Friday, March 21, an extensive search effort has been carried out. This has included 250 volunteers, numerous Garda units, helicopters, drones, Civil Defence teams, and the Defence Forces, yet Gardaí still have no concrete leads in the case.
Since the report of his disappearance on Friday, March 21, an extensive search effort has been carried out. This has included 250 volunteers, numerous Garda units, helicopters, drones, Civil Defence teams, and the Defence Forces, yet Gardaí still have no concrete leads in the case, reports The Mirror.
When asked whether Gardaí suspect Michael could still be alive, the Superintendent said: “We haven’t recovered Michael. This is still a missing persons investigation. So I would appeal that if he is alive, that he would contact someone, or that if anyone knows that he’s alive or knows his whereabouts, to make contact with gardaí,” he said, reports The Mirror.
Reporter Zara King has been looking into the ongoing missing person case for a Virgin Media One documentary that aired on Thursday evening.
Titled The Search for Michael Gaine, the programme reconstructs the puzzling circumstances that continue to trouble the Kerry community, featuring conversations with Michael’s friends and local residents who took part in the search effort.
The documentary examined the search in detail and highlighted how Michael’s disappearance has affected those who knew him, reports The Mirror.
“In a time when we have never been more connected, how could someone vanish without a trace?” asks King in the programme. Investigators have followed up more than 200 formal enquiries but the question remains unanswered; where is Michael Gaine?” reports The Mirror.
Minister of State Michael Healy-Rae, speaking in the documentary, said that Michael’s case is “one of the biggest mysterious we’ve had in my lifetime” and emphasized that “everyone of us is searching for an answer, searching for a conclusion to come as quickly as possible”.
Healy-Rae also issued a public plea for anyone with information to come forward.
“Somebody somewhere knows something,” he said. “Somebody obviously knows something and I keep saying this in a public plea type of way. If you saw something, it’s not for us to decide what’s important or not, if you know anything, if you think you saw something, tell that to the people in charge of the investigation. Tell that to the Gardai and they’ll decide if it’s important or not. Mike deserves from us our support, his family deserve our support and there’s no such thing as giving up or saying ‘this isn’t going to work’. We can’t say that because we owe Mike, we owe his wife and we owe his family a lot more than that,” reports The Mirror.
Radio Kerry host Gerry O’Sullivan, who has been covering the story on his radio programme, acknowledged that the search effort “can’t go on forever”, but said that locals remain optimistic for a development.
That’s what everyone of us is hoping for everyday, that the news will come that something has been found, some way of proving an answer to where Mike is will be provided to his family,” he said. “That’s the hope,” reports The Mirror.
An Garda Síochána is still asking anyone with details on Michael’s whereabouts to contact Killarney Garda Station on 064 667 1160, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station.
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