Following the discovery of his wallet and phone in his vehicle, Gardai are investigating if missing farmer Michael Gaine may have gone away with someone, reports The Mirror.
Officers urged drivers who were on the N71 last Thursday to come forward, and gardai are now concentrating their attention on whether Michael “Mike” Gaine, 56, left his farm in Kenmare and was transferred somewhere else, one week after the well-known Kerry farmer’s puzzling disappearance.
Gardai suspect that Mike, who had “vanished off the face of the Earth,” may have been murdered. According to close acquaintances, Mike did not exhibit any overt indications of anxiety before to his disappearance, reports The Mirror.
Dan McCarthy, a local councillor and personal friend of Mike, told this newspaper that the farmer’s wife Janice is “distraught,” while many who know him find it hard to understand why he would leave his phone and wallet in his car.
“She’s distraught completely. She is just bewildered with the whole thing,” Dan said of Mike’s wife. She would have seen him last on Thursday morning I suppose when he went to the farm. The jeep was left in the yard. The wallet and phone were in the jeep,” he revealed, reports The Mirror.
Dan, who claims he would have seen Mike virtually daily, says he finds it hard to comprehend what has happened to him and worries that he has suffered some severe injuries as the days pass.
The close friend clarified, nevertheless, that Mike had no adversaries and was unaware of any problems before his strange departure.
“No one knows like. He was a fella that would be in bother with no one. That’s my belief anyway but sure look, I never heard anyone say anything bad about him,” he said. “I’ve known him all my life. He’d always have been around and we’d have met every day at some stage. He’d be a neighbour as well. He vanished off the face of the Earth and everyone is in a very slumber humour now as there’s now can do nothing other than stand around and talk about him. A lot of people are deeply down and depressed over it,” he said, reports The Mirror.
While investigators removed the missing man’s Rav 4 car from his farm for additional testing, Dan, who has been searching for Mike with more than 250 other local volunteers since Friday, claims gardai have now advised residents to step aside for the time being.
It follows unsuccessful searches of the area, which included slurry tanks and cow buildings, reports The Mirror.
Mike has not been located despite a thorough search of the surrounding region by the Water Unit, gardai, drones, the Coast Guard, and Civil Defence. His last reported sighting was on Thursday morning at 9:48 a.m. when he left the local Centra in Kenmare.
“The search was coordinated here from the mart in Kenmare. I’m the manager of the mart as well as being a local councillor. Unfortunately nothing was found,” Dan said. Telling us that he last saw Mike on Wednesday, Dan said his pal was in good spirits – and there was no sign of any distress, reports The Mirror.
“He was in the same characteristics as he always was. He’d be one of the first in the valley to be up in the morning. He would be down to feed the animals and he’d have a chat with a few fellas locally before he’d work his way back home again,” he said.”I’d say they’re ruling nothing in and nothing out and they don’t really know and I’d say that’s the way it is,” he said of the garda investigation. It’s very hard to quantify what’s after happening,” reports The Mirror.
Mike’s home is three miles distant from the countryside where his vehicle was found, and neither he nor his wife reside there. After not hearing from him, his wife sounded the alarm, and a huge, never-before-seen hunt for him was launched almost immediately.
Dan believes Mike’s disappearance is totally out of character, adding: “It’s unreal like he would have phoned someone. There’s two speculations now as to what has happened to him and the sad thing is one of the two is right,” reports The Mirror.
Mike was into his rallies and came from a long-standing agricultural family in the region, according to Dan, who described his friend as a character. “He would raise sucklers and sheep. There, his family would have farmed for many generations. What a character he would be. Rallying and similar activities used to appeal to him. He was an excellent rally speaker.
Appealing to anyone who may have seen his friend he added: “I’d appeal to people that seen him at any stage last Thursday or anything suspicious around the yard to please let the gardai know. I’d just like to thank the people for their help and generosity during the search and for the people who gave us food andall the volunteers, they have been absolutely unbelievable,” he said, reports The Mirror.
In an updated appeal to the public on Thursday, gardai said: ““It is now one week since the last sighting of Michael Gaine. Michaels family have had no contact from him and his family and An Garda Síochána are extremely concerned for his well-being. Michael is described as being approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall with a stocky build, brown/grey hair and a bushy beard. When last seen, Michael was wearing an orange woolly hat, black fleece, blue jeans and black boots,” reports The Mirror.
“Searches have been carried out at Michaels farmyard and in the immediate vicinity. An Garda Síochána continues to work with and is fully supported by other state and voluntary agencies in our ongoing efforts to locate Michael.An Garda Síochána wishes to thank members of the public who assisted in carrying out searches on open land last weekend. An Garda Síochána is not requesting the assistance of the general public for further searches, at this time,” reports The Mirror.
“However, Gardaí continue to want to speak to any person who travelled on the N71 on Thursday 20th March and/ or any person who may have any camera footage, including dash-cam or CCTV, or any other images (video or still) from Thursday 20th March and Friday 21st March in the Kenmare town / Moll’s Gap (N71/ R568) area to provide that imagery to the Garda investigation team. Anyone with information on Michael’s whereabouts is asked to contact Killarney Garda Station on 064 667 1160, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station,” reports The Mirror.
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