Gardaí have “recommenced operations” at lands close to the farmyard where Michael Gaine went missing in Co Kerry eight weeks ago.
A garda spokeswoman confirmed the development on Friday night, stating operations had begun again at Carrig East in Kenmare.
“An Garda Síochána is not in a position to provide any further information at this time,” the spokeswoman said.
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.
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Michael Gaine: Gardaí ‘recommence operations’ close to farmyard where Kerry farmer went missing
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.
A slurry pit at the farm yard was searched due to the possibility that he could have fallen in, or had his body concealed there, but nothing was found. 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.
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.
