Gardaí have released without charge a man in his 50s arrested for questioning about the murder of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine.
Mr Gaine disappeared from his farm outside Kenmare in March.
The man, who was arrested at an address in Tralee shortly after midday on Sunday, was questioned for up to 24 hours about the murder of Mr Gaine. He was detained at Killarney Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The Garda Press Office issued a statement on Monday night confirming the man had been released without charge.
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Mr Gaine was last seen alive when he was captured on CCTV footage buying phone credit at 9.48am on March 20th at the Centra shop in Kenmare.
He was reported missing on March 21st by his brother in law, Garda Sean O’Regan, when he failed to return home.
Mr Gaine’s wife Janice and his sister, Noreen O’Regan, issued an appeal for information on his disappearance on April 30th, a day after gardaí upgraded their inquiry from a missing person’s investigation to a murder investigation.
Gardai appointed a liaison officer early on in the investigation to keep Mr Gaine’s family briefed on any developments in the case and it is understood that they have been informed that the suspect was released without charge.
Gardaí hope searches at the farm of Mr Gaine will yield clues as to what happened to him.
Members of the Garda Water Unit have carried out a thorough search of a slurry tank while Garda technical experts examined a slurry tanker at Mr Gaine’s hillside farmyard, 6km from Kenmare, midway between the town and Moll’s Gap on the Ring of Kerry.
Mr Gaine’s nephew Mark O’Regan and a local agricultural contractor were spreading slurry they had drawn from the tank in the yard on Friday evening when the spraying pipe became blocked. When they went to clear it, they discovered human remains and notified gardaí.
It is understood Mr O’Regan and the contractor had already drawn four tanker loads of slurry from the pit and sprayed it on two fields when they made the discovery. Gardaí have spent much of the weekend combing the fields for more human remains.
Investigators are working on the theory that whoever killed Mr Gaine dismembered his body before disposing of the remains in the slurry tank.
Gardaí believe that Mr Gaine was murdered somewhere in the vicinity of the farmyard on March 20th and his body was disposed of in the slurry tank.
However, gardaí found no trace of blood or tissue on the farm that would result from a body being dismembered.
One theory they are examining is whether Mr Gaine’s body may have been dismembered in a stream, which would wash away clues.
Investigators admit they are facing a challenge to try to establish just how exactly Mr Gaine died if they do not have sufficient body parts that might allow a pathologist to confirm a cause of death.
One informed source pointed out that in addition to Mr Gaine’s appearing to have been dismembered, the fact that his remains were then put in the slurry tank also makes establishing a cause of death more difficult as human tissue dissolves in slurry.
“Slurry is rich in bacteria that break down tissue and flesh and the hot weather over the past few weeks would have speeded up that dissolution process so unless you find say a bony body part like a skull with some evidence of trauma, it will be very difficult to give a cause of death,” the source said.
