The wife of missing Kerry farmer Michael Gaine, who gardaí believe was a victim of homicide, has described him as her “best friend”.
Janice Gaine said his disappearance has been “devastating”, and she urged people with information to go to gardaí.
“He loved his home. He loved his farm,” Mrs Gaine said. “He loved animals. He loved rallying. He had lots of friends. He was a very popular guy. His disappearance is totally out of character, we knew that from day one.”
“We just want Michael to come home. We want to know what happened to him because, if we can’t find Michael, I just don’t know what I’m going to do.”
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Mr Gaine’s sister, Noreen O’Regan, described him as “a loving husband, brother, uncle”, adding: “His nieces and nephews loved him.”
“We are absolutely heartbroken at what has happened. We are devastated; our lives are shattered. We want answers,” she said.
The two women made their appeal in a video message recorded by An Garda Síochána and published on social media on Wednesday afternoon. The appeal comes less than 24 hours after the missing person’s investigation into Mr Gaine’s disappearance was formally upgraded to a homicide inquiry.
Despite extensive searches since the 56-year-old vanished on March 20th, gardaí have not discovered his remains or any trace of him. However, investigating gardaí now believe he was unlawfully killed and his body was likely disposed of in a bid to conceal the crime.
Mr Gaine was last seen in a Centra shop in Kenmare on the morning of Thursday, March 20th, buying credit for his mobile phone. Gardaí believe he drove to his farm off the N71 at Carrig East where his bronze Toyota RAV4 was found the next day, with his phone and wallet still inside.
Extensive searching, including with the involvement of Defence Forces personnel, has yielded no trace of Mr Gaine in recent weeks.
Gardaí have now interviewed so many people who knew him, and searched such an extensive area on and around his 1,000-acre farm, they have come to the – apparently default – conclusion he was unlawfully killed. They have ruled out the possibility he went away of his own volition, that he fell and died walking on the land or even took his own life.
The missing man’s car was taken from his farmyard shortly after the alarm was raised last month and has been forensically examined. A slurry pit on the farm was also searched in the event it contained his remains.
The investigation team in Killarney Garda station has taken almost 130 witness statements and undertaken 320 formal investigative tasks of enquiries. Some 2,200 hours of footage – including from CCTV systems and driver dashcams – has been gathered from analysis.
Gardaí said that, “based on the entirety of the information available to the investigation team”, a decision had been taken to reclassify the missing person inquiry to a homicide investigation.
