Gardaí have identified key suspects as part of the investigation into the disappearance, assumed killing, of Kyran Durnin (8) but will not move to arrest them unless they can secure evidence on which to ground arrests.
Detectives believe a number of people they have already spoken to at length have more information about Kyran and what happened to him but which they have not shared with gardaí to date. However, while arrests are anticipated in time, sources said gardaí must have very specific evidence in the case to put to suspects, adding the inquiry has not yet reached that stage.
Gardaí have been working to track the movements of the persons of interest, the level and nature of the contact they have had with each other and also their mobile phone use and where they have resided and travelled in recent years.
The search of a house in Dundalk, Co Louth, this week, along with excavating the back garden and a nearby plot, has been completed and gardaí uncovered no evidence the boy’s remains may have been concealed there. That house, on Emer Terrace, was the Durnin family home until May and locals there have been spoken to by gardaí in a bid to determine whether they ever saw, or spoke to, Kyran and when that was.
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A second property, also in Co Louth, was being reviewed with the possibility of extensive searching taking place, though no such move has yet been made.
Garda sources said a very high volume of calls had been received from members of the public since it emerged last week the missing persons appeal for Kyran and his mother, Dayla (24), was being stood down and a murder inquiry commenced into the assumed killing of the boy.
Some of the information received includes possible sightings of the boy at a much later time than the last confirmed sightings of Kyran, in his national school in Dundalk around May-June 2022. However, Garda sources stressed all of the leads received from members of the public would have to be checked to determine their usefulness and accuracy.
Gardaí upgraded the case to one of a murder inquiry after being unable to find any evidence, during the early stages of their investigation, that Kyran was alive. A family member reported the child, and his mother, missing at the end of August, with the Garda investigation beginning immediately.
[ Kyran Durnin timeline: What we know so far about missing eight-year-oldOpens in new window ]
That report was made to the Garda a day after the child and family agency, Tusla, flagged its concerns for Kyran’s welfare.
However, gardaí have found no evidence he was still alive in August. It is feared he may have died two years ago, or more, and that his absence somehow went unnoticed. While the case is now a murder inquiry, gardaí have not ruled out the possibility he died in some other way and his remains were then concealed. While Tusla was working with the Durnin family, Kyran was not in State care.
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