Locals in north Cork have been paying tribute to a couple found dead at their home in south Kerry, where they had lain undiscovered for several months, seemingly after taking their own lives.
The bodies of David Byrne (52) and his wife Hazel (51) were found on Tuesday morning by members of the Kerry County Fire Service after they were called by gardaí to assist them gain entry to the couple’s bungalow at Mountain Stage near Glenbeigh on the Ring of Kerry.
Gardaí requested the assistance after locals found a notice warning them not to enter because of carbon monoxide. Firefighters using breathing apparatus found the bodies of the couple in a bedroom.
On Wednesday in Mallow, where both Mr and Ms Byrne grew up, there was shock and sadness as people remembered them as a quiet and reclusive couple, living at their home at Ballinvuskig off the Killavullen Road, out of the town.
Ms Byrne worked from 1999 to 2015 with local law firm David J O’Meara and Sons Solicitors, and the principal on the office, David O’Meara, paid tribute to the dead woman.
“Everyone here was very saddened and upset when we heard the news because Hazel was a good friend to all here and was a very popular member of the staff,” said Mr OMeara. “She was a probate clerk with us for over 15 years and she was brilliant at her job, very bright.
“It’s only beginning to hit home today – we heard the news yesterday evening but people are really only beginning to feel the enormity of the tragedy today – we will deeply miss her because she was a very gentle person and was well liked by everyone.
Locals remember Ms Byrne as “nice, very pleasant but also very private” and she became more reserved and withdrawn when she met and married David Byrne, whom one local described as “very reclusive”. Hazel became “more reclusive too when she met him”, they said.
Ms Byrne retired from O’Meara’s in 2015 and three years later, she and her husband sold their house at Ballinvuskig near Mallow and moved to Glenbeigh. It’s understood they didn’t tell their families where in Kerry they were moving to and had no contact with them in recent years.
Ms Byrne is survived by her sister Breda and brother Tony following the deaths of her parents, Patsy and Paddy Finnegan, in 2010 and 2013. Mr Byrne is survived by his elderly father and a brother and sister following the death of his mother some years ago.
The bodies of Mr and Ms Byrne were removed from their home at Mountain Stage on Tuesday evening and brought to the morgue at University Hospital Kerry, where State Pathologist Dr Yvonne Cartney began a postmortem on Wednesday morning.
[ Why are increasing numbers of reclusive people dying at home unnoticed?Opens in new window ]
Gardaí expect the postmortems will confirm that both of the deceased died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Dr McCartney’s findings will be included in a file that gardaí will prepare for an inquest at South Kerry Coroner’s Court.
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