Self-declared Michael Gaine murder ‘suspect' gave court ‘untrustworthy testimony'
American was involved in a bitter dispute with his ex partner over their two daughters
The district court findings were made against failed asylum seeker and father-of-two Michael Kelley, who is originally from Waldo County, Maine in the US, during a bitter custody dispute with former partner Alicia Snow in 2009.
Publicly available documents obtained by the Sunday World confirm the former US soldier made 'unsupported' allegations against Ms Snow during the dispute of 'practising witchcraft on the couple's children'.
Kelley, who has denied any involvement in Michael Gaine's murder, was arrested on May 18, just over 36 hours after the victim's body parts were discovered in slurry being spread on his farm.
Mike Gaine went missing on March 20
He was later released without charge.
Gardai believe Mr Gaine was dismembered after he was killed and that the body parts were dumped in a 50,000-gallon slurry tank on the property.
As part of the garda investigation, a full background check is being carried out on Kelley, who had been living 'underground' on Mr Gaine's farm and working as a 'farmhand'.
Enquiries carried out by this newspaper have now established that Kelley is a father-of-two who was involved in a bitter dispute with his former partner Alicia Snow, which was ultimately decided in her favour by Maine's Supreme Judicial Court in 2009.
Legal documents outlined Michael Kelley's 'untrustworthy' statements
News in 90 Seconds - June 1st
Records of this nature in the US are, unlike in Ireland, publicly available. According to court documents, Kelley and Ms Snow were involved in a romantic relationship and are the biological parents of two daughters.
After they separated, Kelley brought a parental rights action.
In 2006, a family law magistrate held a hearing and issued an order allocating shared parental rights between the parties, but stated 'in the event the parties are not able to agree, final decision-making is allocated to Ms Snow'.
The order also awarded primary residency to Ms Snow.
The 2006 order included a written agreement which afforded reasonable rights of contact with the children and stipulated that Kelley would not pay child support. After the original order was made, the former couple maintained a cordial relationship.
Gardai on site
Ms Snow was able to attain a nursing degree and begin a relationship with a new partner.
Ultimately, however, the situation began to deteriorate, culminating in a series of miscommunications between Kelley's wife and Ms Snow.
After a disagreement over a brief trip to Chicago for the children, Kelley filed a motion to enforce the 2006 parental rights order which he alleged prevented Snow from sending the children out of state without his consent.
Kelley also filed a motion for contempt, alleging that Ms Snow violated the 2006 order by taking the children to visit their grandfather in Chicago.
The court held a hearing on all of the motions on January 14, 2009.
After hearing testimony from Kelley, his then wife, Snow, and Snow's father, the court made a number of 'findings of fact.'
These included:
Snow, meanwhile, was found by the court to be 'logical and rational and her abilities to act as an effective parent are far superior to those of Kelley'.
Mike Gaine captured on CCTV before he disappeared
The court ordered that Snow have sole parental rights.
In his appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court, Kelley argued that the District Court erred when it awarded sole parental rights to Ms Snow. But the Supreme Judicial Court found: 'After a review of the record, it is evident that the court's findings are supported by the record as a whole.
'Because there is competent evidence in the record to support the court's decision, and it is clear that the court considered the best interests of the children in its award of parental rights, the judgment must be affirmed.'
Mike Gaine's wife and sister
The investigation into the murder of Michael Gaine is now in its tenth week. The popular farmer vanished on March 20.
Mr Kelley worked on Gaine's farm for a number of years.
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