'I was framed by gangsters' – man arrested in farmer's murder probe speaks out

Daily Mirror

23-05-2025

Michael Kelley, a self-described asylum seeker from the US, has denied any involvement in the alleged murder of Irish farmer Michael Gaine after he says he was arrested by Gardaí - claiming he was framed by gangsters
A farmworker from the US who admitted he was arrested over the alleged murder of Irish farmer Michael Gaine claims he was framed by gangsters.
Michael Kelley, a self-described asylum seeker from Maine, admitted he was arrested by Gardaí but denied any involvement, claiming: 'There may be elements that want to string me up. People who have an interest in organised crime - people who are involved in organised crime.' Farmer Michael Gaine, 56, was reported missing from his home near Kenmare on March 21 before neighbours alerted Gardaí to human remains found while spreading the contents of a slurry tank around his farm last week.
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Kelley, who lives an hour away in Tralee, told the Irish Mirror he was being treated as a suspect after the remains were found. He said he was arrested and interviewed by Gardaí before being released without charge earlier this week.
Asked if he was being treated as a suspect, Kelley said: 'Well that is a matter of record,' before adding: 'Do you know who I am? Well then, why do you ask? Whether or not I'm a suspect is not a matter of perspective. It's a matter of public record.'
When asked if he said anything to Gardaí, Kelley replied: 'Well of course, but that's all stuff that is privileged between the guards, the solicitor and myself.' He further denied any involvement and refused to explain what he believed had happened to Mr Gaine, saying: 'It would be incautious for me to comment on that on the advice of my solicitor.'
Kelley said he was upset about Mr Gaine's death. When asked why he believed Gardaí were looking at him as the suspect, he said: 'Because I lived there.'
He then said 'the obvious deduction' is that somebody is involved. Kelley was asked if he accepted that this was a murder, to which he replied: 'No, it's an alleged murder. What it is is a missing persons case in which a man is missing and in which body parts have been found. So those are Michael Gaine's body parts in that tank. Belonging to him, maybe not of him, but they are his property. So you understand those body parts in that tank are Michael Gaine's property.'
Investigators believe Mr Gaine's killer spent hours cutting his body into tiny pieces before squeezing the remains through gaps between wooden slats that were being used to cover a huge slurry tank on his farm.
Sources told the Irish Mirror that investigators also believe the killer used water and disinfectant to wash away forensic evidence into the same slurry tank on the Carrig East farm - where specialist officers from the Technical Bureau and the Water Unit have reportedly recovered almost all of his remains.
It was revealed yesterday that Gardaí are satisfied the remains are those of Mr Gaine, who was last seen in a Centra Shop in Kenmare, around 8km from his farm, on March 20.