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Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Irish Times
Michael Gaine murder: Ex-partner of suspect Michael Kelley says he became ‘very unstable' after 9/11 attacks
A former partner of the American man questioned about the murder of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine expressed serious concern about his mental wellbeing and increasing paranoia after the 9/11 attacks in the US. American woman Alicia Snow was involved in a relationship with Michael Kelley in the late 1990s and early 2000s and has two children with him. Ms Snow told The Irish Times that Mr Kelley (53) suddenly became 'very unstable' and increasingly paranoid after the September 11th, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks and began stockpiling supplies during their time together in Maine. She described the change in him as 'a total reversal to me'. Within three months, Ms Snow and her children moved out of the home they shared near the town of Swanville. They later separated and became estranged. READ MORE Mr Kelley, who moved to Kerry from the north-eastern US state of Maine about seven years ago, was arrested on May 18th last by gardaí investigating the murder of Mr Gaine (56) before being released without charge. Kerry farmer Michael Gaine who went missing in March and whose partial remains were discovered on his farmland last month. Mr Gaine's dismembered body was found the previous day in slurry spread on fields and in a slurry tank at his isolated farmyard 6km from Kenmare. He was last seen alive in a local shop in the town on March 20th. Mr Kelley lived and worked on Mr Gaine's farm. He has denied any role in his murder, claiming he is being framed by organised criminals. Gardaí investigating the murder of Mr Gaine travelled to Maine last weekend to interview Ms Snow and to search for any clues to explain what might have happened to the farmer. Ms Snow described her former partner as 'hardworking' and 'responsible' during their time living together on his mother's farm in Swanville. Mr Kelley worked as a farmhand on a nearby farm among a variety of other jobs, including as a cook and a butcher in a local shop. She said her then partner's increasing paranoia after the 2001 attacks 'surprised the hell out of me'. Alicia Snow, a nurse based in Maine in the United States and the former partner of Michael Kelley. Photograph via Ms Snow's website. Ms Snow, who is a qualified nurse, said Mr Kelley could be very sweet and was notably loyal but that he went through 'bouts of intense paranoia'. Others who knew him in Waldo County, where he lived in Maine, recalled his interest in conspiracy theories, including his fears about the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist group, and other groups of interest to conspiracy theorists. Mr Kelley previously claimed to The Irish Times that he fled to and applied for asylum in Ireland as he feared he was being targeted by the KKK. Ms Snow last spoke to Mr Kelley about 10 years ago when he came to her door saying a group called the Heaven and Earth Society were pursuing him. The Irish Times put her concerns about Mr Kelley to him in an interview this week in Tralee, where he is now living. Asked about his former partner's belief that he may struggle with mental illness, Mr Kelley said he would leave people to make up their own minds. 'People need to judge for themselves; they need to judge from their own observations,' he said. Michael Kelley photographed in Tralee this week. Photo: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus Ltd Asked about what those in Waldo County had said about his beliefs in conspiracy theories, Mr Kelley said people should decide for themselves. 'People need to judge for themselves – that's the blanket answer for all these things people are saying about me,' he said. Following the couple's separation, Mr Kelley and Ms Snow were involved in a legal dispute over rights of access to their children. A US judge concluded that Mr Kelley made 'false accusations' claiming Ms Snow was 'a witch' and 'practises witchcraft on their children'. The judge also found that Mr Kelley's ability to determine fact from fiction was 'questionable'. In his interview with this newspaper, Mr Kelley gave more detail about how he came to work on Mr Gaine's farm. He declined to answer any questions about the Garda investigation into the murder or his relationship with Mr Gaine as he said it might affect the investigation. He said Mr Gaine offered him board and lodging at the old Gaine family farmhouse in return for doing farm work. Members of the Garda forensic team carrying out a search at the farm of Michael Gaine (56) near Kenmare last month. Photo: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus Ltd The American said he began working for Mr Gaine after he approached a number of farmers in the Kenmare area on New Year's Day 2022 looking for farm work, having spent more than a year living in a camp at Scully's Wood near Dromquinna outside Kenmare. He said he moved to Kerry after he applied for asylum in Dublin and was transferred to Killarney where he lived with other men in accommodation provided by the State's International Protection Accommodation Service. He later left there and camped in Killarney National Park before he was ordered to leave by National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers. Mr Kelley did a variety of casual jobs in Co Kerry, harvesting seaweed in Kenmare Bay for a man from Glenbeigh and cutting grass at an adventure centre at Blackwater. Before moving to Mr Gaine's old farmhouse, Mr Kelley set up a camp at Scully's Wood and bought a solar panel and battery to charge his headlamp and mobile phone. He spent much of the Covid pandemic living in the wood before deciding on New Year's Day 2022 to look for farm work. He said he convinced Mr Gaine to give him a job after he repaired Mr Gaine's quad bike and he moved into the old farmhouse. Michael Kelley photographed in Tralee Town Park this week. Photo: Domnick Walsh © Eye Focus Ltd Mr Gaine paid him €100 a week to help with the farm work, including repairing machinery, bringing fodder to cattle and fetching sheep from the mountain. He brought him into Kenmare once a week to buy supplies. Mr Kelley said the money was 'more than enough for me to live on and I was actually able to save money'. The old farmhouse had no electricity but it had a stove. He described it as 'a serious upgrade on living in the woods'.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Irish Times
Michael Gaine murder: Gardaí visit Michael Kelley's ex-partner in Maine
Gardaí investigating the murder of Kerry farmer Mike Gaine travelled to the United States last weekend to speak with the former partner of a man arrested about the killing. Investigators visited Waldo County in the northeastern state of Maine where Michael Kelley, the man detained and questioned last month over Mr Gaine's murder, lived before he moved to Ireland. Mr Kelley's former partner Alicia Snow said she met investigators on Saturday and that they were looking for any clues to explain what might have happened to Mr Gaine. A Garda source confirmed a detective had travelled to the US as part of the investigation to seek a statement from Ms Snow. READ MORE The Garda Press Office declined to comment on the visit. 'An Garda Síochána does not comment on, confirm or deny queries on specific operational details of ongoing criminal investigations.' A native of Maine, Mr Kelley lived and worked on Mr Gaine's farm near Kenmare, and has denied any involvement in his murder. Mr Gaine was last seen alive on March 20th. His partial remains were discovered on his land on May 17th. Michael Kelley lived and worked on Michael Gaine's farm near Kenmare, and has denied any involvement in his murder. Photograph: Barry Roche [ Who is Michael Kelley, the man questioned over the murder of Michael Gaine? Opens in new window ] Mr Kelley was arrested on May 18th on suspicion of murder and was released without charge 24 hours later. Mr Kelley, a musician, has claimed in media interviews that he is being framed for the murder by people involved in 'organised crime'. He is now living in Tralee, where he can be seen regularly busking on the streets. [ American man questioned in Michael Gaine murder inquiry addresses his Garda complaint Opens in new window ] Ms Snow, who was Mr Kelley's partner for three years and has two children with him, has fond memories of their time together living simply in a yurt on his mother's farm in the small town of Swanville in Maine. She said Mr Kelley did a variety of jobs over the years. He installed ductwork for heating and cooling systems, and worked as a farmhand on a neighbour's dairy farm, as a breakfast cook and as a butcher in a small country grocery store. In 2001, the couple had a commitment ceremony on the farm in Swanville with a group of family and friends. Ms Snow grew the flowers for the ceremony, a bagpiper played and Mr Kelley wore a kilt, she said. She described Mr Kelley as 'strong, capable, hardworking, sober homesteader' who played the Uilleann pipes and a bagpipe. Ms Snow said he was 'funny and smart and responsible and cooked well, and worked real hard like an Irish farm boy'. Their relationship subsequently broke down and they separated in 2001. After their separation, Ms Snow earned a nursing degree and began working as a nurse. Mr Kelley claimed in an interview with The Irish Times earlier this month that he had been threatened by the Ku Klux Klan in Maine because he was a Catholic and it was anti-Catholic. He claimed they poisoned and killed his dog near his home outside Swanville and, fearing for his life, he moved to Ireland. After his separation from Ms Snow, Mr Kelley brought a legal action seeking right of access to their children, who were living with her. Court papers from the legal case in Maine in 2009 show that Mr Kelley accused Ms Snow of witchcraft, and of casting spells on her children. The courts sided with Ms Snow, who was granted full custody of their children. [ Michael Gaine funeral hears of 'idyllic' community struck by 'something terrible' Opens in new window ] The judge in the case, in which Mr Kelley represented himself, concluded that Mr Kelley's ability to determine fact from fiction was 'questionable'. Ms Snow said the latest time she spoke to Mr Kelley was about 10 years ago. She said he went to Arizona about seven years ago to visit his father, who bought him a one-way ticket to Ireland.
