A Mainer has been charged in the grisly death of an Irish farmer last year.
Michael Kelley, 53, did not speak during his appearance in Tralee District Court on Wednesday, according to the BBC
His arrest last week comes nearly a year after the disappearance of 56-year-old Michael Gaine, who was last seen alive on March 20, 2025, in a local shopping center, according to An Garda Síochána, the Irish national police and security service. He was reported missing the next day.
Police made a grisly discovery on May 16, 2025, when Gaine’s dismembered remains were found in a slurry spreader on his farm after the machine jammed. His DNA was found in nearby fields, where the slurry was spread.
Police detained a suspect in his 50s on May 18, 2025, but released him the next day without charge.
Although Irish police didn’t publicly identify the suspect at the time, Kelley told numerous Irish media outlets that he was the suspect questioned in Gaine’s disappearance, but denied any involvement in his death. Instead, he proposed a slew of theories that organized crime was involved and that he was being framed.
Before Gaine’s death and disappearance, Kelley had been living in Ireland for seven years, including three years on Gaine’s 1,000-acre farm in Carrig East in Kenmare, where Kelley lived in exchange for working the land.
Before moving across the Atlantic, Kelley lived in Waldo County, according to the Irish Times.
Kelley was a private in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany as a guard. He later left the military as a conscientious objector during the first Gulf War, according to the Irish Mirror.
Kelley was scheduled to appear again in court Wednesday, the BBC reported.
BDN writer Kasey Turman contributed to this report.