A chief suspect in the disappearance and murder of schoolboy Kyran Durnin has been found dead in what gardaí described as a ‘personal tragedy’.

Anthony Maguire, 36, who was questioned by detectives before being released without charge last week, was discovered dead at his home in Drogheda, Co. Louth on Tuesday. Gardaí are not treating his death as suspicious and believe he had taken his own life. However, they stressed that an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

‘Earlier today, Tuesday, 17th December 2024, gardaí and emergency services were alerted following the discovery of a body of a male aged in his 30s in a domestic residence in Drogheda, County Louth,’ a Garda spokesman said. ‘The local coroner has been notified and a post-mortem examination will be arranged. The outcome of the post-mortem will determine the course of the investigation.'

It’s understood Mr Maguire was suspected of being part of an elaborate cover-up to shield the schoolboy’s disappearance and suspected death from the authorities. Kyran, who would be eight years old if he were still alive, was reported missing in August, but Gardaí believe he may have died up to two years previously.

Security sources said that during his arrest, Mr Maguire was questioned on whether he facilitated a ‘decoy’ child, who was brought before Tusla earlier this year in a failed attempt to lead them to believe the child was Kyran.

A source told the MoS recently: ‘The last sighting of Kyran was May 2022… The [decoy] boy was produced on two different occasions. That boy was identified fairly quickly… This is an incredibly complex investigation, neglect has been noted, and various men involved in his life too, with possible abuse a factor.’

Last Thursday, Mr Maguire was arrested, which coincided with the searches taking place at two homes in Drogheda, with a forensic and intrusive examination of one house – involving an excavator and a cadaver dog. Gardaí said that the aim of the search was to find evidence which may reveal where Kyran is or what happened to him. The search concluded the following day and Mr Maguire was subsequently released without charge.

Gardaí confirmed their search revealed nothing of consequence, but plan on conducting further searches as the investigation continues. One of the sites being considered is a house and garden that was excavated in July 2022, two months after Kyran was last seen. Although gardaí have established that the excavation work on the garden was booked ‘before the child died and only started months after he was last seen’, a source familiar with the investigation said the property will ‘most likely’ be searched.

On Tuesday last week, a woman known to Kyran and Mr Maguire was also arrested and questioned by gardaí before she was released without charge 24 hours later. However, the two remain the top suspects in the case, along with two other people known to the young child. Mr Maguire was known to gardaí, but hadn’t come before the courts in nearly 15 years.

A murder investigation was launched in October after the disappearance of Kyran. He was first reported missing from his grandmother’s home in Drogheda at the end of August. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, said it had engaged with the boy’s family. Attempts to check on the family from 2022 to 2024 were frustrated.

Security sources have told the Irish Daily Mail that they believe that Kyran’s murder was covered up by a ‘group of people known to him’ but garda interrogations have so far not yielded any concrete results. They said: ‘What we know is that these people were both asked a very simple question: “Where is the child?”, and gardaí haven’t got any answer. The investigation has been ongoing for nearly three months now and there has been brick wall after brick wall.’

On Friday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that the force had been ‘inundated’ with information from the public. Tusla has submitted a report on its engagement with Kyran and his family to the Minister for Children last month. Outgoing Minister Roderic O’Gorman said he could not disclose or publish any details of the report as there is an ongoing Garda investigation into the presumed death of the boy.