Gardaí are continuing their search for a young man following the violent death of a mother in Killarney, earlier this week. 

The body of American woman Jamey Carney was found inside her home on the Muckross Road area of Killarney on Tuesday. 

Yesterday evening, Gardaí announced they had upgraded their investigation to murder after receiving the results of a post-mortem examination, which confirmed their suspicions that Ms Carney had died a violent death. 

They are especially keen to talk to a young man in his 20s, who they understand was with Ms Carney on Monday. 

“They described him as a person of significant interest in the case, which will help them piece together what happened to Ms Carney,” Jerry O’Sullivan of Radio Kerry told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“Now as part of that, the Gardaí have also, we understand, notified their counterparts in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, given the potential, I suppose, for a border crossing.

“Whether that means he's crossed the border or not, I don't know. 

“But the search is continuing today in relation to that.”

Who was Jamey Carney?

US citizen Jamey Carney was originally from Westchester, north of New York City. 

It is understood that she had family from Kerry and moved to Killarney with her young daughter in 2021 . 

“She was considered a very kind person,” Mr O’Sullivan recounted. 

“She was involved in different community groups here in Killarney over the last couple of years. 

“She's been here for about five years and kind of integrated fairly well into the community.”

In Killarney, Ms Carney worked for a medical insurance company and her daughter was involved in various sporting clubs. 

She was well liked locally and her death has left people in Killarney in “total shock”. 

“Several of the political representatives, one or two who knew her as well, said that there's a dark cloud ascended on Killarney in relation to this,” Mr O’Sullivan said. 

“Everybody is urging and they're all urging the members of the public to assist the police, assist the Gardaí with their investigations.”

Garda investigation 

A Senior Investigating Officer has been appointed at Killarney Garda Station to lead the investigation into Ms Carney’s death. 

Gardaí are especially keen to talk to people with dashcam footage from Muckross Road from Monday evening or Tuesday morning. 

“What they're saying now is they're looking for a focus for a six-hour period, 11 pm on 6th July until 5 am on 7th July,” Mr O’Sullivan said. 

“Anyone who might have any camera footage, whether it be CCTV or dashcam, is asked to provide the footage to investigating Gardaí as they look to piece together as much information as they can.”

Anyone with any information has been asked to contact Killarney Garda Station. 

If you have been impacted by domestic violence, you can contact Women’s Aid’s National Freephone Helpline 1800 341 900 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Main image: Jamey Carney.