Huge blow in Kyran Durnin’s murder investigation as details of suspect’s ‘suicide’ note are revealed after he was found dead a week after his arrest

A prime suspect in the disappearance and murder of schoolboy Kyran Durnin has been found dead – and investigators have discovered he left a note.

Anthony Maguire, 36, who was questioned by detectives before being released without charge last week, was found dead at his home in Drogheda, Co Louth, yesterday morning in what gardaí described as a ‘personal tragedy’.

Gardaí are not treating his death as suspicious and believe he committed suicide, but stressed an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

It is reported that he left a note before his death, but Garda sources told the Irish independent that ‘it did not clarify anything regarding the suspected murder of Kyran’.

“There was nothing in that note that gave any indication of where the boy is,” the sources concluded.

It is understood Mr Maguire was suspected of being part of an elaborate cover-up to protect the schoolboy’s disappearance and suspected death from 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 two years earlier.

“Earlier today, Tuesday 17 December 2024, gardaí and emergency services were alerted following the discovery of the body of a man in his 30s at a residential home in Drogheda, County Louth,” a Garda spokesperson said.

‘The local coroner has been informed and a post-mortem examination will be arranged. The outcome of the autopsy process will determine the course of the investigation.

“No additional information is available at this time.”

Officers suspect that Kyran may have died in 2022, when he was six

Security sources said Mr Maguire was questioned during his arrest about whether he had facilitated a ‘decoy’ child, who was brought before Tusla earlier this year in a failed attempt to trick them into believing the child was Kyran.

A source recently told the Mail on Sunday: ‘The last sighting of Kyran was in May 2022… The (decoy) boy was brought out on two separate occasions. That boy was identified quite quickly… This is an incredibly complex investigation, neglect has been found and there are also several men involved in his life, with possible abuse playing a role.’

Last Thursday, Mr Maguire was arrested, coinciding with searches taking place at two houses in Drogheda, with a forensic and intrusive search of one house involving an excavator and a cadaver dog.

Gardaí said the aim of the search was to find evidence that could reveal where Kyran is or what happened to him. The search was completed the following day and Mr Maguire was subsequently released without charge.

Gardaí confirmed their search turned up nothing of significance but plan to carry out further searches as investigations continue.

Among the sites under consideration is a house and garden excavated in July 2022, two months after Kyran was last seen.

Although gardaí have established that 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.

Last Tuesday, a woman who knew Kyran and Mr Maguire was also arrested and questioned by gardaí before being released without charge 24 hours later.

However, the two remain the top suspects in the case, along with two other acquaintances of the young child.

Mr Maguire was known to gardaí but had not appeared in court for almost 15 years.

A murder investigation was launched in October following Kyran’s disappearance. He was first reported missing from his grandmother’s house in Drogheda at the end of August.

Kyran Durnin’s heartbreaking final photo (pictured right) shows the eight-year-old smiling next to his two siblings before he was reported missing

Gardai in Dundalk, Co Louth as they search a house in the investigation into the suspected murder of eight-year-old Kyran Durnin

General view of Dundalk in Ireland, where Kyran was reported missing from his home on August 30

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, said it had been in contact with the boy’s family.

Efforts to monitor the family from 2022 to 2024 were frustrated. Security sources have told the Irish Daily Mail that they believe Kyran’s murder was covered up by a ‘group of people he knows’, but Garda interrogations have so far yielded no concrete results.

They said: ‘What we know is that these people were both asked a very simple question: ‘Where is the child?’, and gardaí received no answer. The investigation has been going on for almost three months and brick wall after brick wall.”

On Friday, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the force had been ‘inundated’ with information from the public. He added: “Certainly when we put out an appeal for information on October 14, we were inundated with information from the public.

‘We are very happy with that, because it has given us many starting points, many questions that we can follow up.

“As this investigation continues, we will learn more about where we are, who the suspects are and what we need to do to prove what happened to young Kyran.”

Tusla submitted a report on its involvement with Kyran and his family to the Minister for Children last month.

Outgoing minister Roderic O’Gorman said he could not release or publish details of the report as there is an ongoing Garda investigation into the boy’s suspected death.