Information summary:
Kyran Durnin, an eight-year-old child from Co Louth, has gone missing and a murder investigation is currently in progress. Here’s all the data available up to now.
In 2022, towards the end of the academic year, Kyran Durnin was last definitely seen, when he was only six years old. Previous week, it came out that Kyran had been taken out from his school then, with authorities assuming he had transferred to a Northern Irish school. This led to the child’s extended absence from school escaping the notice of the Irish officials.
His disappearance was officially reported in August 2024, along with his mother Dayla Durnin (24), who was later found safe and sound in the United Kingdom, but Kyran was nowhere to be found.
The Gardaí now suspect that Kyran wasn’t accompanying his mother when she disappeared. They were informed by an acquaintance of the child that he might have been killed, which led the officers to open a homicide inquiry formally.
An appeal to the public for information on the disappearance was issued in September 2024 and the murder investigation was confirmed. As of recent, it is still unclear to the Gardaí what might have happened to Kyran’s body or how he possibly died. Despite initiating a murder investigation, the Gardaí have not dismissed the possibility that Kyran’s death could have been accidental.
In October 2024, a methodical search of the Durnin family residence on Emer Terrace in Dundalk, their place of abode until May of the current year, was done. An excavation was performed in the back garden of the property, using heavy machinery, in pursuit of evidence and possible human remains.
Afterwards, Gardaí extended their search to the wasteland adjacent to the child’s former residence. The Garda search squad brought in heavy machinery to a green spot behind the terrace, where the search was planned to continue the coming Thursday.
No information is currently available on Tusla’s interactions with the family prior to this event.
Despite having interacted with the family on former occasions, Kyran wasn’t under State protection and there were no indicators of any possible mistreatment. A relative of Kyran Durnin announced him and his mother missing in August, merely a day after Tusla voiced its apprehensions regarding the boy’s safety to An Garda Síochána. The family member who reported the disappearance was aware of Tusla’s imminent warning to the Garda and was counselled to lodge a report about missing persons to the police, detailing their concerns about the disappearance of Kyran and his 24-year-old mother, Dayla.
Within 24 hours of Tusla’s warning, the family member declared Kyran Durnin missing. Tusla stated it had forewarned the Garda about “a significant concern” they had regarding Kyran in August.
The missing persons report alleged that Dayla and her son were last seen at their Drogheda, Co Louth residence around 11pm on August 28th. Their disappearance was not noted till the following morning, the report revealed. Thus, the missing persons report infers that the mother and son vacated Drogheda just hours before the news reached the family that Tusla was on the verge of flagging its concerns to the Garda regarding Kyran’s safety.