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An international manhunt is in its fifth day after the murder of an American woman in Ireland, but Irish police have yet to name a suspect or provide any description of the man they are seeking — a decision drawing sharp criticism from many, including a former FBI agent and an Irish politician.
Jamey Carney, 43, a New York native who moved to Ireland in 2021, was found dead after suffering head injuries and suffocating in her home in the picturesque town of Killarney, County Kerry, late Monday, according to The Irish Times. The idyllic southwestern town is hugely popular among American tourists.
Before Carney’s body was discovered Tuesday, the man Irish police describe as a “person of interest” had already traveled about 200 miles from Killarney to Dublin Airport and boarded a flight to Turkey, according to Irish police, suggesting authorities knew his identity but chose not to disclose it publicly.
Some Irish publications have reported that the person of interest is an asylum seeker originally from Jordan who came to Ireland in 2024 amid an influx of illegal immigrants descending on the island country.
AMERICAN MOTHER MURDERED IN IRISH TOURIST TOWN AS INTERNATIONAL MANHUNT TARGETS ALLEGED ASYLUM SEEKER
Ex-FBI Agent weighs in
“How is the public supposed to help with locating the alleged suspect when Irish authorities won’t even release his name?” former FBI Special Agent Nicole Parker wondered in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Time is of the essence. Every hour or day increases the chance the suspect disappears, destroys evidence or hurts others. Public help is critical. Withholding a photo, name or description for days while the suspect is on the run is counterproductive.”
Parker said that if the roles were reversed and a non-U.S. citizen had been murdered in the United States, authorities would typically release identifying information immediately.
“Law enforcement — local, state and federal, including the FBI and U.S. Marshals — would aggressively release identifying information to the public,” she said. “The public’s help is often what leads to locating fugitives.”
Immigration debate
Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported police said they were not in a position to comment on the person’s age, name or nationality for legal reasons, though authorities did not specify any such legal basis.
A 2015 immigration law protecting the identities of asylum seekers may explain why Irish police have not identified the person of interest, Gript.ie reported. According to the outlet, the law generally prohibits publishing the identities of asylum seekers to protect them from those they claim to be fleeing.
Fox News Digital asked Irish police to identify the person of interest and explain the legal basis for withholding his identity, but they declined to provide any new information, saying only that there were “no additional updates at this time.”
Independent Dublin City Councilor Gavin Pepper, a critic of mass immigration into Ireland, slammed the decision not to publicly identify the person of interest. He said the failure to do so is a serious public safety concern.
“That man had a substantial head start,” Pepper told Fox News Digital. “At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter what color your skin is. If you commit a heinous crime, your face should be all over every newspaper, every TV station. A manhunt is a manhunt.”
Irish police are treating Carney’s death as a murder.
WATCH: Harry Cole: American mom’s murder highlights Ireland’s immigration issues
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Pepper said that had authorities publicly released the person’s identity sooner, law enforcement in the country where he landed could potentially have been waiting for him.
Not everyone agreed with emphasizing the man’s reported immigration status.
Ruth Coppinger, a member of the Irish parliament with the Trotskyist political party People Before Profit, criticized media reports identifying the man as an asylum seeker, accusing some outlets of “stoking the flames of racism,” according to Gript.ie. She argued in the Irish parliament that “the common denominator in violence against women is a man, not a nationality.”
The person of interest
Several news outlets – including the New York Post, The Irish Mirror, Irish Independent and Irish Examiner — identified the 28-year-old person of interest by name. Irish police and the Department of Justice declined to confirm his identity to Fox News Digital.
Carney’s body was discovered by her 13-year-old daughter in an upstairs bedroom of their home just before 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, The Irish Times reported.
Irish police issued alerts to airports, ports, train stations and bus stations within just over an hour of Carney’s body being discovered, the Irish Independent reported. However, the person of interest had already left Ireland.
The search is becoming increasingly difficult as the hours and days pass.
Irish police are now working with Interpol, Europol and Turkish authorities to try to locate the man after he flew to Istanbul. Detectives fear he may already have left Turkey with local assistance and traveled onward to Syria or his native Jordan, according to reports.
An Irish police source also told Fox News Digital they believe locating the man will be difficult because he had already fled the country. Investigators believe he first arrived in the United Kingdom before traveling to Ireland, according to reports.
The killing comes as Ireland grapples with a rise in violence against women. Gript.ie reported that eight women have died in violent circumstances in the country this year, matching the total for all of 2025. According to the outlet’s analysis, only one of the identified or sought suspects in those cases was an Irish national.
Ireland does not record the ethnicity of those who commit crimes.
A New Yorker who settled in Ireland
Carney was originally from Westchester County, just north of New York City. She moved to Ireland in 2021, according to the Irish Independent.
Her social media profiles described her as a “New Yorker in Ireland” and featured photos and videos of her with her daughter and a man she identified as her partner. In one recent post, she referred to them as a “mixed couple.”
Carney’s social media accounts also showed she supported the Free Palestine movement. Her Facebook bio described her as a “New Yorker in Ireland,” included the phrase “Free Palestine,” and read “Fk Ice,” an apparent reference to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Several posts also showed the couple attending pro-Palestinian rallies together.
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Posts on the social media accounts of the man named in media reports referred to Carney as “my love” and “my heart.”
His accounts also contain posts from the United Kingdom and Turkey in recent years.
Carney’s LinkedIn profile indicated she worked for a healthcare outsourcing company in Ireland after previously working as an insurance agent and real estate salesperson in the New York metropolitan area.
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Carney’s sister, Devon Bennett, described her as “an insanely caring human being” who “dedicated so much of herself, her energy and her time to fighting for the rights of others,” according to the Irish Independent. Bennett said Carney was especially proud of her “brilliant daughter, Michaela.”
“We grew up in New York, but she spent much of her best years with Michaela in Bergen County, New Jersey,” Bennett told the outlet.
“Their true home, where they both felt they truly belonged, was the beautiful town of Killarney.”
