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Search for missing six-year-old at Drogheda house ends

NEWSPICS Kyran has short brown hair and is wearing a grey v-neck school jumper with a black and yellow stripe around the collar. He is wearing a grey shirt beneath it and a black tie with a white and yellow stripe. He is sitting at a wooden desk on a wooden chair. Behind him is a pink noticeboard with a colourful display and a black border. You can also see a wooden shelving unit behind him.NEWSPICS
Kyran is believed to have been last seen alive in the summer of 2022

A search at a house in Drogheda, County Louth, as part of the investigation into the murder of a six-year-old boy who disappeared more than two years ago, has come to an end.

Gardaí (Irish police) said the results of the search are not being released for operational purposes.

Kyran Durnin was reported missing at the end of last summer but gardaí believe he may have been killed more than two years earlier.

Gardaí commenced a murder investigation in October 2024, saying they were treating Kyran as missing, presumed dead.

PA A white terrace house with a brown roof and dark coloured door. A gardaí officer is standing at the door of the house wearing police uniform which is black trousers with a black and yellow hi-vis top. Outside the house is yellow cones and tape to create a cordon. A white 'technical bureau' van with blue and yellow detailing is parked outside.PA
Officers from the Garda Technical Bureau undertook an examination in Drogheda on Wednesday and Thursday

That same month they carried out a dig at his former family home in Emer Terrace, Dundalk, but there was no sign of his body.

On Wednesday, a white cordon was erected around a house on Hand Street in Drogheda.

Officers from the Garda Technical Bureau undertook a forensic examination of the property, including the rear garden and a mini-digger was used to excavate land.

The search lasted for two days.

No referrals or concern

An Garda Síochána A composite image of Kyran on the left the boy has short brown hair and is looking to his left as he wears a grey patterned zip-up jumper and a black cap, as he sits in a restaurant. On the right-hand image he has short brown hair and is smiling at the camera as he wears a blue sweatshirt with Sonic the Hedgehog on it, as he holds a teddy character from Paw Patrol.An Garda Síochána
Kyran lived with his family in Dundalk for a time but they later moved to Drogheda

Kyran had been a pupil at the national [primary] school near his home in Dundalk until the summer of 2022.

He did not return to class after the summer holidays and it is understood authorities were told he was moving to Northern Ireland and to a new school in Newry.

Tusla, the Irish state agency responsible for child welfare and protection, said it received no referrals or concern about Kyran's attendance or educational welfare between 2022 and 2024.

In December, two houses were searched in Drogheda. One of the searches involved the use of a cadaver dog.

The results of the searches were not made public.

The Garda Commissioner Drew Harris previously said he had never seen a case like this in his 40-year career in policing on both sides of the border.

Kyran Durnin: Timeline of disappearance

  • 2021-2022 - Kyran attends a national [primary] school near his home in Dundalk, but does not return to the school after the 2022 summer holiday.
  • May 2024 - Kyran's family move out of their home in Emer Terrace in Dundalk, where they had been living for a number of years.
  • Unknown date in August 2024 - Tusla, the Irish state agency responsible for child protection, alerts gardaí about "a significant concern about Kyran".
  • 30 August 2024 - Kyran and his 24-year-old mother Dayla Durnin are reported missing from their home in Drogheda.
  • 4 September 2024 - Gardaí issue a public missing persons appeal, seeking help to find Dayla and Kyran.
  • 16 October 2024 - Gardaí say they now believe that "Kyran is missing, presumed dead" and they confirm they have begun a murder inquiry.
  • 22 October 2024 - Kyran's former family home and garden in Emer Terrace, Dundalk, is searched by forensic investigators, as well as nearby open ground.
  • 24 October 2024 - the Dundalk search ends, with gardaí adding that the results of the search are not being released for operational purposes.
  • 31 October 2024 - Tusla declines to publicly release its review of its interactions with Kyran's family, adding information it held on him was lost in a cyber attack.
  • 10 December 2024 - A woman is arrested by gardaí investigating Kyran's disappearance and murder but is released without charge the following day.
  • 12 December 2024 - Two houses in Drogheda are searched and a man is arrested on suspicion of Kyran's murder, but he too is released without charge the next day.
  • 17 December 2024 - The man who had been arrested and released - named locally as 36-year-old Anthony Maguire - is found dead at his home in Drogheda.
  • 26 February 2024 - Gardaí begin a forensic search at a "domestic residence" in Drogheda.
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