A man who was found dead after he was arrested over the murder of Kyran Durnin has left a note behind.

The man was arrested last week in connection with the suspected murder of Kyran and was subsequently released without charge.

He was the second person arrested in the case of the missing and presumed dead 8-year-old.

The Irish Times crime and security editor Connor Lally said this man’s death is a “big turn” in the case.

Personal tragedy

36-year-old Anthony Maguire from Drogheda in County Louth has been known to the Gardaí down years for “violent, low-level crime”, he said.

“He was arrested last week, he was the second person arrested for questioning over the murder of Kyran Durnin, who the Gardaí believe has been dead probably since the second half of 2022,” Mr Lally said.

“After being questioned for 24 hours, he was released without charge, and then, obviously, he was found dead at this property in Drogheda yesterday.

“They already don't believe there was any third party involvement, they don't believe there was any foul play - it is being treated as a personal tragedy.

“Obviously, because he's one of the suspects, it will greatly complicate the inquiry now, and God knows, this investigation was already very complex.”

"Implications of this man's passing"

Mr Lally said the Gardaí will be meeting today together with the investigation team “to examine the implications of this man's passing”.

Gardaí will also try and determine if there is “any evidence in the property where he was found” – however, that property was “comprehensively searched” last week.

It is believed that written material was found at the property, Mr Lally said.

“The Gardaí will have to examine that to determine if it's a note that was left by Anthony Maguire and does it relate to his death and the reason why he took his own life, or whether there's any other information in that,” he said.

“All of that work will be undertaken today and over the next few days, just to see if there's anything of evidential value in Anthony Maguire’s passing.”

Decoy plan

Mr Maguire was the prime suspect for helping put a plan in place to use a decoy child in place of Kyran, Mr Lally said.

This plan appears to have happened twice.

“There was a decoy boy around the same age as Kyran, but not Kyran [who] appears to have been presented as Kyran at a meeting with Tusla earlier in the year,” Mr Lally said.

“Then we had a second incident as well earlier this year, where some of Kyran's family were staying at an Airbnb in the county Louth area and Gardaí believe that a boy was presented there as Kyran that wasn't Kyran.

“This man, Anthony Maguire, was a suspect for having put that plan in place, and he was questioned about that when he was held last week.”

Now that Mr Maguire has died some of the leads Gardaí have been investigating will be “very hard to follow up”.

Left, image of An Garda Síochána logo. Right, image of Kyran Durnin.