Gardai probing suspected murder of Kyran Durnin obtain order to download number of social media accounts

Gardaí probing the suspected murder of missing Kyran Durnin have obtained an order to preserve and download a number of social media accounts.

A major dig and search operation at the eight-year-old boy’s former home and surrounding wasteland in Dundalk last week failed to uncover his body.

The search is now set to be widened to other areas of Louth, and also over the border into the North, as officers say the probe over what happened to Kyran could take some time.

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Gardai have received a “huge volume” of calls in relation to the youngster, including claimed sightings of the boy which detectives hope will aid them to establish when he was last seen alive.

Now sources say officers are also looking online for clues over what happened to the boy. A number of social media accounts are forming part of the investigation as to Kyran’s disappearance and whereabouts.

A source told the Irish Mirror: “There is a fear that a number of these accounts have been closed recently.

“However gardai have obtained an order to preserve and download several social media accounts and are examining the timelines and posts in them. It is hoped they may just give them more clues.”

It comes as another vigil is being organised for Kyran tonight in Dundalk. The vigil will be held in Market Square at 7.30pm, with people asked to bring candles or something teal or blue to represent Kyran.

On Friday, gardai revealed they were following up on a “huge volume” of calls from the public. Some included claimed sightings of the boy, which detectives hope will aid them to establish when he was last seen alive, and whether that was over two years ago as suspected.

As a search and excavation operation at the former Durnin family home in Dundalk concluded on Thursday evening, with no major discoveries made, gardai are now expected to search another property connected to the family in Drogheda.

But detectives appear to be no closer to making arrests, with sources saying it would be a “strategic error” to arrest persons of interest at this point in the investigation.

A source said: “There are unlikely to be any developments in this now in the short term.”

However, sources say new searches for Kyran could begin as early as this week. Gardai suspect that Kyran may have died in 2022 when he was aged six. They added arrests could be made only when evidence gathered by the Garda provided the grounds for such a move.

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