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. And that decision is 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 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, 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.
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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 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Several posts also showed the couple attending pro-Palestinian rallies together.
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.
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."