Gardaí search house as hunt for Keane killer intensifies

A GARDA forensic team cordoned off a house in a quiet Limerick estate yesterday as the Kieran Keane murder investigation intensified.

Detectives believe the house in Roundwood, Rosbrien, is connected to the murder of Mr Keane and the disappearance of the Ryan brothers who were abducted on January 23.

The Garda Technical Bureau spent the day examining the large house located close to the grounds of Young Munster rugby club.

The house, named Guillemont, is currently being renovated after lying derelict for several years following a fire. The property is believed to be owned by a man from the nearby area of Ballinacurra.

The unoccupied house was searched as part of the Keane murder and the Ryan abduction investigations. Gardaí last night revealed that both inquiries are now merging together as the hunt for Keane’s killer continues. “Both investigations are the same thing at this stage,” a senior garda source said.

The Ryan brothers, Kieran, 19 and Eddie, 20 turned up unharmed in Portlaoise last Thursday morning.

Six hours earlier Kieran Keane’s body was dumped on a road at Drombanna, four miles outside Limerick city.

He was shot once in the back of the head and his nephew, Owen Treacy, 30, was brutally stabbed seven times in the same attack.

Initially detectives launched separate investigations but the two inquiries have overlapped and they are now linked together.

The Rosbrien house that was guarded by officers throughout Monday night could be central to the investigation, gardaí said.

Gardaí believe a third gang was possibly involved in both the Ryan abduction and the Keane killing.

This gang is trying to gain control of the drugs scene on the northside of Limerick city and may have ordered the killing of 36-year-old Keane.

Four people arrested in connection with the murder investigation were released from Roxboro Garda Station without charge at the weekend.

Armed detectives are still patrolling several flashpoints in Limerick city amid fears of bloody reprisals for Keane’s killing.

Already a home, owned by a relative of the Ryan brothers, in the Lee Estate, was petrol bombed on Sunday night and there are fears of further attacks.

Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne has promised to keep a specially-trained armed garda unit in the city until there is peace. And there is expected to be tight security at Kieran Keane’s removal from Cross’s funeral home on Lower Gerald Griffin Street to St John’s Cathedral this evening.

Relatives are hoping that Owen Treacy will be well enough to attend the removal. Keane will be buried tomorrow after requiem mass at the cathedral but his brother, convicted drugs dealer Christy, won’t be released from Portlaoise prison to attend the funeral.