Gardaí suspect Kerry-based couple discovered yesterday died by suicide 

Gardaí at the couple's home. A forensics team was still working the scene last night and an autopsy is expected to be carried out on Wednesday. Picture : Domnick Walsh

Gardaí suspect that a couple may have lain dead in a cottage in Co Kerry since late last year before the grim discovery of their bodies yesterday.

The couple, named locally as Hazel and David Byrne, were in their 50s and originally from Co Cork.

Gardaí suspect their deaths were a double suicide, and they are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the tragedy.

A forensics team was still working the scene last night and an autopsy is expected to be carried out on Wednesday. Locals who had gone to check on the couple raised the alarm with gardaí after finding a notice warning of a carbon monoxide leak inside.

Wearing breathing apparatus, the fire service later entered the house and found the couple dead in a bedroom. There were signs of decomposition on the bodies.

The couple bought the quaint bungalow, outside Glenbeigh on the Ring of Kerry, approximately nine years ago, neighbours said.

They were described as reclusive, living almost like ghosts in the tight-knit community.

“They were very quiet people, they kept themselves to themselves,” said one neighbour, who asked not to be named.

“It was such a shock when we woke up to this. They didn’t mix with anyone, but the woman would say hello if you saw her.”

Neighbours brought flowers and lit a candle outside the couple’s home. Laminated prayers were also brought and fastened to a wooden plank that now stands like a cross outside.

“To our dear neighbours, may the Lord Jesus wrap you both in his mantle of protection for ever more,” a handwritten note says.

“We will remember you always in our prayers.”

“It’s so sad,” another neighbour said before lighting a candle there. “We wanted to show our respects.

“They were quiet. It’s so unfortunate what has happened.”

A member of the Garda forensic team in the house where the bodies of Hazel and David Byrne were discovered in the village of Mountain Stage, Glenbeigh, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan

A third neighbour said that her dog had been sniffing at the house and had been trying to enter the property in recent weeks.

“We walk around the Ring [of Kerry] every day, and the dog has been trying to get in over the past couple of months.

“She must have known something was wrong.

“It’s so sad. You’d see her driving on the road or in Sheehan’s shop.

“But they were such private people. God love them.

“They’ve been living here nine or 10 years, they bought that house.

“It’s sad to be a neighbour and think it could have been prevented.”

The couple’s bodies were found at their home outside Glenbeigh early yesterday morning.

“There’s a dark cloud over the community today,” local Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill said. “That couple have been here for a number of years now and very few seem to know anything about them.

On occasion, you’d see them walking on the beach in the late evening — but they kept themselves very much to themselves.

The area is still mourning the tragic death of Jack de Bromhead, the 13-year-old son of racehorse trainer Henry de Bromhead, who fell from his mount on the nearby Rossbeigh Beach in the Glenbeigh Racing Festival in 2022, Mr Cahill said.

“The community was only starting to come to terms with that and now this,” he said.

“And nobody seems to know much about them [this couple], which makes it all the sadder.

“I extend my sincere sympathies to the families involved.”

Gardaí are investigating all the circumstances following the discovery of two bodies in Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, a garda statement said.

“The bodies of a man and a woman, both believed to be in their 50s, were discovered at a domestic residence.

“The coroner and the office of the State pathologist have been notified.”

Gardaí suspect reclusive pair died in a double suicide last year.

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