Jamey Carney's daughter returned home after a perfectly normal childhood event to find her mother's lifeless body. Now, as an international manhunt continues, her family are left to ask, what now for the brave 13-year-old?

Published: 23:03, 11 July 2026 | Updated: 23:05, 11 July 2026 The daughter of Killarney murder victim Jamey Carney was on a sleepover with friends the night her mother was killed, the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned. The 13-year-old girl was staying at a friend’s house on Monday night, raising questions over whether Ms Carney’s suspected killer knew her daughter would be away. Ms Carney’s only daughter returned home on Tuesday around lunchtime to the horrifying discovery of her mother’s body. Ms Carney had been viciously assaulted, suffocated to death and covered with bed clothes as long as 12 hours before the alarm was raised. An international manhunt is under way for the suspect, Ahmad Al-Saqar, 28, a Jordanian national who had been in a relationship with Ms Carney. Mr Al-Saqar flew from Dublin to Turkey early on Tuesday morning after taking a 3am bus from Killarney to the capital. He is understood to have landed in Istanbul before gardaí were alerted to Ms Carney’s death. Jamey has been described as as ‘an insanely caring human being, who dedicated so much of herself, her energy, and her time, to fighting for the rights of others’ Now a first-year student at St Brigid’s Presentation Secondary School in Killarney, Ms Carney’s daughter, Michaela, is regarded as a good student with a strong friend group. She moved to Ireland with her mother – who worked for a healthcare consultancy firm – in 2021.  She is a member of the Dr Crokes GAA club, playing on football and camogie teams, and is said to have integrated well. A source close to Ms Carney’s family told the MoS the 43-year-old victim is likely to be buried or cremated in Ireland. MAGA influencers have seized on the murder of US national Jamey Carney’s murder in Killarney to spread messages of hate online. Ms Carney’s Instagram page has been flooded with vile abuse celebrating her killing since it made headlines on Tuesday. The New York native was a member of the Killarney For Palestine group and often posted photos and videos from their rallies. It is understood she met the man suspected of her killing at one of the demonstrations 18 months ago. She had spoken out against the Trump administration’s immigration agency ICE. A MAGA-adjacent US media commentator called Justine Brooke Murray, who has 81,000 followers on X and has contributed to Fox News, posted a video mocking Ms Carney, calling her a ‘suicidally empathetic cliché of a white leftist’. A US-based X account with 879,000 followers called I Meme Therefore I Am – which frequently posts racist and anti-Muslim content – mocked Ms Carney as a ‘deluded fool’, in a post seen by 3.5 million people. Meanwhile, Ms Carney’s Instagram, which includes recent photos and clips of her together with her suspected killer, has been inundated with sick comments celebrating her death. Many of the abusive comments say she ‘got what she deserved’ for becoming involved with a Muslim immigrant. Much of the abusive material refers to her support for Palestine and opposition to ICE. Ms Carney’s cousin Ryan Fox pleaded with people not to ‘use this to become bigoted or racist or prejudiced in any way’. He told RTÉ’s Prime Time: ‘Bad people are in every group, and it is not the people who look like them who deserve to be blamed. ‘If you think about her, if you see her picture, if you read her story, know that all she ever wanted was for everybody to have equal rights. She wanted to raise her daughter in a nice place like everybody intends to do.’ And the source said they ‘believe’ her daughter ‘wants to stay in Ireland’. It is understood the dead woman, whose grandparents were originally from Kerry and Mayo and met in New York in the 1950s, has extended family in Ireland.  She had a network of ‘close’ friends in Killarney, according to a source. Ms Bennett described her sister as ‘an insanely caring human being, who dedicated so much of herself, her energy, and her time, to fighting for the rights of others’. A memorial walk is being organised in the demesne area of Killarney National Park, where Ms Carney and Michaela walked their dog regularly. Ms Carney and Mr Al-Saqar, who met at a Palestine rally 18 months ago, often took selfies and made playful videos together, which she posted on social media.  Posts from last week show the couple and her daughter at The Cure’s concert at Marlay Park, Dublin.  Just ten weeks ago, she posted that Mr Al-Saqar ‘continues to show me what safe love is’. Mr Al-Saqar came to Ireland in 2024 as an asylum seeker and was staying at IPAS accommodation in Killarney.  Usually, asylum seekers must submit their passport during the application process, raising questions as to how he was able to leave the country so easily. Sources have said an asylum application had been rejected and he was awaiting appeal. Yesterday it was reported Mr Al-Saqar initially presented as undocumented.  This would indicate he had never submitted a passport to international protection authorities but may have secretly held onto one. Questions are being raised in Killarney about governance and security at the town’s IPAS centres.  The chief suspect had been staying at the all-male Linden House centre, a former restaurant opposite Killarney Garda Station.  A source said: ‘He’s supposed to sign in and out every day, but he was staying in [Ms Carney’s] house often.’ Linden House is part of the Thomas Duggan multi-million euro direct provision network, which runs several centres in Killarney. The Killarney For Palestine group, in which Ms Carney and her suspected killer were active, were instrumental in having the town’s annual Fourth of July parade cancelled this year in protest over the USA’s activity in the Middle East. A GoFundMe page set up by Ms Carney’s sister, Devon Bennett, had raised over $12,000 by last night.  A second GoFundMe established by an old schoolmate of Ms Carney had raised almost $14,000. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.