Missing farmer Michael Gaine's wife sells his sheep as locals break silence on strange case

A flock of sheep belonging to a has been sold off by his devastated wife three weeks into the mysterious case - which has also left local residents baffled.

Michael Gaine was last seen on March 20 buying phone credit at a Centra store in Kenmare, , just before 10am. He left the store in his bronze RAV4 SUV, which was later found parked in his farmyard in Carrig East - but his whereabouts since have remained a mystery. Gardaí, joined by members of the , combed through the vast Moll's Gap - scenic land full of outhouses, a river, streams, forest and rough terrain - but sources say the search may soon come to an end if officers do not find any significant evidence. In the midst of the search, it is understood Gardaí recovered a bow and arrows in a cave on the land, but sources say the force is not immediately linking it with the disappearance. Dozens of Mr Gaine's sheep were sold off in front of his close pals, with around 30 sheep selling for over €3,000 (£2,500).

An American national, who is said to have been living in an outhouse on Mike Gaine's land, is being treated as a "witness" and may have been the last person to see Gaine before he disappeared. The man is understood to be assisting Gardaí, who have not ruled out tragic circumstances or foul play. Sources say Gaine's disappearance is completely out of character, leaving his loved-ones devastated, the reports..

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Mart owner and local councillor Dan McCarthy, who is a close pal of the missing farmer, said the search was on a scale he had never seen before. "It is very concerning. His wife and his sisters and extended family are still in our thoughts and prayers, and like all the relevant authorities are still there, suffering as much as they were up at the start," Dan said. "I suppose, since I've been alive it's been the biggest mystery in a lifetime around here - that a man can just be missing over such a short space of time and there's no trace of him."

"Mike was a man I met every day of the week nearly. He was part of the farming community. All farmers are the same; they look after their animals and I suppose if there's one missing or there's something wrong, it affects everyone else. And this has been a total and utter... the community have been absolutely unbelievable with their support and the outpouring of help."

Dan said he and several pals went to Mike's land on Friday after his wife reported him missing. "We went out half 11/12 o'clock when I got the phone call that Friday. We walked the farm. He wasn't there. We searched it top-to-toe and it's been searched four or five times since," he said. "The whole thing is a mystery. They're still searching different places. There have been crowds and people searching the outer hinterland of the farm and different places."

Appealing for witnesses to come forward, Dan said if anyone knows anything or even saw something untoward when passing the farm, to get in touch with Gardaí. "It might only be something minute, if they seen a car or seen something in the yard. Someone must've seen something," he said.

Robert, another pal of the missing man since their school days, said there was nothing odd about his appearance in the shop that morning. "Mike's a friend of mine. I was in school with him since I was a kid, so I know him very well. He was in and out of the shop every day," he revealed. "So we were, you know, friends, and I didn't actually see him on that day."

"He was a nice guy, just always said hello. Very polite, very nice guy, yeah, no, he was completely normal (that day). I spoke to the man on that day and he said everything was normal. He bought phone credit and the chit chat was very normal," he said. Robert said customers are visiting daily to chat about the case - as it continues to make headlines and baffle the community.

"It's kind of scary, really, that somebody has just vanished. He is a lovely guy and really hard working. He was into his rallying, very polite and just a normal guy. He was very well travelled, like he was literally all over the ," Robert said. "He was quite a bright guy and I just don't think anyone has a bad word to say about him. People are just getting very frustrated now. I mean you can see the effort that has been put in to find him as been phenomenal. People are just shocked really that someone can literally just disappear."

Robert handed over CCTV to the Gardaí showing Mike leaving the shop and getting into his jeep and heading in the direction of the town. "The CCTV shows him driving in the direction of the town. There's so many stories as you can imagine. You don't know what is true. I'm literally not really believing anything at the moment, because there's more and more theories," he said.

In a statement last week, An Garda Síochána said it is not requesting the public's help for further searches at this time. "However, Gardaí continue to want to speak to any person who travelled on the N71 on Thursday 20th March and/ or any person who may have any camera footage, including dash-cam or CCTV, or any other images (video or still) from Thursday 20th March and Friday 21st March in the Kenmare town / Moll's Gap (N71/ R568) area to provide that imagery to the Garda investigation team."

"Anyone with information on Michael's whereabouts is asked to contact Killarney Garda Station on 064 667 1160, the Garda Confidential Line at 1800 666 111, or any Garda Station."