Interpol is to become the lead police force abroad in the search for the ‘person of interest’ in the killing of Jamey Carney in County Kerry, as fears grow that he may try to leave Turkey for his home country of Jordan, Extra.ie has revealed.

The suspect, who is 28, flew to Turkey – which has no bilateral extradition treaty with Ireland – in the hours after Ms Carney’s bludgeoned body was found, but gardaí hope Turkish police will help them track down the man they have described as a ‘person of interest’.

Ms Carney, a 43-year-old American mother of one, was battered and suffocated at her home in Killarney, Co. Kerry, on Monday night, but her body was only discovered by her teenage daughter, shortly after 1.20pm the following afternoon.

By then, the person of interest – an asylum seeker who was Ms Carney’s boyfriend – was already in the air and on his way to Turkey, having booked the earliest possible flight out of Dublin, at 10.50 am, on Tuesday.

It is understood he had taken the 3 am bus from Killarney to Bachelor’s Walk, Dublin, and had taken a taxi to Dublin Airport.

A senior Garda source said Interpol will now be the lead agency in the investigation abroad as Europol has no jurisdiction in Turkey.

Ms Carney’s mother, Kathy, and her sister, Devon Bennett, have now arrived in Ireland from the US and have launched a GoFundMe appeal to cover repatriation costs and help Ms Carney’s daughter, Michaela, remain in Ireland, which she now calls home.

In the GoFundMe appeal, Ms Bennett said she and her mother are working with the gardaí and social services in Killarney and want ‘to make sure my niece can stay in the land she loves, especially while grieving this tragic loss’.

She wrote: ‘Either you may have known Jamey and our family, from any stage of her short but wild and beautiful life, or you came upon this GoFundMe after hearing about her terrible murder, we cannot stress enough that every single dollar (or euro) will truly count.

Jamey was an insanely caring human being who dedicated so much of herself, her energy, and her time to fighting for the rights of others. ‘We grew up in New York, but she spent much of her best years with Michaela in the States in Bergen County, NJ.

But their true home, where they both truly felt they belonged, was the beautiful town of Killarney.’ The Garda source said the search for the person of interest will be difficult, and the force may seek assistance from the British National Crime Agency.

The source said: ‘If he is still in Turkey, the gardaí will apply to set up a Mutual Assistance Agreement [MAA] to try to get him back. ‘Now, the Turks might lift him and they might not. But with an MAA, you at least have a chance. Interpol are very good on this, and the gardaí will work closely with them,’ the source said.

Extradition between Ireland and Turkey is governed by the European Convention on Extradition, supplemented by multilateral treaties. All surrenders are processed through these international agreements. But the source added: ‘If he gets to Jordan, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to set up an MAA.

There’s very little compatibility there with our laws. It would be very difficult.’ But the source pointed to increased co-operation between law enforcement authorities in the Middle East and the gardaí. He added: ‘An Garda Síochána did it with the UAE for the likes of Seán McGovern and now Daniel Kinahan… At the end of the day, everything possible must be done to ensure justice is done.

‘There is no extradition with Jordan, so it would take serious diplomatic efforts from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána to get him back. ‘But all this would be dependent on the DPP here bringing a charge against him. He cannot be extradited just for questioning – there must be a charge.’ A Garda spokesman confirmed the force is ‘engaging with international law enforcement partners’ to find the suspect.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with the Irish Embassy in Jordan in case the person of interest turns up in his native land. American authorities will be called upon by Interpol and the gardaí to help, sources said.

Gardaí believe there was a row between Ms Carney, who was born in New York and moved to Ireland with her daughter in 2021, and the person of interest in the hours before she was killed.

Social media posts reveal that the suspect had been in a close relationship with Ms Carney for around a year and a half, and it is believed she met him at a pro-Palestinian protest. He often posted photos of them together on social media and described Ms Carney and her daughter as ‘my beautiful family’.

One post shows them at The Cure concert in Dublin’s Marlay Park on June 26, while in an Instagram video in April, Ms Carney states: ‘He continues to show me what safe love is.’ Ms Carney worked locally for a healthcare consulting firm. The mother and daughter had become part of the community in Killarney, which is in shock at the killing. Her cousin Ryan Fox told RTÉ’s PrimeTime: ‘The first thing I can tell you about my cousin Jamey is that she is one of the sweetest, most caring, most humanitarian, most sensitive women that I have ever been blessed to know.’ news@dailymail.ie