Kyran Durnin was listed as a guest at a Dundalk B&B over a four-week period during the summer, it has emerged.
A chief suspect has now been identified as part of the murder probe, as well as at least one other person of “major interest”, according to sources.
The last public sighting of the child, which gardaí have been able to confirm with certainty, was in May 2022.
However, the name Kyran Durnin, with a birth date that matches the missing boy, was given at check-in at a Dundalk B&B in late May.
According to records, the child was checked out of the property on June 24.
Detectives investigating the disappearance of the little boy have been trying to establish who the boy at the Dundalk B&B was, or if there was any child fitting Kyran’s description in the B&B at all.
Gardaí have taken statements from staff at the B&B and all guests who were staying there at the time.
CCTV of the premises, which would have shown who was present at check-in, only dates as far back as the week after the child left the property.
The owners of the B&B are co-operating fully with the authorities and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on their part.
Gardaí suspect that Kyran may have died in 2022 when he was aged six.
It has been an extraordinarily difficult case to investigate
They are not ruling out the possibility that the child may have died accidentally or as a result of an alleged head injury.
However, sources stressed that these are just some of many theories being looked as part of this wide-ranging investigation.
Crucial mobile phone evidence, as well as several witness statements, led gardaí to upgrade the case to a murder investigation.
No significant evidence was found by gardaí searching the former family home of the missing boy, and adjoining lands in Dundalk, Co Louth, in recent days. Investigators have carried out a thorough search in and around the property since Tuesday.
“It has been an extraordinarily difficult case to investigate,” a source said.
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Sources told the Irish Independent that the searches were exploratory in nature rather than based on specific intelligence.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris yesterday said there is a “particular element” in the disappearance of the schoolboy that is “difficult to comprehend”.
He said that investigators are pursuing the case with “full vigour and resources”.
Kyran was officially reported missing from his home in Drogheda in late August, alongside his mother, Dayla Durnin (24), with gardaí told he was last seen two days earlier. However, investigators believe he had been missing for much longer.
The last positive sighting of him was at the end of the school year in 2022, when he was in senior infants in Dundalk and was six years of age. Gardaí now suspect the child was killed two years ago and they opened a murder investigation last week.
It is an extraordinary incident. I’ve over 40 years now in the police, and I have not seen really the like
The youngster’s mother has since been located, but gardaí say the whereabouts of Kyran remain unknown and he is now presumed dead.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin about the case yesterday, Mr Harris said: “It is an extraordinary incident. I’ve over 40 years now in the police, and I have not seen really the like.
“I cannot think of a similar set of circumstances, and in that way there’s a particular element to this which is difficult to comprehend.
“But we have our work to do. This is a murder investigation and you can be assured that we are pursuing it with full vigour and resources.”
It emerged earlier this week that the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, said it had raised a “significant concern” around the missing child to gardaí in August.
In a statement, Tusla said that it has commenced an internal review “to look at our engagements and interactions with Kyran and his family”.
Although the Child and Family Agency said Kyran had not been in its care, it said “our services had engaged with both he and his family”.
In a statement, Tusla said: “In August 2024, we alerted An Garda Síochána in relation to a significant concern about Kyran.
“Since August, we have continued to assist and work closely with the gardaí, and in line with normal practice, all relevant information has been shared.
“We can also confirm that as appropriate a notification has been sent to the National Review Panel, whose responsibility is to independently review cases of serious incidents involving children in care or known to Tusla.
“We have also commenced an internal review, to look at our engagements and interactions with Kyran and his family.
“We are conscious of the ongoing garda investigation, and as such will not be commenting further at this time. Anyone with information on this case should contact An Garda Síochána.”