Authorities in Ireland are investigating whether a request for money may be connected to the killing of Jamey Carney, a 43-year-old New York mother found dead at her home in Killarney.
Carney had reportedly told a friend that her boyfriend, Ahmad Al-Saqar, asked her for the equivalent of about $5,700 roughly a week before she was killed, according to the Irish Independent.
Al-Saqar is wanted for questioning in connection with Carney’s murder. Investigators believe she was beaten and then suffocated in her bed in the early hours of Tuesday.
Al-Saqar, an asylum-seeker from Jordan, is believed by authorities to have possibly fled to the Middle East in the hours following her death.
As part of the inquiry, investigators are reviewing Carney’s phone records, text messages, social media activity and bank statements.
Carney, originally from affluent Westchester County outside New York City, relocated to Ireland with her young daughter in May 2021.
She is believed to have met Al-Saqar at a pro-Palestine rally in Killarney about 18 months ago, and she often posted photos of the two together on social media.
Former roommate Husam Salha told the Irish Independent that Al-Saqar had told friends he and Carney took part in a religious marriage ceremony earlier this year and considered themselves married under the Islamic faith.
Al-Saqar posted a video online around that time with the words, “My bride and my princess,” showing Carney wearing a ring on his TikTok.
“Al-Saqar said they had gone to the mosque and accepted to be husband and wife,” Salha said.
“In Islam, when you get married, you have to let all the people know that you are husband and wife,” he said.
Salha said he learned of Carney’s death and Al-Saqar fleeing Ireland when he arrived back at his migrant accommodation Tuesday evening and the police were there.
“They talked to me for several hours, and they took my phone and asked me to call him,” he said.
Al-Saqar’s phone was still active, but he did not answer Salha’s calls, he said.
Carney was previously married to an Irish national who lives in Killarney.
Her mother and sister have arrived in Killarney this weekend to care for her 13-year-old daughter.
