Michael Gaine has been missing since Thursday 20 March.
He was formally reported missing the following day, Friday 21 March.
The reason for the reclassification of the investigation into his disappearance, from a missing person's investigation to a homicide investigation, is really quite simple: Those who are heading up the garda investigation have arrived at the conclusion that, firstly, Mr Gaine is now dead, and secondly, that he was killed.
Homicide covers the possibility that Mr Gaine may have been murdered as well as the possibility that he died as a result of the actions of another, even if those actions weren't intentional - manslaughter, for instance.
Investigations by the garda team involved here have been in depth and extensive, ruling out - for want of a better term - "innocent" explanations, such as, that Mr Gaine had an accident or a medical event and died; that he left the area voluntarily, told nobody and concealed his exit; or that he took his life.
Those investigations have so far involved:
- 320 individual inquiries or "jobs", as gardaí refer to them in investigative terms
- Almost 130 witness statements have been taken
- Around 2,200 hours of CCTV and dashcam footage have been recovered and are being examined
- Hundreds of acres of farmland have been searched, by trained search teams, using drones and by specially-trained search and rescue dogs and cadaver dogs
In some respects, given the resources being devoted to the investigation and the possibilities which those resources allowed gardaí to rule out, reclassification was only a matter of time.
So, it is not an unexpected development that the garda investigation has been reclassified as a homicide investigation.
Reclassification could be highly significant in this case, though.
Confirmation that this is now a criminal investigation places a whole range of tools at the disposal of the investigating team that they were unable to access heretofore.
They can now, for instance, designate certain areas as crime scenes, close them off and examine them forensically.
They can direct people to leave those areas and, subject to court approval, they can have reasonable time to search and examine those areas.
A missing person's investigation operates on the basis of consent, with the goodwill of people involved.
Now that the investigation into Mr Gaine's disappearance is a criminal, homicide investigation, gardaí can go to court and secure court orders and warrants to seize and examine certain items, such as mobile phones and laptops.
They can get warrants to search homes and other properties.
The range of options in front of the investigation team has significantly increased.
That, however, should not lead to an expectation of a quick result.
In their statement announcing the reclassification of the investigation, gardaí stressed that they have not recovered Mr Gaine's body and they renewed their appeal for information to assist them in his return.
It may sound obvious, but the statement also explicitly stated that gardaí believe there are people who know what happened to Mr Gaine on 20 March.
They have specifically appealed to people who have not been in a position to speak to the investigation team so far about information they have, or who may already have spoken to gardaí but may have more to say, to come forward now and speak to the investigating team.
