IRELAND – The husband and 3-year-old daughter of a former Whittier woman who married and moved to Ireland six years ago were found dead in a harbor following an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said.
The bodies of farmer Martin McCarthy, 50, and daughter Clarissa McCarthy, were pulled from shallow water in Audley Cove near Ballydehob, Ireland, early Wednesday.
The father was believed to have drowned the girl before killing himself in an apparent murder-suicide as his marriage broke down, detectives said. His 26-year-old wife, Rebecca McCarthy, formerly of Whittier, had spoken of returning to the United Stated, according to a friend of Martin McCarthy.
Paramedics spent an hour trying to resuscitate Clarissa McCarthy after her lifeless body was recovered from the sea shortly before 2 a.m. as her mother was on the scene. Martin McCarthy’s body was found in shallow water nearby about an hour later.
The remains were taken to a hospital where where assistant state pathologist Margaret Bolster carried out autopsies, determining through a preliminary examination that both drowned.
Rebecca McCarthy, whose maiden name is Rebecca Cejnar, arrived home about midnight at the family’s rural farmhouse in Foilnamuck, Ballydehob, and discovered her husband and their only child were missing.
A note was found at the property, possibly on the kitchen table, which sparked a search around the farm and nearby coastline, officials said.
PHOTO of Clarissa McCarthy courtesy of the Irish Examiner
