A man who has laid claim to a $165 million inheritance stood at a Cork graveside yesterday as the body of his grandfather was exhumed in an attempt to finally prove his claim to the fortune.
Mr Dermot O'Regan (62), from Ovens, Co Cork has fought a legal battle since the death of Irish emigrant and wealthy heiress Mary Ellen Sheehan who died in the US in 1983. Mr O'Regan claims that he is the only living relative of Mrs Sheehan, and that he should get her inheritance.
The Cork businessman owns and operates O'Regan's Precast Products in Cork, and has fought a 20-year battle for the millions.
The would-be millionaire and his son, Mr Louis O'Regan, were at Saint Finbarr's Cemetery all day yesterday as the exhumation of his grandfather Jeremiah O'Regan's remains continued. His relative died in 1966 and it was expected that only skeletal remains would be discovered.
Shortly after dawn yesterday morning a team of council diggers were joined by a group including the O'Regan family, US forensic anthropologist Dr Karen Burns, a lawyer and genealogist Mr Jim Herlihy at the grave side. The gates of the cemetery remained locked as the exhumation continued.
"It isn't all about money," said Mr O'Regan. "We're here to prove the truth at last and we're 100 per cent confident of getting the right result." Dr Burns, who worked on identifying the victims of the World Trade Centre attack, took samples of tooth and bone from the femur of Jeremiah O'Regan's skeleton.
The fragments will be examined for DNA. In a month the analysis will be completed, and if the sample matches that of Mary Ellen Sheehan and Mr Dermot O'Regan then Mr O'Regan will become a multi-millionaire.
Mr O'Regan enlisted the help of well-known Cork genealogist Mr Herlihy to find the connection between him and Mrs Sheehan. His claim originated in the 19th century when Mary Ellen Sheehan left her home in Bandon, Co Cork and emigrated to America in 1888. Mr Herlihy has established that Mary Ellen Sheehan's mother, Ellen O'Regan, was born in Bandon, Co Cork.
She was the sister of Mr O'Regan's grandfather Jeremiah, and Mary Ellen married an Irish-American policeman, Mr William Bill Sheehan, based in New York after she had emigrated.
He retired from the NYPD to undertake a succession of jobs. The couple bought a home in Savannah in the state of Georgia. Mr Sheehan was a talented businessman and his property empire took off.
Despite their riches, the dollars could never buy happiness and the couple was haunted by a succession of horrific tragedies. They had four children but all died tragically. When Mr Sheehan died, Mary-Ellen inherited his wealth and when she finally passed away in 1983, there were no direct heirs. The cash was effectively frozen by the State of Georgia until a direct claimant emerged or, as can happen under US law, the entire estate reverts to the government.
The Bandon-born woman's remains now hold the key to a DNA cross-check with Mr Dermot O'Regan to verify the family connection.