In the tranquil reaches of Connemara, County Galway, a tragic fire on the morning of June 3, 2025, claimed the lives of two residents: Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, a former US death row inmate in her late seventies, and Kevin Kelly, a man in his early thirties who was known locally and served as Ms. Jacobs' carer. The blaze at a rural cottage near the village of Casla shocked the tight-knit community and marked a sorrowful end to the remarkable life of a woman whose story had become emblematic of resilience and the fight against wrongful convictions.
Emergency services were alerted to the fire just after 6 a.m., with Galway County Council's chief fire officer Gerry O'Malley confirming that crews from Carraroe, Galway city, and An Cheathrú Rua responded promptly. Firefighters, equipped with breathing apparatus, entered the building and found Ms. Jacobs in the bedroom and Mr. Kelly elsewhere inside. Despite immediate efforts, both were pronounced dead at the scene. The bodies were taken to University Hospital Galway for post-mortem examinations, while Gardaí launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, with a technical examination of the bungalow underway. Authorities have appealed to anyone with information to contact Clifden Garda station or the Garda Confidential Line.
Ms. Jacobs’ journey to this peaceful part of Ireland was as extraordinary as it was harrowing. Born in New York, she spent nearly 17 years imprisoned in Florida, including five years on death row, after being wrongfully convicted of murdering two police officers in 1976. At the time, she was traveling with her partner Jesse Tafero, their two young children — a nine-year-old son and a ten-month-old daughter — and a friend, Walter Rhodes. During a traffic stop, Rhodes shot the officers and later implicated Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Tafero in the crime, leading to their death sentences.
Despite maintaining their innocence, Tafero was executed in 1990 in a botched electric chair procedure that took thirteen agonizing minutes, with flames reportedly shooting from his head. Ms. Jacobs endured solitary confinement in a tiny, windowless cell on death row, surviving through practices like yoga and meditation. Her death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Florida's Supreme Court in 1981, and in 1992, an appeals court overturned her conviction, ordering a new trial. Rather than face another trial, she accepted an Alford Plea, which allowed her to maintain innocence while acknowledging that the state had enough evidence to convict. She was released that year.
The trauma of incarceration was compounded by personal loss; during her imprisonment, her parents, who had cared for her children, died in a plane crash. Her children faced hardships too: her daughter was placed in foster care, and her son supported himself by delivering pizzas. Yet Ms. Jacobs emerged determined not to be embittered. In a 2006 interview with The Irish Times, she reflected, "It was very important, that choice I made to heal, rather than to spend the gift of a new life that I had looking backwards at the wrongs that were done to me. And I was able to share that with my children. It meant I am leaving them a legacy of hope and strength rather than defeat and pain." She added, "Being in prison doesn’t prepare you for a lot in the outside world... But in other ways, I had huge advantages because I knew what was really important in life... Love. Peace. Kindness. Being true to yourself."
Ms. Jacobs' activism against the death penalty blossomed after her release. In 1998, during a visit to Ireland for an Amnesty International event, she met Peter Pringle, a Dublin native who had himself been sentenced to death in 1980 for the murders of two Gardaí during a bank robbery. Mr. Pringle served nearly 15 years before his conviction was quashed in 1995 due to unsafe verdicts. The pair connected deeply over their shared experiences of wrongful convictions and capital punishment, eventually marrying in 2012 and settling in Galway's Gaeltacht region. Mr. Pringle passed away in 2023.
Life in Connemara offered Ms. Jacobs a sanctuary of freedom and grounding. Independent Ireland Councillor Michael Leainde, who was also her postman, described the community's grief and the profound impact of her presence. "She loved Connemara because she had freedom and stuff like that," he said. "They used to have animals and goats and stuff like that; they had them in the garden there. They had donkeys and cats and dogs and she was into kind of animals like that." He recalled her intelligence and curiosity, noting how she would often research topics and follow up later with new insights.
Ms. Jacobs was also an author, publishing the bestselling memoir Stolen Time in 2008, which chronicled her ordeal and resilience. Her story transcended literature, inspiring plays and films, including the well-known Off-Broadway production The Exonerated, which was adapted into a 2005 film featuring Susan Sarandon portraying her. In a 2017 Galway Town Hall Theatre performance, Ms. Jacobs even played herself, bringing her narrative full circle.
Her advocacy extended beyond storytelling. She founded The Sunny Center Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting those wrongfully convicted and campaigning against the death penalty worldwide. Abe Bonowitz, co-founder of Death Penalty Action, who met Ms. Jacobs shortly after her release, praised her lifelong commitment: "Sunny used the remainder of her life to work to keep others from enduring wrongful incarceration, to help those freed from wrongful incarceration to heal, and to work to abolish the death penalty in the United States and worldwide." Even in her later years, despite health challenges, she remained mentally sharp and engaged.
Ms. Jacobs once poignantly expressed her connection to her adopted home, telling The Guardian in 2013, "The stone in the west of Ireland makes me feel grounded; it anchors me." Her life was a testament to transformation, from the darkest depths of injustice to a beacon of hope and healing.
The investigation into the fire that claimed her life and that of Kevin Kelly continues, with Gardaí appealing for any witnesses to come forward. For the residents of Connemara, the loss of Sunny Jacobs is deeply felt, a reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring power of the human spirit.
