Cranley, a census taker, who spoke to him in the cottage around 8:30 pm on the previous day. His body was found by Gardaí after a passer-by reported seeing a broken window and a smashed-in door. A statement by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain referred to his killing as a "barbaric act", while Taoiseach Bertie Ahern condemned "the brutal murder" of Donaldson. Two shotgun cartridges were found at the threshold of the cottage and a post mortem revealed that he had died from a shotgun blast to the chest. The Republic's Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell initially said that Donaldson had been shot in the head, and his right hand was also badly damaged by gunshot. The Provisional IRA issued a one-line statement saying that it had "no involvement whatsoever" with the murder. The murder was also condemned by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams. The Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley blamed republicans for the killing, saying that "eyes will be turned towards IRA/Sinn Féin on this issue". In May 2005, Minister McDowell advised a US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland that he believed the outing of Donaldson as an informant was a clear message from the British Government that it had another, more valuable, source of information within the republican leadership. On 8 April 2006 Donaldson was buried in Belfast City Cemetery, rather than at Milltown Cemetery, the more common burial place for republicans. In February 2009, Gardaí announced they had a new lead in the inquiry into his death. On 12 April 2009, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for his death. In April 2016 two men, Patrick Gillespie (aged 74 at the time) and another man (in his 40s), were detained under the Republic's Offences Against the State Act. They were held in Letterkenny station and questioned. The man in his 40s was released without charge but Gillespie was charged with having in his possession information regarding the involvement of another person in Donaldson's killing, was granted bail and awaited trial. On 20 September 2016, BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight aired a programme in which a British spy (known only as "Martin") who had infiltrated the IRA claimed that Thomas “Slab” Murphy and other leading South Armagh Republicans had demanded the killing of Donaldson and that it would have been sanctioned by Gerry Adams. The agent stated, "I know from my experience in the IRA