Jayne Furlong

Last updated

Jayne Furlong
Born
New Zealand
Disappeared26 May 1993 (age 17)
Auckland
Cause of death Homicide
Other namesJane Furlong
Parents
  • Michael Furlong (father)
  • Judith Furlong (mother)

Jayne Furlong, also referred to as Jane Furlong, was a New Zealand teenager from Auckland who disappeared from a street in Auckland on 26 May 1993 while working in the sex trade. She had been abducted and murdered. [1]

Contents

Disappearance

Her remains were found south west of Auckland at Sunset Beach, Port Waikato, on 19 May 2012 after being exposed by erosion of a sandbank. [2] They were positively identified by DNA. At the time of her disappearance, Furlong was due to testify as a witness for the prosecution in two separate legal cases – one involving gang members accused of an assault, and the other relating to a businessman charged with brutal attacks on sex workers. A year after the remains were found, Detective Inspector Mark Benefield said that Furlong's ex-partner, who reported her missing on 28 May 1993, some of her former associates and some of those involved in the court cases, had declined to speak to police. [3]

Investigation

In 2012, after the remains were found, police released a film made in 1993 for the Crimewatch TV-program. The film shows a re-enactment of street scenes at the time Furlong went missing, with her boyfriend playing himself [4] and narrated by the show's host, broadcaster Ian Johnstone. [5]

Her murder investigation is ongoing and police are still probing old information. A Facebook page was set up in 2012 to help with inquiries. [6]

Two witnesses claim to have overheard a confession to the killing of Furlong by a career criminal during 2003; the police said their information contained factually incorrect information (namely her place of burial. He said he’d buried her by a bridge in Te Atatu) – so their potential leads were not further investigated. [7]

Aftermath

In 2007 her case was featured on the television series Sensing Murder. [8]

Following discovery of Furlong's remains, her mother urged anyone who knew what happened to her daughter to come forward. [9] A funeral service was held at St George's Anglican Church in Epsom, Auckland in July 2012. [10]

On 9 June 2019, the case was featured on the New Zealand version of the television show Cold Case . Police said they had a person of interest, who had sold Furlong and her partner drugs and had been owed money by them. This person had a connection to Sunset Beach. [11]

In August 2019, a parole board hearing was held for Wayne Michael McGrath, who is nearing the end of a 5-year, 4-month prison sentence for raping Furlong's friend Amanda Wolfe. At his trial, McGrath had publicly identified himself as a suspect in the Furlong murder, but police have never confirmed whether he is or was a suspect. Before her disappearance, Furlong and her boyfriend were in a dispute with McGrath over a vehicle which ended in a violent confrontation in west Auckland. McGrath's brother said that McGrath had spent time at a family-owned bach at Sunset Beach. McGrath was not granted parole; further parole board hearings will take place before his sentence ends in May 2020. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Tamihere</span> New Zealand politician, and rugby league administrator

John Henry Tamihere is a New Zealand politician, media personality, and political commentator. He was member of Parliament from 1999 to 2005, including serving as a Cabinet minister in the Labour Party from August 2002 to November 2004. Tamihere ran unsuccessfully for Auckland mayor in the 2019 election. He joined the Māori Party in 2020 and from April to October 2020 was the party's co-leader. He became president of the Māori Party in June 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Worth</span> New Zealand politician (1948–2022)

Richard Westwood Worth was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He was the Member of Parliament for Epsom from 1999 to 2005 and a list MP from 2005 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Tolley</span> New Zealand politician

Anne Merrilyn Tolley is a New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives representing the National Party. She was New Zealand's first female Minister of Education from 2008 to 2011 and the first Minister for Children from 2016 to 2017. During the Fifth National Government, she was also Minister of Social Development, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Police and Minister of Local Government. She served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2020. She is currently the Chair of the Commission overseeing the Tauranga City Council, which was appointed after a review in 2020 identified significant governance problems within the Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bain family murders</span> 1994 multiple homicide in New Zealand

On 20 June 1994, Robin and Margaret Bain and three of their four children – Arawa, Laniet, and Stephen – were shot to death in Dunedin, New Zealand. The only suspects were David Cullen Bain, the eldest son and only survivor, and Robin Bain, the father. David Bain, aged 22, was charged with five counts of murder. In May 1995, he was convicted on each of the five counts and sentenced to mandatory life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of sixteen years.

<i>Sensing Murder</i>  TV series or program

Sensing Murder is a television show in which three psychics are asked to act as psychic detectives to help provide evidence that might be useful in solving famous unsolved murder cases by communicating with the deceased victims. The program format was developed in 2002 by Nordisk Film TV in Denmark and has been sold to many countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the US. In 2004, Granada Entertainment bought the US rights. The New Zealand series first aired in 2006 and was hosted by Rebecca Gibney. On 17 January 2017, it was announced that Amanda Billing would be the new host for the Australia/New Zealand version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe</span> 1970 crimes in New Zealand

David Harvey Crewe and Jeannette Lenore Crewe were a New Zealand farming couple who were shot to death in their home around 17 June 1970. The murders led to the wrongful conviction and subsequent pardoning of another farmer who lived nearby, Arthur Allan Thomas. A Royal Commission set up to investigate the miscarriage of justice found that a detective had fabricated evidence and placed it at the scene of the crime. No person was ever charged with planting the evidence, and the murders remain unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Karam</span> New Zealand rugby player and businessman

Joseph Francis Karam, also known by the nickname of "Clock", is a New Zealand former representative rugby footballer who played for the All Blacks. After retiring from rugby, he became a businessman. However, he is most notable for waging a successful 15-year campaign to have David Bain's convictions for murder overturned, and a subsequent campaign seeking compensation for him.

Kirsa Jensen was a 14-year-old girl who lived in Napier, New Zealand when she disappeared on 1 September 1983 while riding her horse, Commodore. She never returned home that night and has not been seen since. Her horse was found wandering near the Tutaekuri River but few traces of Jensen were ever discovered, and the case remains unsolved. Police believed that Jensen was abducted and murdered. The case is one of the few unsolved New Zealand murder mysteries and significant within a New Zealand context.

Tony Colin Veitch is a New Zealand former reporter and sports broadcaster. He hosted a Radio Sport breakfast show and Television New Zealand's ONE News 6pm sports news. Veitch resigned from all broadcasting roles in the wake of domestic violence revelations in 2008 and a conviction in 2009, but later regained significant roles at Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport, until late 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen</span> Murder of two Swedish tourists

Swedish tourists Sven Urban Höglin, aged 23, and his fiancée Heidi Birgitta Paakkonen, aged 21, disappeared while tramping on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand in 1989. Police, residents, and military personnel conducted the largest land-based search undertaken in New Zealand, attempting to find the couple. In December 1990, David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of murdering Höglin and Paakkonen, and sentenced to life imprisonment based largely on the testimony of three prison inmates.

In 2001 Bailey Junior Kurariki was involved in the murder of pizza delivery man Michael Choy in Papakura, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. Kurariki was later convicted of manslaughter. He was 12 years and 252 days old the day Choy was killed, making him the youngest person convicted of killing in New Zealand history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Conservatives Party</span> Conservative political party in New Zealand

New Conservatives is a conservative political party in New Zealand. Some opponents and observers have described the party's policies as far-right, though the party now states it has moved to a "more centrist" position under new leadership. It advocates for lower taxation, anti-abortion measures and austerity cuts.

Christine Marie Lundy, 38, and her 7-year-old daughter Amber Grace Lundy were murdered in Palmerston North, New Zealand, on 29 August 2000. In February 2001, after a six month investigation, Christine's husband and Amber's father, Mark Edward Lundy, was arrested and charged, and in 2002, he was convicted of the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

Teina Pora is a New Zealander who was wrongfully convicted of murdering Susan Burdett when he was aged 17; he served time in Paremoremo prison from 1994 for the crime, until he received parole in 2014.

Colin Bouwer (1950-2018) was a South African-born New Zealand former doctor who rose to become Head of Psychiatry at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. He spent 16 years in prison for the murder of his third wife Annette. His crime was dramatised in the TV movie Bloodlines, with Bouwer being portrayed by Mark Mitchinson. His son from a previous marriage was also convicted of an unrelated murder in 2003. His first wife was also convicted of helping their son cover up his crime.

Ben Smart and Olivia Hope, two young New Zealanders, disappeared in the early hours of the morning on New Year's Day, 1 January 1998. The two friends had been celebrating on New Year's Eve at Furneaux Lodge in the Marlborough Sounds with other partygoers. The pair accepted an offer from a stranger to stay aboard his yacht in the early hours of the morning, and it was the last time they were seen alive. The disappearance of the duo sparked one of the most publicised and controversial investigations in New Zealand's history.

Arthur William Taylor is a high-profile former prison inmate who served time in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo, Auckland, New Zealand. In 2016 he had spent 38 years in prison and had a total of 152 convictions. As a prison inmate, he achieved a public profile as a "prison lawyer" due to initiating court action on behalf of himself and prisoners' rights. In 2017, he initiated successful legal action on behalf of former prisoner David Tamihere. On 24 January 2019, Taylor's appearance before a parole board resulted in parole being granted, and he was released on 11 February 2019. He had said not long before release that he wanted to gain a law degree and continue his social work.

The Larnoch Road murders were a high-profile double-murder case in Auckland, New Zealand. On 21 August 1989, Deane Wade Fuller-Sandys, a 21-year-old Auckland tyre-fitter, left home to go fishing. He never returned. His body was never found and authorities initially believed he probably drowned after being swept out to sea at West Auckland's Whatipu Beach, where his car was discovered shortly afterwards. Five days later, on 26 August 1989, Leah Romany Stephens, a 20-year old Auckland sex worker, also disappeared. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a forest near the Muriwai Golf Course three years later, in June 1992. Police enquiries at the time did not lead to an arrest in her case either.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Grace Millane</span> 2018 killing of a British tourist in New Zealand

Grace Emmie Rose Millane was a British tourist who was murdered in Auckland, New Zealand, in December 2018. A 26-year-old man, Jesse Shane Kempson, was charged with her murder on 8 December 2018, and her body was found in the Waitākere Ranges to the west of Auckland the following day. Kempson's name was initially suppressed by New Zealand courts, meaning it could not be published in New Zealand; however, some international media outlets chose to publish it contrary to the New Zealand court order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayden Poulter</span> New Zealand serial killer (1961–2018)

Hayden Tyrone Poulter was a New Zealand serial killer who murdered three people in Auckland in October 1996. Convicted of all three murders but boasted of committing more, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Following a brief stint out of prison on parole before it was revoked, Poulter killed himself in September 2018 at Whanganui Prison. He has been labelled in the media as New Zealand's first serial killer.

References

  1. ↑ "Long wait ends with sunrise at Sunset Beach". NZ Police. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Police close Jane Furlong murder mystery case". New Zealand Herald. 25 June 2014. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "'Surprising' new leads in Furlong death case". Stuff.co.nz. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Jane Furlong re-enactment footage released". Stuff.co.nz. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Ian Johnstone – Presenter". NZ On Air – nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  6. ↑ McCrae, Tom (20 June 2012). "Family feared the worst for Jane Furlong". Newshub. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "Crim 'saw murder'". NZ Herald. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "Sensing Murder episode reruns questioned". Stuff.co.nz. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Jane's mother: Help us solve case". New Zealand Herald. 21 June 2012. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "Mourners farewell Jane Furlong". Stuff.co.nz. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  11. ↑ "Cold Case: Police have person of interest for Jane Furlong murder". Stuff.co.nz. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  12. ↑ ""Suspect" in Jane Furlong cold case murder to be released from prison". Stuff.co.nz . 29 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.