Jayne Furlong, also referred to as Jane Furlong, was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

teenager from

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

who disappeared from a street in Auckland on 26 May 1993 while working in the

sex trade The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related se ...

. She had been abducted and

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

Disappearance

Her remains were found south west of Auckland at Sunset Beach,

Port Waikato Port Waikato is a New Zealand town that sits on the south bank of the Waikato River, at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in the northern Waikato. Port Waikato is a well-known surfing and whitebaiting destination and a popular holiday spot. ...

, on 19 May 2012 after being exposed by erosion of a sandbank. They were positively identified by

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

. 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.

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 and narrated by the show's host, broadcaster Ian Johnstone. Her murder investigation is ongoing and police are still probing old information. A

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page was set up in 2012 to help with inquiries. 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.

Aftermath

In 2007, her case was featured on the television series ''

Sensing Murder ''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 progra ...

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

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, Auckland in July 2012. On 9 June 2019, the case was featured on the New Zealand 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. 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 Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

at Sunset Beach. McGrath was not granted parole; further parole board hearings will take place before his sentence ends in May 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, Jayne 1990s missing person cases 1993 deaths Female murder victims Formerly missing New Zealand people Kidnapped New Zealand people Missing person cases in New Zealand New Zealand murder victims Unsolved murders in New Zealand Child murder in New Zealand 1993 in New Zealand Murdered sex workers People murdered in New Zealand Year of birth missing

Disappearance

Investigation

Aftermath

See also

References