Jayne Furlong

{{Infobox person

| name = Jayne Furlong

| birth_date =

| image =

| image_size =

| other_names = Jane Furlong

| birth_place = New Zealand

| disappeared_date = 26 May 1993 (age 17)

| disappeared_place = Auckland

| death_date =

| death_place =

| death_cause = Homicide

| mother = Judith Furlong

| father = Michael Furlong

}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/31943|accessdate=20 October 2016|title=Long wait ends with sunrise at Sunset Beach|date=20 June 2012|publisher=NZ Police}}

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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11281709|title=Police close Jane Furlong murder mystery case|date=2014-06-25|work=New Zealand Herald|access-date=2017-04-11|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8543343/Surprising-new-leads-in-Furlong-death-case|accessdate=20 October 2016|title='Surprising' new leads in Furlong death case|date=12 April 2013|publisher=Stuff.co.nz}}

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{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/7154612/Jane-Furlong-re-enactment-footage-released|accessdate=2 April 2017|title=Jane Furlong re-enactment footage released|date=22 June 2012|publisher=Stuff.co.nz}} and narrated by the show's host, broadcaster Ian Johnstone.{{cite web|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/person/ian-johnstone/biography|accessdate=4 August 2017|title=Ian Johnstone – Presenter|publisher=NZ On Air – nzonscreen.com}}

Her murder investigation is ongoing and police are still probing old information. A Facebook page was set up in 2012 to help with inquiries.{{cite news|url=http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/family-feared-the-worst-for-jane-furlong-2012062017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024085803/http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/family-feared-the-worst-for-jane-furlong-2012062017|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 October 2016|accessdate=23 October 2016|title=Family feared the worst for Jane Furlong|date=20 June 2012|newspaper=Newshub|last1=McCrae|first1=Tom}}

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.{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10911050|accessdate=20 October 2016|title=Crim 'saw murder'|date=11 August 2013|publisher=NZ Herald}}

Aftermath

In 2007 her case was featured on the television series Sensing Murder.{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/76073573/Sensing-Murder-episode-reruns-questioned|accessdate=20 October 2016|title=Sensing Murder episode reruns questioned|date=20 January 2016|publisher=Stuff.co.nz}}

Following discovery of Furlong's remains, her mother urged anyone who knew what happened to her daughter to come forward.{{Cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10814436|title=Jane's mother: Help us solve case|date=2012-06-21|work=New Zealand Herald|access-date=2017-04-11|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}} A funeral service was held at St George's Anglican Church in Epsom, Auckland in July 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/7317610/Mourners-farewell-Jane-Furlong|accessdate=20 October 2016|title=Mourners farewell Jane Furlong|date=20 July 2012|publisher=Stuff.co.nz}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/113316101/cold-case-police-have-person-of-interest-for-jane-furlong-murder|accessdate=9 June 2019|title=Cold Case: Police have person of interest for Jane Furlong murder|date=9 June 2019|publisher=Stuff.co.nz}}

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/116079162/suspect-in-jane-furlong-cold-case-murder-to-be-released-from-prison|accessdate=30 September 2019|title="Suspect" in Jane Furlong cold case murder to be released from prison|date=29 September 2019|newspaper=Stuff.co.nz}}