Stuff Digital Edition

30 years of false leads

The runaway theory

It wasn’t long after Furlong’s disappearance before people reported her lookalikes at other ends of the country, or Australia. In the media police implored Furlong to return home, as if she’d simply walked away from her life.

Silenced by a serial predator

When she disappeared, Furlong was due to give evidence in a sensational case of a wealthy businessman who had been attacking sex workers along Karanghape Rd – Furlong one of them. But Stephen Collie, who was convicted of sex crimes against multiple women, was in custody when Furlong disappeared and police quickly moved on from that theory.

Victim of a serial killer

When Hayden Poulter went on a murder spree in 1996, killing three people including a sex worker, he sent a confession to a newspaper, bragging that ‘‘b .... I killed in 93 was the best’’. Police interviewed Poulter but said the MOs didn’t match. Furlong’s body had been hidden well for decades, whereas Poulter had carried out his crimes brazenly, in public spaces, and quickly sought infamy.

Buried under concrete

In 2007, Kelvin Cruickshank appeared on Sensing Murder claiming Furlong was buried under concrete in a city area, describing seeing dirt, hammers, jackhammers and concrete. He concluded Furlong had been buried under a construction site.

The pop star who claimed to have seen her

80s pop star Deane Sutherland, of Satellite Spies, claimed he saw Furlong the night of her disappearance, that she had been picked up in a distinctive vehicle on K’ Rd and that she appeared uncomfortable with the people in the car. Police weren’t able to corroborate Sutherland’s sighting, and he died in 2020.

The career criminal and the confession

In 2013, two men claimed an associate had confessed to them that he was present when Furlong was killed, allegedly at an Auckland cemetery, and that she had been buried. Police discredited the story, saying elements were factually incorrect, that they weren’t convinced of the validity of the information, and it was excluded from the enquiry.

The missing photograph

In 2021, a man came forward, claiming to have a photograph of Furlong and some unsmiling, serious men carrying spades on the beach of Port Waikato. The photo hasn’t been recovered.

A suspect?

In 2015, Furlong’s acquaintance Wayne McGrath claimed he was a suspect in her disappearance, during a trial in which he was eventually convicted of the rape of one of her friends. McGrath claimed the victim had made the story up because ‘‘she can’t pin the Jane thing on me’’.

NEWS

en-nz

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/281659669416406

Stuff Limited