‘COME FORWARD, TELL THE TRUTH’

Jane Furlong’s son speaks out on mum’s 30-year cold case killing

Aidan Norsworthy was just months old when his mother disappeared. When police later searched Jane Furlong’s flat for clues as to her whereabouts, they found soft toys she’d bought for Aidan, and her diaries filled with thoughts of him.

Furlong was 16 when she became pregnant, and 17 when she disappeared.

‘‘I’m now a lot older than she was when she passed,’’ says Norsworthy. ‘‘When people hear your mum was murdered – that’s a horrible event and that’s very traumatic at such a young age, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of my life.’’

Friday marked the 30-year anniversary of Furlong’s disappearance, who was last seen alive on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd. There were little to no clues for many years, until 2012 when her skeleton was found at a Port Waikato beach, many kilometres away from her last known movements.

While police had long suspected foul play, the discovery of her remains revitalised the murder inquiry. But, nobody has been arrested or charged with her death.

‘‘For me it’s interesting because I just lost my dad as well,’’ says Norsworthy, whose father Dani died in 2022. ‘‘Losing both my parents ... is difficult. I think people should be held accountable for what they have done. It’s difficult that it’s been so long – it’s hard to hold hope that anything is going to be [solved]. I still hope it will.

‘‘In terms of how it’s affected me, taking away someone’s mother at such an early age has untold consequences throughout their whole life. I’m still now, even at 30, figuring out how it’s affected me. The people that did it, whoever they are, didn’t have any concept of how [her death] would affect the people that were closest to her.’’

Unable to look after Aidan, Furlong and her partner – Aidan’s father, Dani Norsworthy – put Aidan in the care of Norsworthy’s parents. Aidan describes a good upbringing – ‘‘my grandparents are great, they are absolutely lovely. They are the reason I am still here’’ – but he’s had to deal with living in the shadow of Jane’s murder, including police attention on his father.

Growing up, Aidan was teased at school about his mother and he was furious when, in 2007, Sensing Murder ‘‘psychics’’ focused their attention on the case, with Kelvin Cruickshank claiming Furlong was buried under concrete – disproved five years later with the discovery of her remains.

It was one of a number of false leads and stories that police have had to sort through over the years, including claims from people who alleged they’d witnessed her murder, her burial, or her abduction.

‘‘People like to talk shit and make up lies for whatever reason, they have ther own agenda, they want a little bit of limelight or whatever,’’ says Aidan. ‘‘It’s pretty f ..... up, really.

‘‘I felt the same with Sensing Murder... That was a real slap in the face. I think it was just sickeningly rude.’’

Aidan lives with a brain injury after a break-in at his home, and is on ACC. He has post-traumatic stress, he says. While he has few photos of his mum, and only stories from people who knew her, he has her image tattooed on him.

‘‘I used to say, ‘oh [Jane’s death] didn’t affect me because I didn’t know her, but now I realise it affected me a lot more [than he thought]. I lost out on a key component of growing up, of feeling safe, of feeling nurtured, of feeling connected to somebody, because that was taken away by the selfish deeds of someone who had some feeling that they were more superior – that they could choose whether she got to live her life or not.’’

Aidan was 19 when Furlong’s remains were found, a ‘‘huge discovery’’ for which he had always hoped. It answered some questions, too.

‘‘Nobody knew what had happened before then – whether she was alive or dead. It was always in the back of my mind that she could be living in South America under another name, nobody knew.’’

But it also, uncomfortably, put his life back in the spotlight.

‘‘Reporters would take photos off my Facebook page without asking and plastered them all over the internet without my permission. I don’t appreciate that. People don’t understand that I’m a person too.’’

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Inspector Paul Newman, is now based overseas with New Zealand police, but by email he said all tips, information or ‘‘reasonable leads’’ continued to be reviewed and followed up.

Thousands of police investigative hours over the course of three inquiries had been dedicated to the case, and police had collected hundreds of statements and witness accounts, he said, allowing detectives to form a picture of events around Furlong’s disappearance.

‘‘Investigations like this are never closed,’’ Newman said. ‘‘We hope to bring closure for the sake of those who loved Jane and justice against those who did harm Jane. People hold onto information for a variety of reasons. After all this time people’s relationships and allegiances change. I encourage anyone with information on Jane’s death to come forward.’’

While Aidan Norsworthy doesn’t like to dwell on what happened to his mother, nor does he have any theories about who is responsible for her death, he does have a message for those who know what happened.

‘‘What’s stopping you from coming forward? It’s more important they come forward and tell the truth than whatever they are afraid of.’’

‘‘The people that did it, whoever they are, didn’t have any concept of how [her death] would affect the people that were closest to her.’’

Aidan Norsworthy