Proper goodbye at last for Jane Furlong
TEENAGE murder victim Jane Furlong received a proper goodbye nearly 20 years after her death, farewelled to the Guns N’ Roses’ anthem Sweet Child of Mine.
Her family spoke of an outgoing, chatty girl who was so “much more” than just a prostitute.
Miss Furlong, 17, was last seen in Karangahape Rd, Auckland, on May 28, 1993. She left behind a 6-month-old baby boy, Aidan Norsworthy. He is now 20.
Her remains were found on Sunset Beach in Port Waikato on May 19 by a woman walking her dog, triggering a homicide investigation.
‘‘She did not deserve this evil. And evil is what it was,” Jane’s mother, Judith Furlong, said.
“I still pray for the day that the person or persons that did this to her will be revealed.”
Mrs Furlong described her daughter as “into everything” – she loved sports, soccer, running, athletics, and swimming in the sea.
When
Miss
Furlong
disap- peared she was due to testify as a witness for the prosecution in two separate cases — one involved gang members accused of an assault, the other a businessman charged with brutal attacks on sex workers.
Head investigator Detective Inspector Mark Benefield has said it was possible Miss Furlong was alive for some days after she disappeared and before she was killed.
Mr Benefield appealed for a man recorded in Miss Furlong’s diary as ‘‘Tommy’’ to come forward, along with any other clients who could recall being with her on, or after May 26.
The funeral service was at St George’s Anglican Church in Epsom.