Episode 5: Kirsa Jensen

Andi talks to Ayla about 14-year-old Kirsa’s disappearance in 1983. She went for a ride on her horse, Commodore, around 3pm and then never returned home. Police were notified at 6.45pm and began their search, finding Commodore on the river. However, there were few sightings of Kirsa other than one person who saw a man with her at a gun emplacement in Napier, where she had a bloodied face. Another person also saw her in this state and asked her what had happened, to which Kirsa responded she had fallen off her horse and that her parents had been contacted. One other person saw Kirsa and a man in a white utility vehicle driving away from the emplacement, and that Commodore was tied up at the emplacement around 4.45pm before being found along the river. A man called John Russell was the primary suspect and said he was the man with Kirsa at the gun emplacement. However, there was no evidence at his house that suggested he had been involved in the disappearance. He did confess to the crime however then retracted this and no charges were made against him. He committed suicide in 1992. Kirsa is still considered a missing person.