Kirsa: A Mother's Story

The day before a broken leg would have seemed like an absolute tragedy...but that night a broken leg seemed like a miracle, almost.

– Robyn Jensen on hoping her daughter was merely hurt, the night she was reported missing

I missed her so much. I've never known such pain and it hurt like hell.

– Robyn Jensen on grieving for her daughter without knowing where her body was

My initial impression was that it was highly suspicious. Sure, a person could have an accident with a horse, but they should be found, and this girl wasn't found.

– Former Napier police chief Ian Holyoake recalls his early thoughts about the Kirsa Jensen case

...it also made me very, very aware that this was something very, very serious, that something dreadful had happened to Kirsa. And the other side of the warmth that the flowers bought was the words that were screaming back at me: 'Kirsa is dead, Kirsa is dead'. I mean why else would people be sending so many flowers?

– Robyn Jensen remembers the painful flip side of receiving flowers from her community

The whole community became obsessed with white utes. For me they became a symbol of death. I kept wondering 'was Kirsa taken away from the gun emplacement in a white ute?'

– Robyn Jensen on the sighting of a suspicious white ute on the day of Kirsa's disappearance

The terrible story gripped the country for weeks, months, years. Teenage girls weren't meant to just disappear in broad daylight. Not here. Not like this. Yet while the mystery remains unsolved, Robyn's questions just remain.

– Radio New Zealand reporter Paloma Migone on the Kirsa Jensen case, RNZ website, 3 November 2017

She is just so very precious to me and the longer it goes, the harder it is because one day I may be dead and she may not be found. To be able to locate her and put her in a decent place, to rest forever, is vitally important to me.

– Robyn Jensen on the Radio New Zealand website, 3 November 2017

Late morning I gave the police a photo of Kirsa. It was my special photo, taken when she started high school. I didn't realise it would quickly become public property, blazoned across television and newspapers for years to come.

– Robyn Jensen on the immediate aftermath of her daughter's disappearance

I've asked god for another horse and this time I've asked for a grey horse and I've also said please don't make it too dear, because we don't have a lot of money.

– Robyn Jensen reads out her daughter Kirsa's prayer at Christmas