Victoria Police launch cold case hub with Jane Thurgood-Dove’s murder unsolved

The mother of a woman shot dead in her driveway in 1997 has issued a desperate plea, as police unveil a final bid to bring closure to families.

The elderly parents of murdered Melbourne woman Jane Thurgood-Dove have made a devastating plea for assistance with the unsolved and brutal murder of their daughter – so they “can go to their graves” with closure.

In November 1997, Mrs Thurgood-Dove was confronted in the driveway of her Niddrie home and shot repeatedly in the head while her three young children cowered inside her car.

As Mrs Thurgood-Dove got out of her car after picking the children up from school on November 6, the 34-year-old was approached by a “short, pot-bellied man” who chased her around the vehicle.

When she tripped and fell, the man shot her repeatedly in her head and torso.

The shooter then hopped in a stolen metallic blue Holden Commodore, driven by another man, which was later found torched in a nearby street.

Jane Thurgood-Dove, a mother of three, was shot to death in driveway of her family home in Niddrie in 1997. Picture: Supplied

Victoria Police interviewed several people but have never charged anyone with her murder.

The case is one of five to be uploaded by Victoria Police in the launch of a new online hub to encourage public assistance to solve cold case murders.

Every case featured in the ‘Cold Case Hub’ will include background on the investigation, a photograph of the victim and a personal appeal from the investigator to the public for information.

Helen and John Magill helped Victoria Police launch its new Cold Case Hub. Picture : NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

It is hoped the Australian-first initiative, which is based on methods used in Canada, will bring attention to the more than 200 unsolved deaths currently within the Victorian Homicide Squad’s files.

John and Helen Magill, the parents of Mrs Thurgood-Dove, helped Victorian Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Tim Day unveil the hub on Sunday.

Almost 24 years since the murder, the Magill family, including her now adult children, are still shattered and desperate for closure.

“We say please, as a mother of a murdered daughter, I think if you were in the same situation you would want to have this sorted so that we can go to our graves knowing - which is not that far away,” an emotional Mrs Magill said.

Several years ago, police identified two men, Steven John Mordy and Jamie Reynolds, as being persons of interest in relation to Mrs Thurgood-Dove’s death.

However Mordy died from a heart attack in his Geelong North home in 2000 and Reynolds died in a boating accident at Barwon Heads in April 2006.

In 2007, a $1 million reward for information leading to a conviction over the murder was offered - but no such detail was forthcoming.

The Holden getaway vehicle was found burnt in a street nearby. Picture: supplied Victoria Police

Detective inspector Day said police had new lines of inquiry as they look to solve the case.

“One of the theories is that both offenders (the shooter and the driver) are both deceased but that could be wrong,” he said.

“We believe we are still looking for the driver of the vehicle and we believe we are still looking for the person who contracted the killing.”

Mrs Magill said the tragedy weighed on her and her husband daily.

“It hasn't been easy, as anyone could imagine,” she said.

“It’s the day to day knowing that she’s never here anymore. Occasions like birthdays and Christmas and the children’s birthdays. You never really get over it, it’s always there.”