The Horrific Unsolved Murder of 8-Year-Old Nurin Jazlin

Nurin Jazlin, 8, walked to a night market near her house in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, on the evening of August 20, 2007, to buy a hair clip. She attended her second year at SK Setapak Desa School and wanted her hair to look pretty for classes the following day. Jazlin never returned home. Her distraught parents, Jazimin Abdul Jalil and Norazian Bistaman reported her missing the same night. A month later, their worst nightmare became a reality.

CCTV footage showed Jazlin walking down the street clutching her money in her hand when a man jumped out of nowhere and tossed her into a large white van. A search for Jazlin began immediately as her parents pleaded for their daughter’s safe return on national media outlets.

A Horrific Discovery

On September 16, 2007, five days after her birthday, Jazlin’s mutilated body was discovered naked in a fetal position inside a gym bag by a shop owner in Petaling Jaya. The bag sat in front of his shop when he arrived to open for the day. Police estimated she had been dead for approximately six hours before her body was found.

An eggplant and cucumber were found stuffed inside her genitals. This caused her rectum to rupture. Jazlin’s autopsy revealed that a bacterial infection was the cause of her death.

Her parents could not identify their daughter’s body due to the changes in her physical features, leaving them hopeful the dead girl was not their daughter. Several prank calls from people claiming Jazlin was ‘under their care’ came into the distraught parents. DNA testing confirmed the body found in the gym bag was that of Nurlin Jazlin.

Five People Arrested and Released

Police considered filing neglect charges against Jazlin’s parents but decided against it after public outcry.

On September 28, 2007, police arrested four men and one woman during a shop raid at Shah Alam in connection with Jazlin’s murder. The woman was released later that day and the men were released three days later due to a lack of evidence.

Police arrested an Indonesian woman in Nilal Negeri Sembilan after she attempted to swallow the SIM card she was carrying.

On October 11, police found CCTV footage captured from a shop in Petaling Utama, Petaling Jaya, showing a motorcyclist carrying the gym bag Jazlin’s body was found in. The individual has never been identified.

The same month, authorities released images of two people they believe are involved with Jazlin’s kidnapping, rape, and subsequent murder.

In 2018, Jazlin’s father pleaded with detectives to reopen the case using new technology that was not available in 2007 to find his daughter’s killer.

As of 2021, he continues to plead with the public for information about the person or persons who took his beloved daughter's life.

“I cannot accept losing Nurin in such a way. For as long as the person who took her away is yet to be apprehended, I will be unable to rest.

“We would have to accept it whether we wanted to or not if my daughter was killed in a vehicle accident or drowned in a lake. My daughter’s experience, however, involves a third party. It’s heartbreaking,” he told FMT (Free Maylasia Today) in 2021.

Police vowed in 2009 to keep Jazlin's case open until they found her killer(s).

Nurin Jazlin died a tragic death more than 17 years ago. Her murder remains unsolved, despite CCTV footage and photographs of the potential suspects.

Rest in peace Nurin Jazlin. My deepest condolences to her mother and father.

Sources:

https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/2016/08/19/ibu-nurin-jazlin-dan-ibu-noor-amila-berkongsi-sedih/

https://web.archive.org/web/20070925204556/http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2007%2F9%2F22%2Fnation%2F18964980&sec=nation