Girl Missing 33 Years Tweets via Sheriff's Account

Fla. cops use 'eerily unorthodox campaign' to refocus attention on cold case
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted May 31, 2017 7:44 AM CDT
Updated Jun 4, 2017 9:06 AM CDT
Girl Missing 33 Years Tweets via Sheriff's Account
Christy Luna has been missing since 1984. She was 8 years old and disappeared on Memorial Day.   (Twitter/@PBCountySheriff)

Florida authorities have let the imagined voice of an 8-year-old girl who went missing on Memorial Day Weekend in 1984 take over the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department Twitter account. Through a series of tweets with the hashtag #Justice4Luna, they led a social media campaign that included the tweets "HELP!!!" and "Why are you taking me? Why are you doing this? Nothing will ever be the same after this." The Washington Post calls it "an eerily unorthodox campaign to resurrect the girl’s story—by resurrecting the girl." And while many seem to agree that the tweets are disturbing, the social media response has been largely positive, with people thanking the department for trying to revive interest in the 33-year-old case.

The last time anyone saw her, Marjorie "Christy" Luna had slipped out of her house in a turquoise swimsuit and walked to Belk's General Store to buy cat food while her mother napped, reports the New York Daily News. The Post reports that authorities suspect one Victor Wonyetye is responsible. He was at a party in her neighborhood the day she went missing and soon moved to New Hampshire, where an 8-year-old girl went missing while walking to school. He died in 2012 after being released from prison for indecent exposure and burglary, and inmates claim he admitted to killing both girls. Canadian authorities used a similar social media campaign in the hopes of finding a girl who went missing in 1986, and say it brought information that made it "absolutely worthwhile." (This cold case has had numerous twists.)

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