To help find Susan Powell, supporters enlist social media
With no breaks in the Susan Powell case in Utah, her friends and family on Monday launched a social-media campaign 鈥� apparently the most extensive use of online technology in a missing-person search.
A screengrab shows a Facebook group set up by family and friends of Susan Powell.
Facebbook screenshot
It鈥檚 been 29 days since Susan Powell, a young mother of two, was last seen in her Utah home.
In the days after her disappearance, Ms. Powell鈥檚 friends and family plastered her neighborhood of West Valley City, Utah, with missing-person posters. They held candlelight vigils and donned purple ribbons as a visual reminder of her disappearance.
Now, they are going one step further 鈥� enlisting social-media communities in their search. This campaign, they say, is the most extensive use of online technology in a missing-person search.
A month after her disappearance, police are still largely without leads in the case. They have no known suspects but have called Powell鈥檚 husband, Joshua, a 鈥減erson of interest.鈥� He denies involvement and says he was camping with the couple鈥檚 two sons when his wife disappeared.
Worrying that Ms. Powell鈥檚 story was beginning to fade, her friends and family turned to , , and to help spread awareness of her disappearance.
鈥淲e know there are some people who rely on social media and the Internet to get news,鈥� says Shelby Gifford, a friend of Powell鈥檚 who is helping organize the social-media campaign, which will be a concentrated push for three days beginning Monday. 鈥淲e want people to know she鈥檚 sill missing, that we鈥檙e still looking for her, and what she looks like.鈥�
The Facebook group that was formed after Powell鈥檚 disappearance added more than 2,000 new members in only four hours Monday morning, Ms. Gifford says. Many of the new members wrote messages of support or pledged to keep the search alive.
Gifford is hoping that visitors to the group鈥檚 page will flip through the nearly 80 photos of Powell 鈥� smiling at her baby shower, on family vacations, and after a college prank 鈥� in hopes that somebody will be able to provide more information about her disappearance.
YouTube videos, which went up Sunday, show more images of Powell in slide shows set to music. A Twitter account, established before Christmas, provides updates on the social-media campaign and encourages followers to get involved.
The groups鈥� organizers have also posted a and post in lunchrooms and on community bulletin boards, among other places. They鈥檙e asking people to e-mail at least five friends about the case, and for them in turn to e-mail another five friends.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping it goes viral, and Susan鈥檚 face is on every computer screen in the world,鈥� Gifford says.
There are precedents to suggest that greater public awareness helps solve cases.
The 鈥� a partnership between law-enforcement agencies, the media, and transportation agencies to broadcast descriptions of missing children immediately after apparent abductions 鈥� works on this principle. The program claims 492 鈥渟uccessful recoveries.鈥�
Television shows like Fox鈥檚 鈥溾�� have also had success engaging the public in manhunts and missing-person cases. To date, the show says, it has aided in the capture of 1,099 criminals.
Just this past Saturday, a tip from a pair of 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Most Wanted鈥� viewers of Paul Michael Merhige, who is accused of killing four relatives on Thanksgiving Day in Florida. The owners of a motel alerted police to his whereabouts after seeing the preview for an 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Most Wanted鈥� episode featuring Mr. Merhige.
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