This 8-Year-Old Girl Disappeared Over 30 Years Ago — And Was Never Found

From Good Housekeeping

Boo Boo and Skeeter were hungry, so on May 27, 1984, 8-year-old Marjorie "Christy" Luna set off to buy cat food wearing nothing but her blue body suit. The barefoot girl left her napping mom and sister behind and walked 500 feet down the street to Belk's General Store in Greenacres, Florida. Then she vanished.

Her smiling face plastered newspapers, billboards and milk cartons, and decades of investigation revealed several suspects, but no one ever determined what happened to Christy. Now 33 years later, the missing child is begging others to solve her own cold case as the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department retells the story from her eyes. "Speaking" through the PBSO Twitter account, Christy reveals what happened that Memorial Day weekend over three decades ago.

On May 26, 1984, Jennie Luna (now Jennie Johnson) told her two daughters they were going on vacation. Christy and her older sister Allie dreamed of visiting Disney World, but the family could only afford a trip to Dubois Beach in Jupiter. They spent the next day on the shore before heading home, stopping by Wendy's to pick up lunch.

Exhausted from the trip, Jennie and Allie fell asleep in their Greenacres home but Christy didn't feel like napping. Realizing her two cats were hungry, the 8-year-old dug up some spare change and set off by herself to the local store around the corner. People saw Christy buying the pet food, but no one can confirm what happened next.

The Sheriff's Office offered the following imagined dialogue:

Over the next days, months and years, investigators chased down every lead in hopes of finding Christy or her potential murderer. A couple times, they came excruciatingly close.

Brothers Willis and Chuck Rambo lived down the street from the Lunas. They were charged with molesting a 6-year-old neighbor, and Christy had also gone to their home. In 1993, Willis went to prison for raping his stepdaughters, but authorities couldn't find any evidence related to Christy's disappearance.

The primary suspect also illuded charges. Golf-course worker Victor Wonyetye attended a party in the same neighborhood on May 27, 1984. Authorities suspected he played a role in the disappearance of another 8-year-old girl, Tammy Belanger, only a few months later.

In 1992, he went on trial for unrelated charges of indecent exposure and burglary. When he was sentenced to 75 years, Christy's mother was there. "I know you killed her," Jennie screamed from across the courtroom. "What did you do with my daughter, you monster?" Wonyetye died less than a year later.

Jennie still lives in that small Greenacres home around the corner from Belk's just in case her daughter comes home one day. Even decades after losing her little girl, Christy's mom hasn't lost hope.

And neither have the PBSO team. While their idea for helping find Christy may have been extreme (some even called it creepy), detectives stand by their choice. In fact, according to the Palm Beach Post, they may even have a new lead. "We never forget about these cases," Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. "I don't care what case it is, we're always looking to see if we can solve these cases at some point and time, and if this is the way can do it, we're going to use it."

If you have any information regarding Christy Luna, you should contact Detective William Springer of PBSO's cold-case team at 561-688-4013 or 561-315-4188.

[h/t Washington Post and Palm Beach Post]

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