Have you received this email recently about the missing 3 year old named Jewel Strong?

Missing 3 year Old Girl

You never know, who knows whom

Another child missing.

Please forward to everyone you know.

Her family needs your help finding her.

The email has been circulating for about 3 years now, beginning in 2006. It’s not a complete hoax,  little Jewel Strong (pictured above) was actually missing but not as the result of an abduction or runaway.  The Jonesboro tot, who was 3 years old in 2006, was vacationing along with her family in Panama City Beach.  The child and her 18 year old aunt were playing in a float in the water and were caught in strong currents.  Rescuers were able to rescue the aunt, but the 3 year old was swept under the water and could not be found.

Over the course of several weeks, rescuers conducted an intensive search of the child by boat, divers and helicopter. Sadly they turned up nothing.  Little Jewel’s distraught parents held out hope that she was alive and well somewhere but all signs point to the small child drowning and being swept away by the strong currents.

It’s a sad sad story that has developed over the course of these three years. The parents refused to give up hope and went through hell and high water to find their child. I did a lil internet research and compiled what’s been going on with the case all these years. If you got that email again today and are interested in Jewel’s story check it out below:

A full search ensued for little Jewel Strong but after a week of searching the Panama City Beach, authorities determined that she drowned. Without a body, the Strong’s refused to give up hope and continued searching for answers to what happened to their little girl.

The mother, Simona Strong stated that she and her family started to receive reports from many people that Jewel had been sighted in the company of three black women. In March 2007 someone contacted the Strong family and said that they had seen Jewel at the Golden Coral in Jacksonville, Florida with those women:

Video surveillance footage at Golden Corral in Jacksonville, FL

The family obtained the surveillance video and was given new hope that their daughter may still be alive.

“Clear as day. We just knew it was her, just to see her moving about for seven minutes we were sure,” said Simona Strong.

Then in August the Strong family got another lead. Jewel had reportedly been spotted in a Walgreens in Orlando. Once again the surveillance tapes were reviewed and it showed a little girl and a woman walking in and paying at the counter. Ironically, it seems that the woman may have been one of the three women on the surveillance video from the Golden Coral in Jacksonville.

Screenshot from Video in Walgreens in Orlando, FL

Since the two alleged sightings of Jewel Strong who would now be four-years-old, the family has moved from Atlanta to Jacksonville in hopes of finding their daughter alive.

In September of 2007 Sheriff Frank McKeithen said at a press conference that the security video of a girl from an Orlando Walgreens was not 3-year-old Jewel Strong. He maintained that leads were followed up to secure the credit card transaction information of the lady in the Walgreens and concluded that the little girl with her was not Jewel.

The family has a birth certificate and other “documentation” to prove the girl shown is theirs and not Jewel, McKeithen said.

As far as the video of the little girl purported to be Jewel at the Golden Coral in Jacksonville, the Sheriff says, “You can’t say it’s her and you can’t say it’s not her.”

The Strongs maintained that they felt Jewel was abducted during a chaotic situation and developed a website to receive tips about their missing daughter. Although the sightings are unlikely Jewel, the Strong family will not give up hope until they know what happened to their daughter. (Source)

Little Jewel still appears on the missing children’s website as “lost at sea” and sadly, the Strong family seems to have accepted the fact that the little girl is gone. Their website is no longer set up for tips and they have posted the following message for anyone seeking information:

We would like to thank the many thousands who have encouraged and prayed for our family. God heard your prayers and honored them. As a result, we were able to overcome a difficult situation and now we have the victory! Please join us in thanking God because He gets all the glory, honor, glory and the highest praise. God bless you! (source)

The family seems to have healed but the little girls image will probably still circulate via email forever. Now that you know the real deal, you can stop the chain. Next time you see it click “Delete” and send whoever sent it to you over here for the full story…