By: Laura Dart
Kerrie Ann Brown died 30 years ago and now RCMP are asking for witnesses in the murder to step forward.
The Twitter account tweeted as if they were her during her last day alive.
A friend of Kerrie Ann Brown applauds the unusual move by the RCMP hoping to solve the cold case.
“It’s getting more people talking about what happened then and hopefully somebody will say something or something new will come out of it,” said Rachel Kirkey-Lafave, a school friend of Brown when they were 15.
RCMP Manitoba altered their Twitter and Facebook accounts on Sunday to look for new leads. The day marks the last time the 15-year-old was seen alive in 1986.
“I was raped, beaten & murdered around this time exactly 30 years ago & someone out there knows who did this to me.” #rcmpmb #kerrie
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) October 17, 2016
Her body was found two days later near a horseback riding trail in Thompson, Manitoba.
Please don’t assume #rcmpmb knows what you know. Someone out there knows something that can crack open this case. #kerrie pic.twitter.com/PIB7BBmWGQ
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) October 17, 2016
The RCMP opened up the cold case to start a conversation and try to find answers.
Kirkey-Lafave first met Brown through after school activities while in elementary school and later went to school together in grade nine at R.D. Parker Collegiate.
“It’s been such a long time a lot of people have moved away a lot of people have moved on with their lives and they get more access thorough social media than just a few people left in Thompson,” said Kirkey-Lafave.
The post has had a lot of her friends connecting from when they were in Thompson. More people are talking about what happened and interested in getting more information about that night.
“You have access to everywhere and everyone and if you get the word out there and people talking, remembering, someone might say, hey I remember seeing a car a day or I remember seeing a truck that day or funny it may not have been that weekend, but the weekend before I saw a truck around the horse stable,” said Kirkey-Lafave.
In his experience with social media Insp. Chris Boddy from Toronto Police Division 11 knows that appealing to the public can work.
“Being involved in social media lets people know that cops are humans too, but they just wear a uniform. So if they have comfort and ease talking to the police or see them on social media…they’ll contact us if they have information on a crime or information about a crime in progress,” said Boddy.
In the case of Kerrie Ann Brown friends have been connecting through social media after the day of tweets.
“It just makes you rethink and it’s been 30 years so a lot of us still remember 30 years ago like it was yesterday because of the loss we had,” said Kirkey-Lafave.