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WEST VALLEY CITY -- Supporters of Susan Powell are launching what they call a "social media blitz" to help find the missing mother of two. She disappeared from West Valley City four weeks ago and her loved ones still do not know if she is alive or dead.
The trail has been cold for a month, but Powell's supporters hope the power of "the new media" will produce some fresh leads.
James Hofheins volunteered to coordinate the social networking aspect of the search even though he didn't know Powell before she disappeared. "If my wife were missing," Hofheins says, "if it were my mom, my sister, my daughter, I would want people coming out of the woodwork to help."
Everyone who watches television in Utah knows much about the case already. But the social media blitz is aimed at people who rely on the Internet for their news, especially the social networking sites.
Susan Powell's image and news about the search are already on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. During the three-day blitz, her supporters will use a sort of email chain letter to draw people to the key websites. They hope her face and description will go viral and spread out exponentially, perhaps reaching just the right person.
"Read her description, and then look around," Hofheins says. "Do you see her? If you do, we hope that you will stop what you're doing and call 911."
Another hope is that the blitz will prompt a reluctant person to talk. "Somebody somewhere knows something," Hofheins says. "Wherever they are, I really hope that the social media blitz will help put a little pressure and maybe prick their conscience to come forward and speak up."
Friends and supporters of Susan Powell are also using a more traditional method of getting the message out. They're making thousands of ribbons to hang on lapels this week.
"To remember Susan and to wear until she returns," says JoVonna Owings, a close friend of the missing woman. She urges people who get the ribbons "to put them on their car antennas, to put them on their mailboxes, on their fences, on their bushes."
Friends cling to the hope Powell is still alive. If not, they hope the blitz will churn up information leading to her body. "There's always the value of bringing her home, of giving her family some measure of closure," Hofheins says. "It will be painful in either case, I believe."
The media blitz runs from 8 a.m. Monday until 8 a.m. Thursday.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
