Bristol - Police investigating the murder of 25-year old Joanna Yeates have turned to social media by launching a campaign that they hope will bring in new information in the hunt to find her killer.
Recognising that many people spend their time on Internet social media sites, detectives investigating the murder have launched a campaign on Facebook.
Avon and Somerset police believe that the use of social media as a tool in gathering information and appealing to potential witnesses is more effective that previously used methods such as handing out leaflets or putting up posters.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jones, who leads the investigation, explained that the campaign on Facebook comes in the form of an advert which people click on. They are then taken to the forces website. He said, "The majority of people these days are spending time on Facebook and other social networking sites; this has become part of everyday routine for many people.
"This advert allows us to point people to special features on our website with all the latest information, it allows them to contact the incident room direct online rather than calling in."
It's not the first time that the force has used Facebook successfully when investigating high profile crimes.
Scott Fulton, Head of E-services for Avon and Somerset Police, explained how social media and the Internet is helping this case so far, "Social media is growing rapidly and has become a daily factor in most people's routine.
"On this enquiry alone we have had shares of the story from the Force's Facebook page of 24,220, additionally there have been over 63,000 views of the news updates on our website, a further 18,000 on the dedicated Jo page and over 70,000 views of the CCTV clips on our Youtube channel.
"Through the website we have had 260 inbound messages to the incident room.
"We have been very pleased with information received via these channels on this investigation and we hope this advert will encourage even more people to come forward."
Joanna Yeates, a 25-year old landscape architect, went missing on December 17 2010. Her strangled body was discovered on Christmas Day in a lane a couple of miles from where she lived in the Clifton area of Bristol.
Her landlord, 65-year old ex-teacher Chris Jefferies, was arrested on suspicion of her murder on December 30 and released on police bail two days later on January 1 2011.
Yesterday Avon and Somerset police revealed that there were no indications that Jo had been sexually assaulted but wouldn't rule out a sexual motive behind her murder.
Originally published on Digital Journal on January 4 2011.
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