JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Surveillance video from a Golden Coral restaurant in Jacksonville gives parents of a 4-year-old daughter missing since May 2006 new hope that their daughter is alive.
Panama City authorities believe Jewel Strong drowned during a Memorial Day outing to the beach, but her body was never found. After searching the water from more than a week, the Bay County Sheriff's Office determined she was lost at sea.
Almost a year later, Jewel's mother, Simona Strong, began to get leads that caused her to believe that her daughter was not only alive, but had been abducted.
The parents received their first solid piece of evidence came in March when a customer at the Golden Corral on San Jose Boulevard thought she spotted the girl with three black women. The restaurant's surveillance video showed what the mother said are Jewel's unique mannerisms.
"(My) son has seen it, mother, sisters, aunts -- everybody in our family has seen it. Everyone is completely convinced that it's her," Jewel's mother, Simona Strong, said. "We watched her walking around, dancing, bumping into people. We know our daughter."
Trying to locate their daughter, Simona and Ray Strong set up the
Let's Find Jewel Strong Organization to encourage more tips and leads in the case.
Now the Strongs believe their daughter may be in Orlando. Over the past two months they received reports of Jewel sightings at Disney World and at an Orlando hospital. The latest clue that gives the family hope is an Aug. 22 video recorded by a security camera at an Orlando Walgreens store.
"I watched and I was like, 'Oh my God,'" Simona Strong said. "That's definitely my daughter. I rewound it back and looked at the lady and said 'That is the lady from the other video.'"
In August, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children joined the effort to find Jewel.
"If you are a parent and you will understand there is no way I will give up hope when I've got my daughter on video," Simona Strong told Channel 4's John Dunlap. "It's just not happening."
The family said they have provided copies of the surveillance videos and other leads to the Bay County Sheriff's Office and was told they are investigating. The sheriff's office on Wednesday did not return a call requesting an update on the case.
A $5,000 reward was offered for Jewel's safe return and $1,000 additional is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person responsible for kidnapping her.
Anyone with information is asked to call 800-THE-LOST or the Jewel Strong Organization at 904-647-6977 or 904-422-8448.
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