3 Year Old Julie Magliulo

CrimePAY$      $25,000 Reward        TipLine 1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

MIAMI — Authorities say someone must have information about the 1987 disappearance of a little girl whose skeletal remains were found 10 months later, and they’re offering a $25,000 reward and appealing to the public for clues as they reopen the investigation.

At 3 years old, little blonde-haired, blue-eyed Julie Magliulo knew most folks in her Pompano, Fla. neighborhood. Nicknamed “JuJuBee” after the candy she loved, young Julie frequented the local convenience store.

She was the second-youngest of five siblings and was often seen following her brothers and sisters through the woods, to friends’ homes, and was quite independent, according to neighbors.

On June 8, 1987, just three months before Julie would have turned four, little “JuJuBee” vanished. At 9:40 a.m., her mother, Brenda Magliulo, said Julie was outside, playing alone in front of the house. An hour later, after Brenda showered, fed the baby and got ready for her day, she noticed Julie wasn’t playing outside. In fact, she couldn’t find Julie anywhere.

“Things like this don’t happen in a vacuum. Somebody knows something, even after all these years,” said Broward County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Leljedal. “We just want them to come forward.” The FBI and Broward sheriff issued the appeal Tuesday.

Three-year-old Julie Magliulo was last seen by her mother playing in her front yard in Pompano Beach — about 35 miles north of Miami. The blonde, blue-eyed girl wearing red shorts and a blue T-shirt became the subject of a huge manhunt that included thousands of posters and police officers searching cars and going door-to-door through neighborhoods.

About 8:30 a.m. on June 8, 1987, a Broward sheriff’s deputy saw Julie playing outside her house in the Broadview Estates neighborhood near North Lauderdale, BSO homicide Detective Scott Champagne said. So did a garbage man who passed through a half-hour later.

At 9:30 a.m., Julie told her mother, Brenda, that she was going to a friend’s house nearby, Champagne said.

Ten minutes later, a neighbor saw her walking a beaten-down path to a nearby Circle K convenience store.

About 10 a.m., Brenda Magliulo realized something was wrong when she saw Julie’s friend — but not Julie. At 11:50 a.m., Brenda Magliulo called BSO.

But not a trace of Julie was found. Then, on April 21, 1988 two men scouting a remote part of western Broward County – now the town of Weston – to practice shooting found the girl’s skeletal remains. She had been asphyxiated.

Despite hundreds of investigative leads, little physical evidence was discovered, no witnesses came forward and no suspect was ever identified.

Gradually the case grew dormant. The FBI and sheriff’s office decided to make a new public appeal as part of a nationwide initiative to focus attention on cold cases involving missing and murdered children The Magliulo case is one of five selected around the country, said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.

The $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Julie’s death.

“Now is the time to come forward,” the FBI and sheriff’s office said in a joint statement. “It is never too late to give any information that might help. Your call may be the one.”

Investigators were interested in talking to anyone who had recently arrived in the Pompano Beach area in or around June 1987, or left abruptly after the girl’s June 8 disappearance.

According to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, friends and family of the perpetrator might have noticed changes such as an increase or decrease in drugs or alcohol use; missing work or other appointments; unexplained injuries; changes in physical appearance such as beards or dyeing hair; or unusual interest in the status of the investigation.

Investigators would be interested in persons who were visiting, who recently arrived to the Pompano Beach, Florida area prior to June 1987, or who left suddenly after June 8, 1987. Even if you think that your information is unimportant, or that someone else may have already reported what you know, please contact the investigation’s hotline. NOW is the time to come forward. It is never too late to give any information that might help. Your call may be the one that provides us with the information needed to solve this case.

CrimePAY$        $25,000 Reward             TipLine 1-888-755-TIPS (8477)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 at 4:54 pm and is filed under $10,000+, Florida, Unsolved Murder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.