{"id":287785,"date":"2026-05-28T17:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287785\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T17:20:14","slug":"south-florida-girl-vanished-in-1984-after-buying-cat-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/287785\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida girl vanished in 1984 after buying cat food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMore than four decades after 8-year-old Christy Luna disappeared while walking home from a Greenacres corner store, the people who grew up alongside her say the case still haunts them, and they believe someone knows what happened.On May 27, 1984, investigators say Luna left her home barefoot and wearing a turquoise bodysuit. She walked to Belk\u2019s General Store to buy cat food. As she left the store, witnesses reported seeing the little girl wave to a friend before she seemingly vanished.Despite decades of investigations, numerous searches and countless interviews, Luna has never been found.Never giving up Brenda Periche was just 12 years old when Luna disappeared.”I remember the night very, very vividly when they came to us and said that she was missing,” Periche said.She remembers both the fear and confusion that spread across the neighborhood.”They knocked on the door, and I remember them saying that she was gone and they just couldn’t find her, and they were in tears, crying, distraught and upset,” she said.Periche said the disappearance forever changed the way many children in Greenacres grew up, including herself. “It molded us on how we raised our families and raised our own children. Children are innocent, and they should be able to roam and play and be free to some degree and not have to worry about some stranger lurking in the bushes or in a parked car or at the store while you’re trying to play a video game. It’s not right anymore. It’s sad,” she said. Is the truth still out there?Over the years, investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have followed up on dozens of leads and identified several persons of interest, including convicted sex offender Jerry Alex Grof, also known as Jerry Bailey, and Warren Gilbert Williams Jr., a convicted sex offender who lived nearby at the time. Williams died in 2016.Periche believes detectives should revisit people who were interviewed decades ago.”I think that if they went and reinterviewed Charles Rambo and even Willis Rambo, at this stage of the game, I think it would be more beneficial. They may be able to come up with some more information,” she said. In 2025, WPBF 25 News spoke with a detective who worked the case. He confirmed that brothers Charles and Willis Rambo remain suspects; however, there is not enough physical evidence to make an arrest.Periche said her frustration comes from believing the truth is still out there.”You don\u2019t just vanish off the face of the earth and there\u2019s nothing out there. Somebody knows something. Whether these people are still alive or family members of these people are still alive. You\u2019re hanging on to this information. You\u2019re harboring it. You\u2019re holding on to it. And that makes you just as guilty. You need to speak up,” Periche said. Closure before it’s too late Even after 42 years, Periche said the pain surrounding Luna’s disappearance has never faded, especially for Luna’s mother, who has been critically ill for some time. “She\u2019s now at a point where she doesn\u2019t care who did it. It\u2019s just a matter of I want to find my baby,” Periche told WPBF. She said the community will continue fighting for answers.”I think my main hope right now is that it comes in a timely manner so that Jennie can have one more moment with her baby before she\u2019s laid to rest,” she said. Periche runs a Facebook page dedicated to helping in the search for answers. Anyone with information about Luna\u2019s disappearance is urged to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.Stay up to date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tGREENACRES, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

More than four decades after 8-year-old Christy Luna disappeared while walking home from a Greenacres corner store, the people who grew up alongside her say the case still haunts them, and they believe someone knows what happened.<\/p>\n

On May 27, 1984, investigators say Luna left her home barefoot and wearing a turquoise bodysuit.<\/a> She walked to Belk\u2019s General Store to buy cat food. As she left the store, witnesses reported seeing the little girl wave to a friend before she seemingly vanished.<\/p>\n

Despite decades of investigations, numerous searches and countless interviews, Luna has never been found.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Christy<\/p>\n

Never giving up <\/p>\n

Brenda Periche was just 12 years old when Luna disappeared.<\/p>\n

“I remember the night very, very vividly when they came to us and said that she was missing,” Periche said.<\/p>\n

She remembers both the fear and confusion that spread across the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

“They knocked on the door, and I remember them saying that she was gone and they just couldn’t find her, and they were in tears, crying, distraught and upset,” she said.<\/p>\n

Periche said the disappearance forever changed the way many children in Greenacres grew up, including herself. <\/p>\n

“It molded us on how we raised our families and raised our own children. Children are innocent, and they should be able to roam and play and be free to some degree and not have to worry about some stranger lurking in the bushes or in a parked car or at the store while you’re trying to play a video game. It’s not right anymore. It’s sad,” she said. <\/p>\n

Is the truth still out there?<\/p>\n

\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

Over the years, investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office have followed up on dozens of leads and identified several persons of interest, including convicted sex offender Jerry Alex Grof, also known as Jerry Bailey,<\/a> and Warren Gilbert Williams Jr.<\/a>, a convicted sex offender who lived nearby at the time. Williams died in 2016.<\/p>\n

Periche believes detectives should revisit people who were interviewed decades ago.<\/p>\n

“I think that if they went and reinterviewed Charles Rambo and even Willis Rambo, at this stage of the game, I think it would be more beneficial. They may be able to come up with some more information,” she said. <\/p>\n

In 2025, WPBF 25 News spoke with a detective who worked the case. He confirmed that brothers Charles and Willis Rambo remain suspects;<\/a> however, there is not enough physical evidence to make an arrest.<\/p>\n

Periche said her frustration comes from believing the truth is still out there.<\/p>\n

“You don\u2019t just vanish off the face of the earth and there\u2019s nothing out there. Somebody knows something. Whether these people are still alive or family members of these people are still alive. You\u2019re hanging on to this information. You\u2019re harboring it. You\u2019re holding on to it. And that makes you just as guilty. You need to speak up,” Periche said. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"\u201cyou<\/p>\n

Closure before it’s too late <\/p>\n

Even after 42 years, Periche said the pain surrounding Luna’s disappearance has never faded, especially for Luna’s mother, who has been critically ill for some time. <\/p>\n

“She\u2019s now at a point where she doesn\u2019t care who did it. It\u2019s just a matter of I want to find my baby,” Periche told WPBF. <\/p>\n

She said the community will continue fighting for answers.<\/p>\n

“I think my main hope right now is that it comes in a timely manner so that Jennie can have one more moment with her baby before she\u2019s laid to rest,” she said. <\/p>\n

Periche runs a Facebook page<\/a> dedicated to helping in the search for answers. <\/p>\n

Anyone with information about Luna\u2019s disappearance is urged to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25<\/a><\/p>\n

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than four decades after 8-year-old Christy Luna disappeared while walking home from a Greenacres corner store, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[121811,59585,121813,121812,30339,29069,28,30,29,121814,7441,4546,121816,43759,992,121810,2393,121815,189,164],"class_list":["post-287785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-you-dont-just-vanish-42-years-later","tag-answer","tag-brenda-periche","tag-christy-luna","tag-decade","tag-disappearance","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-general-store","tag-investigator","tag-more-information","tag-numerous-search","tag-palm-beach-county-sheriff","tag-people","tag-those-who-knew-christy-luna-are-still-searching-for-answers","tag-time","tag-willis-rambo","tag-wpbf","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}