Lemhi sheriff’s office talks social media conversation in DeOrr Kunz case

Published at 5:44 pm, March 8, 2016 | Updated at 2:33 pm, July 11, 2016

Nate Sunderland, EastIdahoNews.com

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SALMON — The Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement Tuesday about the “volatile social media conversation” surrounding the DeOrr Kunz Jr. missing person’s case.

Chief Deputy Steve Penner also wrote about the need for people to stay away from the campground where the toddler went missing.

“At the present time this case is still being investigated by this office. … (and) we are planning a professional search, which will be conducted as soon as weather and winter conditions in the area allow,” Penner said in the news release. “It is imperative that the area remain in a pristine condition.”

The entire statement is listed below:

“In regards to the DeOrr Kunz case there has been a large volume of content generated in social media the last few weeks with some of the content being volatile in nature; we live in a civil society where threatening one another is not acceptable and most certainly will not help solve this case. We want to remind people that we try cases in a court of law based on facts and not in the social media arena.

At the present time this case is still being investigated by this office and other agencies, also we are planning a professional search which will be conducted as soon as weather and winter conditions in the area allow. It is imperative that the area remain in a pristine condition. It is for this reason we are asking the public to avoid the area so the area will remain as undisturbed as possible as winter conditions recede.

We know there is a tremendous amount of interest in this case; we will give further updates when it is appropriate and is compatible with the active investigation.”

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