Albert street does have a like homeless shelter / soup kitchen. Its a short little street on the south side of town nearing the boonies. Kind of a shady part of town but if she's going on some backpacking 'adventure', it would make sense she'd go where they're giving out free food and shit. I think it's called Nazareth House, but google maps says its Maison Nazareth Inc. The tip might be real, it might have been from JF putting on a sillier voice than normal.
Anytime the police and media put out a flier or story asking “have you seen this person” they can rely on a bunch of absolute garbage “tips” pouring in.
If they put out a flier it means their initial investigation, info from JF and standard inquiries turned up nothing. Its interesting they have proceeded to take this step, meaning all the normal inquiries you’d make at places a wanderer might go turned up not even a trace.
Elora would definitely have been noticed or spotted at homeless shelters or soup kitchens that serve the druggie/hobo by both shelter employees and the denizens that use its services. A well nourished, healthy looking young woman attracts immediate attention. One any relatively healthy, young woman is going to attract male attention either for sex or potential to be a hooker. Two, the homeless druggies are always looking for a newbie joining the scene because they might have fresh resources (cash, transport, cigarettes, place to crash, pawnable items, etc…) Many make befriending any new faces a priority in hopes of first dibs or because they’ve alienated all the regulars.
The social workers, security and staff at these places would also notice a fresh face that didn’t have hard miles on it already. They look for “newly homeless” or people that have just fallen off the edge into “the life” and try to intervene before they get further down the drain, or at least to help protect them until they are more street savvy.
Elora would not be that notIceable to the average Joe passing by a crowd of boho druggie types but she would attract attention from the regulars in that world.
I was friends with an older woman who ran a city soup kitchen and she always noticed any new faces that appeared and knew all the regulars, the ones the cycled through, etc... Elora would have been noticed by staff at various shelters, soup kitchens, social services in the area. If any “tips” or sightings come from social service staffers, I’d believe it.
The social safety net and funding also means they do track and get ID from the people that use the shelters and soup kitchens, both for funding reasons and because social worker types are always looking for what type of assistance or help they qualify for. She would not be an anon face in the crowd at these places.
As for tips or sightings? typical tips are just bored idiots who like to get involved in police matters and swear they saw someone “looked just like her” at the bar or waiting for a bus last month.
I always feel bad for families who have been missing a child for two to twenty years that are featured in the news again. Without fail they get a bunch of useless BS tips of “sightings” from across the country. Most of the tips aren’t malicious, just bored busybodies who convince themselves “it could have been them” and straight up loons.
What I’m saying is any “tips” we see online or reported by JF are mostly likely bullshit. I got the impression JF was trying to encourage randos in his audience to report sightings of her to help him out.
