Police say online speculation has overtaken the facts in the missing persons case of Melissa Dawn Peacock.
The 20-year-old Dartmouth woman was reported missing three weeks ago, and while police have received many online tips about her whereabouts, they say none of the tips have led them to Peacock, and some of the online chatter has even been misleading.
"Social media is a double-edged sword," says Halifax Regional Police spokeswoman Theresa Rath. "What we are finding is a lot of information is coming in as a red herring. So we're following it up, but it's not based on fact."
One tip posted on a Facebook page indicated that Peacock and her new boyfriend were waiting on money, before planning to head to British Columbia.
But investigators say they have reason to believe the user who posted the information and the profile picture on the account was not a match, and Peacock's family is asking people who have legitimate information to contact police directly.
"The more false leads and tips we get is just taking away from where we really could be with this," says Peacock's mother, Ruth Slauenwhite.
Police say they must check every tip that comes in, but some of the information has come from people claiming to be fortune tellers and psychics who told police they have had premonitions about Peacock.
While her family is wary of online information, they say they comb through every Facebook messages carefully, hoping to find legitimate information about their daughter's whereabouts.
But so far the only concrete evidence of her last communications is found in text messages to her mother.
"Because there has been no contact with anyone, we wouldn't know where to start," says Ruth Slauenwhite. "The last we know is that she left the house November 7."
Her family says Peacock went for a walk that night "to clear her head" and they soon received a text message saying she wouldn't be home right away.
"Then she started texting with mom, saying that she was going to the country with a buddy…and that's that vague. Those were her words," her stepfather James Slauenwhite told CTV News on November 14.
But Peacock didn't return home, and her last text message has her family concerned.
Slauenwhite says it reads "I'm really sorry. I don't want to be here. I just want to be home."
Police say this isn't the first time Peacock has left home, but they say it is the first time she has stopped communicating with her friends and family.
They also say if they can determine Peacock is safe, they are not obligated to share her whereabouts with her friends or family, if that's what she wants.
Her family says they just want to know that Peacock is safe, and they also don't want the investigation to get bogged down by online speculation.
While no one has come forward with valid information, one New Brunswick woman has come forward with a generous offer to assist in the search.
She says she is offering the family her wedding ring set to sell as a reward for valuable information that leads to the safe return of the young woman. The family has been told the gesture is worth $30,000.
"It's unfortunate that someone didn't come forward already," says James Slauenwhite. "We are hoping that with this becoming public someone will say where she is."
With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl
