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Over the course of these first three-and-a-half seasons of this podcast, Melissa has been presented with a wide array of missing persons cases from Tip-Sters from around the world.\\xa0 Melissa has followed up, done her research, and presented many of them as episodes.\\xa0 The inspiration for \\u201cJust The Tip-Sters\\u201d itself was inspired by Melissa\\u2019s deep devotion to solving the 2017 disappearance of Will Cierzan \\u2013 an ongoing mission that could be culminating soon with the trial of Will\\u2019s nephew Daniel.\\xa0\\xa0But hovering over every such case are questions \\u2013 about the nature of the case itself \\u2013 and how to actually help when help is needed.\\xa0\\xa0What makes one missing persons case more compelling or worthy of attention than another?\\xa0 How can one tell if a reported vanishing is evidence of wrongdoing or someone walking away from their life or a hoax?\\xa0\\xa0And if one is motivated to help the family and friends of a missing person, how does one do so without getting in the way or actually hindering the investigation?\\xa0 And what, in fact, are one\\u2019s motivations to help in the first place?\\xa0\\xa0In this episode Melissa touches on all of the above by focusing on three recent missing persons cases \\u2013 two of which are now closed (with the missing persons in question now known to be alive and well) and one of which is still open (with the missing person still missing and actively being sought)\\u2026\\xa0 Dane Elkins, a 23-time world champion professional racquetball player, disappeared in mid-December 2020 after visiting friends in Northern California.\\xa0 His brand-new car \\u2013 with four flat tires and his wallet and cell phone inside \\u2013 was found abandoned near a rural exit off Interstate 5 between Bakersfield and Los Angeles.\\xa0 All indications are that the then-21 year-old had become delusional and paranoid for reasons that are still unclear.\\xa0 His family believes he has gone \\u201coff the grid\\u201d and is slowly working his way up to Oregon \\u2013 and is seeking help from anyone who thinks they\\u2019ve spotted him.\\xa0\\xa0John Stivers is the owner of an RV campground and marina in Jamestown, California in tiny Tuolumne County.\\xa0 On August 2, 2021 Stivers left his wife and daughter to run some errands and did not return.\\xa0 His van was found abandoned on a nearby road.\\xa0 Local residents, friends and family rushed to social media to find him \\u2013 and started a GoFundMe account that raised nearly $20,000 to help the family conduct the search.\\xa0 On September 4, 2021, just over one month since his disappearance, the Tuolumne County Sheriff\\u2019s Office issued a statement that Stivers was located;\\xa0 that he has been removed from the missing person database; that foul play was not indicated; and that all other information will remain confidential.\\xa0 As word has spread, outrage by some of the volunteers who helped search for him has grown \\u2013 many believing that the entire case was a fraud, and that they are owed payback for the time they devoted in the search.\\xa0 Others \\u2013 Melissa being one \\u2013 believe that sometimes people just walk away from their lives \\u2013 for whatever reason \\u2013 and that if one volunteers to help find someone before anything else is known, that should be the end of the discussion \\u2013 that volunteering means letting go of pride or any sense of being \\u201cowed.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0Ron Brown, a 62 year-old resident of the small mountain community of Sierra Madre in Southern California, is a part-time golf instructor and longtime server at a well-known high end restaurant in next-door Pasadena.\\xa0 He went missing on August 9, 2021 after his car was found \\u2013 engine running \\u2013 in the parking lot of a Pasadena fast-food restaurant.\\xa0 Melissa relates her personal investment in getting involved in the search for Brown \\u2013 the frustration of a day in the field \\u2013 and the joy she felt when she learned, just after arriving home from the field trip, that Brown had been found alive and well.\\xa0\\xa0All three of these cases demonstrate the varying but equally important considerations that must be taken when getting involved in missing persons cases.\\xa0 Melissa doesn\\u2019t hold back on her opinions \\u2013 and she also offers kudos to those who are helping find the missing \\u2013 and some helpful hints from her own experience on how to be prepared when going into the field to help search.\\xa0\\xa0During her search for Ron Brown, Melissa discovered the AWARE Foundation \\u2013 a Virginia-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit made up completely of volunteers dedicated to locating those who have gone missing, wherever their help is needed.\\xa0 AWARE can be contacted by phone at (540) 357-5135.