HinterlandObserver
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You said that Ellen was a professional carer - do you know this, or was it a guess? I was wondering if her work had been all voluntary:
- In 2015, Detective Sergeant Bernadette Ingram said Ellen "is relocated from a different part of Australia, the details of which I don't have with me, but she's been in this area for a little while now, so she has established friendships here and she's been involved in some volunteer work." (BBM)
(transcribed from about 03:26 in the video in Concerns for woman missing for two months, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 09 Nov 2015 - not paywalled)
- In 2016 Ellen's sister said Ellen "always was a good worker with disabled children, and adults as well".
(about 01:47 in Police address the media for the launch of NSW Missing Persons Week 2016, Facebook Watch, 31 July 2016)
Also, same question: is it knowledge or a guess that the hotel was providing crisis accommodation at the time Ellen went missing? If it was, that might be interesting, particularly if she was staying there or went there to visit a resident. But it would also be possible that she went there for reasons unrelated to accommodation e.g. for a meal or a drink; to hear a band; to play the pokies; etc.
IMO one interesting thing is that the bank Ellen visited for the ATM in Lismore also has a branch and ATM in Ballina, in the same street as the hotel and less than 100 metres away. This makes me wonder whether Ellen withdrew cash in Lismore because she needed to use it during the day, before going to Ballina. (That's if she did actually withdraw money. The CCTV doesn't show cash as far as I can see. Maybe she was checking her balance?)
I only inferred her vocation from this quote:
In 2016 Ellen's sister said Ellen "always was a good worker with disabled children, and adults as well".
(about 01:47 in Police address the media for the launch of NSW Missing Persons Week 2016, Facebook Watch, 31 July 2016)
As for the Aussie hotel, it’s personal knowledge, I’ve lived between Lismore and Ballina for 15 years. It really was a dive, the news story about the homeless man who burned it down was a good example, I’ll try to find more.. he claimed to live there (probably did stay with other residents, they generally stick together).
And great point with the bank location in Ballina. It’s close enough to walk straight to from the pub she was at.
So she withdrew the money before the pub?
We should do a timeline, I keep getting confused by reports.