The phone calls came from strangers, telling Crystal Evans that her daughter was dead from a drug overdose, suggesting that she call the police.

But when Evans called the Horry County Coroner’s Office Thursday, she was told no deaths had been reported of anyone matching the description of 30-year-old Tiffany Dawn Evans.

The Myrtle Beach Police said they hadn’t recently picked her up. She was known to them because of arrests for prostitution and drug use.

And she was known to the world, because of her arrest mugshot last year that went viral with the cruel label of “zombie prostitute.”

“Why would somebody call me and tell me this if it’s not true? But nobody’s seen her,” Crystal Evans told The Sun News Friday, after filing a missing person’s report with the Horry County Police Department.

Crystal Evans and her husband drove nearly four hours from their North Carolina home early Friday to meet with police who have launched a search for Tiffany Evans. They spent the rest of the day driving around the Grand Strand, hoping to catch a glimpse of her.

“If I do, she’s coming home. She’s coming home, no matter what,” Crystal Evans said.

Tiffany Evans last spoke to her mother on Sunday, when she called asking for gas money to finally come back home.

“She sounded like she really wanted to come home. It was more believable this time than any other time to me,” Crystal Evans said. “It was like ‘mama, I need to leave, I’m going crazy down here. I can’t take it anymore, I need to come home.’”

Tiffany Evans said she would leave Myrtle Beach by Monday, but her mother never heard from her again.

“The guy she was supposedly coming with texted me and said that he tried to get her to leave Myrtle Beach on Wednesday,” Crystal Evans said. “He texted me he tried to get her to leave but she wouldn’t go. Then the very next day he said she had overdosed and passed away.”

Crystal Evans said more people who knew her daughter came forward with similar stories — that she had overdosed in Racepath, in a car, and that somebody booted her out of the car after she overdosed. She was told that Tiffany was never taken to a hospital.

“I don’t know what’s true and what’s not,” Crystal Evans said.

Cassandra Robbins says Tiffany Evans is her best friend, that she has seen her every day since Robbins arrived in Myrtle Beach one year ago.

Robbins said she was told Thursday night that Tiffany Evans had died from a drug overdose. She believes it’s true, because she hasn’t seen her in several days.

“I was like her little sister, and she followed me around to protect me,” Robbins said. “I even dyed my hair to match hers.”

Robbins said she hopes it isn’t true. But she fears the worst.

Jonathan Evans with Myrtle Beach Fire Department would not confirm if they responded to a similar call this week, citing federal health privacy laws. Horry County Police have not responded to The Sun News’ request for a missing persons report that was listed on its website, although the agency tweeted early Friday evening that Tiffany Evans is missing.

The Sun News spoke with Horry County Coroner Robert Edge, who said he has not received any calls for deaths that involved Tiffany Evans.