Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #13

[yurena]

I am now reading these posts about WC and the fact LE are planning on questioning him again on Sunday and this brought to my mind a case we had recently in Spain -well, I am not there physically anymore, I'm in Bulgaria, but I read the newspapers from my home country every day to keep myself informed.

You might have heard about this, the 8-year-old boy Gabriel "Pescadito" (Little Fish) who went missing in Nijar, a smallish town in Andalusia on 27 February this year.

LE kept putting pressure on a man who had displayed an obsession towards Gabriel's mum since she was the voice/presenter during a marathon in the town. LE took him for questioning several times, he was kept in custody, LE were vague when reporters asked them what charges would be brought against him etc. The focus was on this man.

It turned out it was a diversion technique -apologies if that is not the right term in English- LE confirmed that from day one they suspected Gabriel's father's new girlfriend had killed him and by using this diversion technique she never thought she was a suspect -she participated in all the searches, always crying her eyes out in front of reporters - so she let her guard down and on the 12th day after the little boy's disappearance, when she thought nobody was looking, she put Gabriel's body on her car boot -she had placed him inside a water well initially- to move him to another location. What she did not expect is that two police officers would be waiting for her at the end of the road. They had planted recording equipment on her car several days before and had followed her every movement.

Images of the arrest were televised and I will never forget the moment the two police officers opened the car boot, hugged each other and started crying while the killer kept shouting "It wasn't me, I just took the car this morning!". RIP Pescadito.

Not having a clue how this works in the USA, I wonder if all these interviews with WC could be so that the real suspect feels "safe" and do something to out himself/herself. Is this a technique you use there or not?

My other question is one that was asked by another poster but I am not sure if I saw a reply to that. That online class Mollie was doing, was that for students from her own university only or others from neighboring towns/attending other unis could sign up for it as well?

 

[ketel0ne]

2 a.m. is correct. Front Street Tap. The town's only bar, aka "The Bar with No Stools."

Midnight during the week and 2am on Fri, Sat.

 

[edroid]

Hi! New here... I had been thinking a lot about the hardware store lately. The crime is "criminal mischief". I found this:

"The crime of criminal mischief occurs whenever someone damages someone else's property. The amount of damage can be minor or significant, but it's the damaging of the property that is the key issue in the crime. Criminal mischief does not involve taking another's property, only breaking, defacing, or otherwise damaging it without the owner's permission."

 

[Suglo]

Right now, getting shades of the old landowner in Delphi as far as this guy goes...depends if a “tip” sent LE there or a ping. A tip could be simply “weird old stalker” i.e

Same!

 

[ketel0ne]

They’ve also put WC in very real danger by letting his name get out.

He willing has interacted with the media.

 

[GutInstinct]

In my mind, a stranger angle isn't discounted. It's just less probable.

Both Vanessa

I also brought up the Vanessa Marcotte case for the same reason. An assailant unknown to the victim, who didn't live in the same small, rural town as her. It's definitely a very valid point as it's a perfect example of how a stranger could be involved.

Except in the cases of Vanessa Marcotte and Katrina V, their bodies were quickly found on the trails they jogged. In this case, nothing has been found on the paths Mollie may have jogged.

 

[JC40]

Who made the call to LE?

ETA:

The initial call

 

[crhedBngr]

bbm

You are right, crhedBngr,

One of the first things the investigators did was to contact the Fitbit company:

"Investigators have executed search warrants for Tibbetts' Fitbit, which she was known to wear, and her Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook accounts, said Mitch Mortvedt, spokesman for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation."


Mollie Tibbetts' Fitbit being used in search for her - CNN

Thanks, Zencompass!

 

[mnnative]

Has it been factually established as to who is actually the last person to see Mollie alive?

I've seen conflicting reports of neighbor(s) seeing her on her "jog" but don't know if it's just rumor.

 

[tokyorose]

In regards to WC, I'm not even remotely looking at him. Here's what I assume happened, can't prove it, don't have sources, just imo. Mollie is missing and people in the area all know who THAT guy is, the one who raises the hackles of women in the area. So someone calls in and says "hey, probably nothing, but this guy has a history of issues with women, and he lives on a pig farm that he was raised on". Any LE is going to do a thorough check and bring the man in for questioning, it's part history of the guy and a CYA move. There's nothing about WC, including his history, that would link him to this kind of thing. He's nervous, and rightly so, it's a small town and girl is missing and he until she's found and the abductor admits it, he's in the crosshairs of every resident in that town. Personally I think he was promised by the reporter if he gave an interview they'd help him clear his name, he got flustered when he realized where things were going and couldn't stop the interview without looking even more guilty. Seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, definitely has boundary issues, but I don't see him going from his previous crimes to abduction. It doesn't fit. He and Mollie weren't in a previous relationship, and his previous issues were with women he was in relationship with.

I would agree with you except for a few things. They haven't just questioned him once... they have questioned him twice and are going to question him for a third time tomorrow. They have searched the area near his home three times..not once, and they have asked him to take a polygraph. In the end you may be right and WC may be completely innocent, but the amount of attention he's getting from LE leads me to believe it's more than local rumor that has them continually going out there.

 

[PaulR]

Thank you, PR! I hadn't even thought at all about the fact that the FitBit would be recording her heart rate, including if/when her heart rate was increasing OR slowing dangerously, while also recording her steps and distance travelled...wow. What a potential treasure trove of info for LE!

No worries. However note that I don't think the Fitbit is always forcing GPS data to be transmitted, since it is so battery intensive and many times people don't care about tracking their exact route on a map. You have to manually enable and disable it when you start/stop an exercise.

I've used it a few times, it's useful for certain things because it gives you a very exact idea about how far you've hiked, plus a map, your stride, etc. If MT had a regular running route, I'm not sure what value turning GPS on would have because you'd know the route was exactly x miles already. Frankly I don't use the GPS on my regular hikes anymore; it still tracks my heartbeat, steps, etc. but it doesn't store my location.

 

[Skagirl]

LE had to show probable cause to get the judge to sign off on search warrants. Does anyone know if any of the search warrant affidavits for the searches LE agencies have done to date r/t MT's disappearance are public record, or were they sealed?

Most of the time, search & arrest warrants do not show up on the public website until after they have been executed. My day job is as a paralegal & we constantly have clients asking about warrants, but we can almost never see them until they have been arrested or the search has happened. If they search WC’s personal vehicle or home, it will show up under his name; if they search the place he worked, i guess it would come up under the business’s name...

also, you would need to have access to our state efiling system to get the details of the search affidavit, so if one does show up, I can access those details, but the general public cant.

 

[tokyorose]

Has it been factually established as to who is actually the last person to see Mollie alive?

I've seen conflicting reports of neighbor(s) seeing her on her "jog" but don't know if it's just rumor.

I would direct you to yesterday evenings Daily Mail article for that information.

 

[WBWS]

How does the media know who LE spoke with and what was said? If the interviewee volunteers the info, theyre putting themselves in a position of public view and scrutiny

 

[MassGuy]

Nothing? Past stalking convictions (or pleas). Numerous restraining order violations.

= A stalker who apparently cannot resist at times.

It’s suspicious but context is important. From what we know, these are related to a prior relationship. It would be far more suspicious if he had a history of stalking women that he wasn’t in a relationship with. Definitely worth a look though.

 

[ketel0ne]

Maybe those who are leaning more towards the “known” suspect camp can help me out here. I have no idea what happened (clearly) and am torn when thinking through all of the possible scenarios. However, what I can’t work out is why the stranger angle is being so discounted. Specifically, this reminded me of the jogger in Princeton, MA who was attacked and killed. Although Princeton is larger than Brooklyn (~3k), it’s by no means a “large” town (at least imo). Could the same thing not have happened? Just curious on why the consensus across these threads seems to be leaning more towards known assailant/suspect.

Occam's razor coupled with the behavior of LE.

 

[altissima]

PSA: Iowa Courts Online, which was down yesterday, is back up & running.

(Apologies if this has already been posted - threads are moving fast and I might’ve missed it.)

 

[slowpoke]

A change in subject direction, I was just in Google Images and typed in Brooklyn Iowa Hardware Store (without quotation marks). If you do this, then click on one where you see a caption under a pic of the store that includes the word ”Fuhgeddaboud”.

Wonderful description of the town, it sounds so charming a place. Written in 2009, waaaayy before many of us ever heard of Brooklyn, Iowa. It’s someone’s blog, so I’m sure I’m not supposed to link it here, but I hope it’s ok to direct posters there to read the entry.

Made me feel how sad the townsfolk must feel, and also made me feel comforted by the fact that I’m sure Mollie’s family must be feeling a lot of support.

 

[chihuahua]

Let's just hope and pray there isn't another disappearance, either "real" ie related or "real" in addition to MT's to throw LE off. It happens. We think this is crazy now??? jmo and back to read-only more

 

[taximama24]

I think they are putting heat on him because there is some evidence that he may be involved. LE hasn't publicly, implicated him, we know all these things from media reports. I don't have much of an opinion on his viability as a suspect, and I agree that refusal to take a polygraph isn't at all indicative of guilt.

I agree that clearly they have a reason to have come to that property multiple times and its not his prior record (or we'd see them at the homes of the registered sex offenders too). However I guess I just don't see, if they already have some evidence he is involved, why not just make the arrest. He has to know he is being watched, so its not like they are waiting for him to lead them to the body. Why not arrest him and use the location of the body as a negotiating factor in the charges instead? I don't know, for some reason (probably just the lack of details in the case) I just am not convinced he's the guy, but of course I'll believe the evidence regardless!