One case that this reminds me of is a MP case several years back where a competitive runner disappeared on a jog and a week or so later was discovered locked in a portajohn on an idle construction site, dead. He'd become physically ill from an undiagnosed heart condition during the run, went to the john and passed away. But since he was a well-respected member of the community, much of the speculation was that he fled to take some time away. I doubt there's anything unattended or underutilized in town that hasn't already been searched, but it took a surprisingly long time to find him in a well-populated suburban area, simply because the site wasn't high traffic, even though it was within a few hundred yards of his suspected route.
Related to this, I haven't seen any speculation along these lines: maybe she went to someone's house along the route, entered willingly, and the pings were part of a coverup after the fact. That could explain ambiguity around the timeline (for instance, knowing she was in town for some period of time, but not a specific location) combined with a different timeline around when the hog farm pings were picked up.
More speculation: could she have gone out to the nature area with a friend to get high and things went bad there? Friend panics, or she panics, and the coverup (mutual or otherwise) starts there? It's not uncommon in Iowa for folks to drive out into the country to smoke. This might relate to the "side of Mollie we don't know about."
Also, reports were that her driver's license was at home, but wouldn't she have also had a passport for the upcoming trip? Has that been accounted for?
