Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #16

[lks1008]

It is strange, but I grew up in a rural area and know of a lot of older folks that never ventured further than 15 minutes away from their house. He may be using absolutes when he is saying he NEVER goes to Brooklyn, when he may mean he rarely goes.

I was going to say the same thing. I grew up in a small rural town. I didn’t know a single person from the town 20 miles away. I don’t want to sound like I’m exaggerating but literally not a person. Also, I never visited the towns 20 miles away. Had no reason to.

 

[MyBelle]

I think I would get an attorney to stop the harassment of the media and have someone looking out for my best interest while LE was repeatedly questioning me. He's (according to him) giving LE carte blanche going thru his property, saying they won't find anything. People know where he lives and consider him a suspect. Anything could happen to him or his property. I would absolutely stop giving interviews and can't figure out why he gave even one in the first place, especially with his background.

Isn't his confidence that a search of his property would yield nothing an indication of consciousness of guilt? An innocent property owner won't know what would or would not be found, imo.

 

[gitana1]

Two things in your post. As for verifying, I also wanted to add that it does seem that people look to get fame from high profile cases and there is a trend of people who will confess to get notoriety. 30 years ago they released more information, but then people weren't piggybacking on tragedies to gain fame. Remember all the people who confessed in the Ramsey murder. It was so heartbreaking to see people use that tragedy to garner fame by falsely confessing.

On the flip side, sometimes small details will trigger better memories. For instance, seeing a pic of a missing child can backfire because people will overlook the face and focus on the clothing. At least knowing what she was wearing when she went missing might trigger a memory. In this case the public has really been given nothing. A brunette girl, short and small with long hair is really the only definitive facts, and that's assuming no one cut her hair and dyed it. Now maybe you're right, and it won't affect the tips coming in, but I do know that memories can be triggered by small details. Ever forgotten some occurrence and someone says, "remember it was really hot" and you'll remember the event better? Right now no one knows even what day she went missing, let alone if she was wearing a pink top, a black top, or a red t-shirt.

You make some good points.

One thing I've wondered from the start is why release tons of photos of a brightly smiling Mollie? She wouldn't be smiling if she was kidnapped. I wonder if they have any serious photos. I doubt it would make a difference but you never know.

 

[NewYork625]

I believe the report said vandalism. JMO

Both occurred. Vandalism at the hardware store and burglary on the road her boyfriend's house is on, West Des Moines.

 

[NewYork625]

You make some good points.

One thing I've wondered from the start is why release tons of photos of a brightly smiling Mollie? She wouldn't be smiling if she was kidnapped. I wonder if they have any serious photos. I doubt it would make a difference but you never know.

Serious photos on her VSCO account.

 

[Jackielee09]

How many times have you watched Nancy Grace before?

It wasn’t just her. It was her guests. One actually said don’t discount her leaving on her own.
Makes more sense than WC

 

[cluciano63]

WC = Ron Logan for me ( Delphi case). Someone sticks a mike in his face a few times, out come not great things.

Mollie’s father is saying exactly the right things, just in case this is what happened. But it is very unlikely scenario, imo. We keep throwing out all of the names of women who have survived abduction...we know those names so easily because they are few. Many more were murdered, still others never found to this day, and some like Holly not found for a few years. This site is overwhelmed with cases of murdered and/or still missing girls and women.

As a rule, most missing people DO leave on their own and return eventually. But LE has to look at their lives and if no crime scene, make a determination as to the liklihood of each particular one doing that. In this case, they SEEM to have determined it more likely she was forced than left voluntarily.

One thing though...if she DID take off...knowing the wedding was cancelled because of her could be too much to face returning. That might have been too much for me at that age, no matter how much everyone swore to forgive me.

 

[Blissful12]

I agree. I took Mollie's dad's statement as not excluding the possibility that someone went into the house/interacted with her there, just that if they did, it started out with them not intending to do her harm, and then things escalated and that changed, e.g., they were 'hitting on her', she didn't respond as expected / rejected them, they got upset / angry, and said "you're coming with me, now" kind of scenario.

These are my newest thoughts based on the fathers recent interviews. What if someone she knew, stopped her during her run to “chat”, followed her home and made up an excuse to come inside? Whether it be “I haven’t seen you in forever! Let’s hang out!” Or “My car is having issues now, do you have such-and-such tools?” (Clearly, I don’t know anything about cars but hopefully you get the idea...). It could explain no forced entry. And then they forced her to leave with them after something happened. Maybe she even encountered this person on the road “fixing” their car not far from her boyfriends home, but obscured by corn...and she ran home to get something, then returned to help.

 

[momrids6]

Do we know 30-40 actual FBI agents are working this case? Or 30-40 people? Including techs, patrol, etc...

No clue, but all trained and all paid for by taxpayers. Most families get a lot less when their loveod one goes missing. Most jobs, if one is unproductive, one is fired

 

[Safeguard]

Absolutely solid advice. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about this site is that it allows lurkers. I would be much more comfortable if every person viewing the site had to be registered. Maybe there is a reason for this but I am not sure what it is.

Many people would be much less likely to register on a site they can't even view, and get a feel for, to see if it's a good fit. We all started out as "lurkers". IMO most of the regulars are well aware of internet safety protocol. We are a seasoned bunch, and can look after ourselves pretty well I imagine.

 

[cluciano63]

OT OT OT

If it would keep WS open and running I would be happy to pay a few dollars a month on a regular basis. Even $2/person for all those who use this site would add up, and not be missed for the most part. I send a few $ via Paypal whenever I can.

 

[Sunny123]

Without speculating on what might have gone down, I think it’s likely that Mollie at this point is not captive at all but simply has a mess she can’t deal with. Father uses the word “they” and maybe he believes as I do that she’s with somebody and they’re now terrified of the backlash now that this has blown up.

That could be, however I took the "they" to represent whomever may have her... But who really knows, could be either way or neither.

 

[SharonNeedles]

I was going to say the same thing. I grew up in a small rural town. I didn’t know a single person from the town 20 miles away. I don’t want to sound like I’m exaggerating but literally not a person. Also, I never visited the towns 20 miles away. Had no reason to.

Same here. And I’m really not an isolated person either, just no reason to go to Brooklyn.

 

[Jealoushe]

I've also thought a lot about this one. For a long time a part of me thought perhaps she met someone on the internet, a dating site, etc. and the trust she thought was there actually wasn't... but playing devil's advocate-- SOMEONE would have seen her on those because it goes off of how close you are to someone. I feel like any guy on Tinder or Bumble or anything would have at this point said "Hey, I saw her on a dating website." or whatever. Oddly enough, I actually MATCHED on Tinder 2 days ago with one of the gentleman in Brooklyn that has been discussed as a POI on several different social platforms. (Not sure if he's been mentioned in the threads on WS cause sometimes I can't read through everything )

Are you local? Anyone else on those sites you recognize from this?

 

[Jon Glass]

We should all be happy with the prospect that this young woman is alive, and hopefully will be able to return to her family...
Over the past 24 hours, on this thread, it's almost seemed like some would prefer that that wouldn't be the case. Disconcerting at best.
I would be willing to bet that LE has solid information regarding the person responsible for MT being missing, and I would also bet that while LE has gone quiet, that they are working fully with the dad, and his remarks. Those remarks carry much more weight from a father than they do coming from a detached member of LE.
This has now turned into a chess match, and my money is on the LE specialists.
I'm fully hopeful that this young woman is returned safe, and soon... If I never read about holes dug in corbfielco, dog poop, or maggots again, I'll be very happy. We should all be aware that the folks effected by this sad situation could very well be reading these comments, and if they are, I truly feel horrible for them.

 

[poohgranma]

• The County has a lot of Deputies!Deputies
  

 

[wary]

LE missed the boat, Imo, by not asking the public for specific, basic info...who missed work/was late, changed hairstyle or appearance, cleaned vehicle, etc...all basic stuff that people won’t recall accurately for long. Those things should have been mentioned right away. Many of us think they are obvious but most people do not follow crimes obsessively...jmo

I completely agree, and I ask myself why LE did not mention these things. I can think of two reasons:

1: they feel morally certain of who the guilty person is, with tons of evidence, (probably digital,) and are waiting in hopes of finding Mollie, before they move forward with an arrest. (The Julia Jacobson case comes to mind--the police were very silent for five weeks.) Note that if this is what LE thinks, they also believe that she is dead--otherwise the suspect would lead them right to her.

2: incompetence--the problem with this theory is that you'd have to assume incompetence on the part of the FBI, as well as the local sherrif's department.

3: are there other possibilities I've overlooked?

 

[Sunny123]

There is absolutely no evidence that a crime has been committed.

Agreed, however since LE isn't revealing what they have we don't know if there is evidence that a crime hasn't been committed.

 

[Hatfield]

This has been asked over and over. Being tight lipped is very common these days as releasing info publicly has made it impossible to verify whether a suspect is telling the truth when they confess or if they accidentally incriminate themselves.

Everyone criticizing the lack of info assumes LE is "risking the case". I don't. I think they know much more about how to work their cases than we do.

Sometimes info is released in cases because LE believes the release is necessary to further tips. Clearly they just don't feel that's the case here.

I also think it's pretty illogical to suggest that people in this rural, small town area, obsessed with and inundated with this case, are going to ignore anything, no matter how small, that could possibly, remotely be connected to the case, that occurred between 5:30 pm the day before she went missing to the following day at 5:30 pm simply because the exact timeline has not been released.

I'm sorry. Doesn't make sense. This case is all these people are thinking about right now. And it just makes no sense.

They're receiving hundreds and hundreds of tips.

Frankly I think sometimes people feel they know better than LE and it's pretty presumptuous.

Yes, LE occasionally doesn't do what they need to do. You can sort of tell when the family begins to express frustration, or takes matters into their own hands, like in Elizabeth Smart's case.

But at this point there is nothing to suggest that people in the region are going, "Yeah, I saw a young woman struggling with a man but I don't know the timeline so it may not be relevant." Or, "Well my co-worker didn't show up the day Mollie was reported missing. He took the rest of the week off and has been acting strange lately. But without more info, I just don't see how it's important."

Or whatever.

This is all the people in that region, county and nearby counties are talking about, sadly.

I think if and when they feel information needs to be released to help the case they will release it.

Hello Gitana1.

I respectively disagree on some things.
I have followed many cases and many times as soon as LE releases an important piece of information then sometimes a perp is identified, located, and arrested within hours of that information being released. Like a Video of a suspects vehicle or some other critical piece of information. Many many examples of this happening.
Just one for example.

"CrimeStopperes says within two hours of releasing photos and video of the final suspect, a family member recognized him and informed police they were bringing him to authorities."

Prattville robbery suspect arrested after CrimeStoppers video released

We have no idea what LE has already uncovered. They may have something like a video of a suspects vehicle for all we know.

When LE takes the stand that they have taken in this case and does not release anything whatsoever, then I think it can be detrimental to finding the person and/or the perp involved.

Me and Foxfire (RIP Foxfire) usually agreed about this and I will never accept that they cannot release something to let us help them. There are some things if carefully thought out that they could release and it would not hurt the investigation or the case at all.

For example the suspected timeline that LE says they have identified. If they word it carefully and use their legal staff in the release then I fail to see how that could hurt their future prosecution by stating its just their opinion on her last known movements and times. It could have helped people focus on the right day and time. However by now it is probably too late now because they already waited so long hardly anybody will remember what they were doing or where they were at the time.

Nobody will ever know how this lack of sharing may or may not have hurt this case. For all we know she could have been found weeks ago if sharing something important would have been shared. We will never know.

All too often I think LE defaults to not sharing because its much easier to do that than trying to figure out what small pieces of information would not hurt the case. Its a difficult thing to do because it has to be carefully thought through and carefully considered.

All I know for sure is she is still not found and providing zero information to the public has not worked so far.

 

[Jealoushe]

I doubt WC would know the sister of a nephew’s friend...even if this is verified info. I sure would not know the siblings or friends of a niece or nephew...jmo

But in small town Brooklyn, and on a farm where families and friends gather it would seem more likely he would. Nothing is %100, but I'm leaning to the most probably.