Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #18

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Mollie's mom lives a mile away from Dalton's house, about the same distance from my house to my mailbox. Many times I have driven to my mailbox without my wallet and my license..on a rural road only a mile away when you want to finish your jog and not have to carry a wallet... I can absolutely imagine her not bringing her license with her.

I can too, just because I wouldn't want to carry it jogging. I wouldn't worry about driving a mile without it. Still, her license and debit card were left at the house, so I've added that.
 
This isn't necessarily true, it all depends on your notification settings. I am notified every time I receive a snap or chat message on Snapchat.
Yeah but being that age they could probably have a build up of so many snaps every couple of minutes. People don’t understand how he can’t remember the details of that snap. Easy...you get so many you probably look at her face, quick at the caption, it’s gone. It would not be that significant to him out of the how ever many he gets a day. Unfortunately it only became significant because of the circumstances later when it’s too late. Have you ever looked at those pics where they give you 60 seconds to memorize the pic? Then they ask you questions like what color was the second bracelet on the wrist. You even know to study the pic and it’s still hard to answer the detail questions!
 
I agree cluciano63..the earbuds have made me wonder if she didn't hear whomever was meaning to do her harm..I wonder how loud she listened to the music?

I also agree that Mollie had no reason to be afraid..but after reading some of the cases on here..I think that we should all learn to be more cautious ..because the boogeyman exists, and in my opinion we can't assume we are safe anywhere alone if we consider how many cases there are like Mollie's. Sad but true imo.

I’d be surprised if a lot of longtime WS users would run or walk alone at night, esp with headphones...just from knowing too much about what CAN happen...
 
This is what I am thinking happened too. I originally thought someone took her from the house but nothing was disturbed there and her red shirts were in her room at her mom's house so she HAD to go there to get them for next day's work. My question is, have the investigators and FBI asked the people living on that route to Mom's house if they saw her? I'm thinking some guy she knew hollered to her to get in his car for a ride there.

The red shirts were at mom’s?
 
Jane Straub is a victim advocate with the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center in Minneapolis. Wetterling was 11 years old when he was abducted in 1989. A confession from a longtime suspect wouldn’t come until more than 20 years later.

“We’ve known from Patty and a lot of parents that have experienced this, is that hope is your guide,” said Straub.

The organization provides support services to families of missing loved ones. Straub says the Tibbetts case is rare.

Search continues for missing Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts
 
In the interview I saw with the male neighbor, who said he was watching TV and could see out his window and even mentioned she was talking on her phone (I think...maybe he said or meant she was looking at it, as in texting...don't recall now), he seemed to be certain. But then I read either here or via an article that there were three people who saw her within that time frame? I also doubt that she was taken from the house.

I believe two people said they saw her, the neighbor you mention above who couldn't tell if she made a left or right on Jackson St. and another "who lives a few hundred yards away in West Pershing Drive."

The third neighbor, the one right across the street from Dalton & Co.'s house, says he did not see her but "investigators also told him Tibbetts had returned home after jogging past his house, according to data from her Fitbit."
 
Dear Mom24,

I agree that it does open up a few more possibilities.

What is your opinion on the approximate time the authorities deem the laptop was used for homework? Most of the statements from the authorities use the word "evening". To me, evening can be as early as 7pm. Some quotes in news articles state "night".

I enjoy reading your posts and I wondered about your thoughts on "evening", "night".

Thanks in advance,
I think in press reports we have seen night, evening and even late evening. I agree we probably have common understandings of what someone means if they say 'evening' but I wonder when 'evening' transitions to 'late evening'? Some parts of the country it might be 9 pm but others maybe later. Night is a strange word too as it can cover a wide range of times IMO. English is a tricky language sometimes!
 
Dear Mom24,

I agree that it does open up a few more possibilities.

What is your opinion on the approximate time the authorities deem the laptop was used for homework? Most of the statements from the authorities use the word "evening". To me, evening can be as early as 7pm. Some quotes in news articles state "night".

I enjoy reading your posts and I wondered about your thoughts on "evening", "night".

Thanks in advance,
It's funny, but until I started writing the list I realized I had assumed that while DJ left on the 17th, BJ and AH hadn't left until the 18th, and I somehow assumed that at least BJ was in the house when Mollie was dropped off at 5:30pm. So of course she had to be taken while on her run. But with the new info, I see know why some people think she made it home. The same with the homework thing, there's what I mean by "evening" and what someone else means by that. Since she went running at 7:30 it seems possible that "evening" means between the times she was dropped off at 5:30 and the time she went out for her run at 7:30.

Since we all know that the best way to break into a home is through the garage so you can shut the garage door and have all the time in the world to break in unnoticed, it makes sense that someone may have been waiting for her back at the house. Maybe he'd seen her the day before and followed her and noticed no other cars in the driveway and no one else around. So he waited in the house while she was out running and then subdued her when she got home.
 
Yes, but they would have to analyze pings from 100,000 different cell phones and then start contacting those who could be pinpointed to that area, which would probably be a lot. Theoretically it should work, but again I can't find any case of it being successful.

No. They can definitely run into challenges using cell pings to find suspects and missing people, sure, but it’s not the problem you are suggesting. I say this as somebody with experience in this field. They would immediately sort out pings that are not the same distance as the MT location in question from each tower. They would then look for overlap/run linear regression analysis, etc.
 
I agree it's possible she may have left the house at a later hour after the jog, I just have a hard time seeing how that would have played out. Every time I visualize a scenario where she returns home from the jog, then leaves a second time, I always in my mind's eye see her showering and/or changing clothes before heading back out...especially if she did homework b/t her jog and then leaving the house for a second time. She seems to have a fairly set running routine. I'm guessing that includes her post-run habits/routines. It would be instructive to know if she normally showers & changes right after she gets back from her evening runs, or does she usually just leave her running clothes on and wait until bedtime or the next morning to shower? I'm rambling, apologies.
Yes, it would be helpful to know the facts. For me, if I were just going to my moms house I may just go as is. If she were planning to eat dinner at her moms, maybe she was going to shower there, stay the night, and use the car in the morning. There are so many possibilities that go through my mind.
 
Not everyone has that option, though. I don't like blaming people exercising their freedoms for becoming victims of some sick individual. JMO
I wasn't blaming her with my posts and I don't think the person above was either. It's not a matter of "blaming the victim", it's a matter of personal safety. For instance, we teach children to look both ways crossing the street, and we make sure to get that into their heads and all of us eventually do that if we don't want to get hit by a car. Now, we could just figure pedestrians always have the right of way, so why even look, they have to stop for us. I know we can't all live as if every bad scenario is going to happen, but being aware of surroundings and people around you is just like looking both ways. Looking back in hindsight after the worst case scenario is not really any comfort when things go wrong.
 
I think in press reports we have seen night, evening and even late evening. I agree we probably have common understandings of what someone means if they say 'evening' but I wonder when 'evening' transitions to 'late evening'? Some parts of the country it might be 9 pm but others maybe later. Night is a strange word too as it can cover a wide range of times IMO. English is a tricky language sometimes!

Dear JoJoJo,

Thanks for this. Perhaps it has to do with culture and the verbiage used in our upbringing. For example, my family says "evening" until around 9pm then we refer to that part as "night".

It is interesting though. The late evening could run into 9pm or start after 9pm. One poster showed that daylight ended around 9ish that week. I will search and see if I can find that post.
 
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I just wanted to point out this quote from an article today, where it states dad talks on the phone for hours on the weekend with his kids. So for those who were wondering about the 3-hr phone call on the Sunday before she went missing, it sounds like it was not out of the ordinary.

From Oakland to Iowa, Mollie Tibbetts' family relies on two communities and clings to hope

"Despite the distance, he’s remained close with his children through the years. Every weekend, he spends hours on the phone with all three. He spoke with Mollie a few days before she disappeared. She was about to sign a lease for her first college apartment in the fall and get the first stamp in her new passport for a trip to the Dominican Republic to celebrate a friend’s wedding."
I don't think it's that unusual. I moved out of state when I was 19, and I would call my parents on the weekend and chat away.
 
Ok I thought she meant her room where she stayed with boyfriend.
No her room at her mother's house. They said she didn't stay there because the AC was not working good in her room and her boyfriend's house was cooler. It's been repeated that the mother saw the 2 shirts in her room and her mom thought they were the only ones she had.
 
I believe two people said they saw her, the neighbor you mention above who couldn't tell if she made a left or right on Jackson St. and another "who lives a few hundred yards away in West Pershing Drive."

The third neighbor, the one right across the street from Dalton & Co.'s house, says he did not see her but "investigators also told him Tibbetts had returned home after jogging past his house, according to data from her Fitbit."

LE will not confirm that last part and I can't imagine they would disclose a data find to a neighbor, but who knows how they worded a question and it turned into a perceived disclosure or claim.
 
Bringing over our compiled list from the previous thread. Please add your questions:
Things we want to know:

1.What was the condition of the house? Door unlocked? Did she normally lock doors? Dogs? Shower used?
2. What time was the Snapchat photo taken?
3.Is the red shirt real evidence or not?
4. What route did Mollie jog that evening?
5. Who was also in that area?
6. Did the surveillance video provide any clues (parked vehicles, etc.)
7. Did LE find anything during their searches?
8. Who else did she communicate with that day/evening? Especially on Snapchat.
9. Who knew her housemates would be away that night?
10. When and where did her phone lose power?

What was her eyesight?
Did she run with contacts in?
How was she getting to work in the morning?

But there's a sticky point there for me, we don't know that she was alone for a second night or if it was the first night. I can't find any article that mentions when Allie and Blake left. Did they leave on the 17th or did Allie leave for her job in Ames on the 18th and Blake went that night to be with her. Allie didn't have a home in Ames, this was her house, so I could see them spending one night away together, but two? So when they left kind of impacts what I think happened. If they left on the 17th could someone have seen what looked to be a vacant home and thought they could rob it? Or did someone know she was alone at the house because she talked about it at work the day before? I don't know, but it makes a difference for me in how plausible it is that she was taken from the house rather than while on a run.

I don't think I've seen that either, but maybe @zencompass knows? If not, I'll make a note to try and track it down.

Along those lines, then, yes, I also wonder how long it had been since BF had checked his phone/Snapchat, or whatever? Ie, had he been busy for hours and only got to check it at 10pm, or had he not seen anything on his phone/last checked his phone at 9 or 9:30pm, then opened the Snapchat at 10pm? Not sure I'm being clear, or possibly just restating what you're asking?

Also, who would ask mom if Mollie was in a house at 9:45, and why would they think she would know the answer? It sounded like the last interaction she had with Mollie was texting about dinner around 7:30pm?

Mollie's mom took a call from an agent who was trying to determine whether Mollie was in a home at 9:45 PM:

'She hated to be sad and hated others to be sad': Brotherly love for missing sister

It's unclear what type of agent. Back in thread 5, someone asked, "Real Estate Agent?" I think we can safely assume DCI or FBI.
 
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