Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #22

[Confusion]

Good point about obtaining a baseline video.

Interesting that some TV stations focus a shot on the hands. I never paid attention to that before. But it is a good idea.

Clenched fist = anger; tapping fingers = nervous (or a drummer for the Who); chewed fingernails = nervous; playing with wedding ring I always read as someone who is thinking of his relationship, and not in a good way; picking nose = yuk!

The problem is that gestures don't always mean the same thing with everybody.A clenched fist could mean a person is trying to repress, which could be anger, sorrow, the urge to say something that shouldn't be said, or even physical pain. Tapping fingers may mean nervousness, but I do it when I'm bored and know others who do it when impatient. I know a lot of people who bite their nails all of the time, but more so when nervous; the nervousness could be from being on camera, speaking to strangers, being recorded, or guilt; it's hard to say which unless you know the person better. Playing with a ring could mean a lot of things, as you said, it could show thoughts of a bad relationship, but could also be a form of comfort when stressed because it's a good relationship. Your last one, I think you got that one right so I won't try to come up with a different example. There's a reason why profilers and others who "read" people go through training for their jobs. Everybody can read a book on reading body language and faces for fun, but that's not going to get anyone to the point of being able to accurately know what's going on with any particular person by comparing them to examples in the book. MOO

 

[cshea99]

O/T, but just to lighten the mood momentarily...all you folks referencing Children of the Corn need to watch better corn movies...might I suggest Field of Dreams....

Wasn’t that a baseball movie? I love my horror flicks...especially the old cheesy ones. But I can say I don’t typically pick my movies based on vegetables.

This might be a crazy question. I’m don’t visit too many corn fields. The few I have walked it seemed like the ground was rock solid. Almost like concrete. Is that true of corn fields? Might make burying a body difficult.

 

[RavenCC2020]

Women are so much less violent than men.The great preponderance of violent crimes and sex crimes are committed by males. Testosterone!

There was a time I would agree 100% with you on this but gotta say over the last year or two I wonder about that. I read the UK Daily Mail every day and I can't even begin to count the amount of video's they have of woman/women going after another woman. It is totally bizarre to me. I do think it is a direct result of young people living on SM. Just look at video's that go viral these days. So many of them are people doing absolutely outrageous things all in order to post them to get likes. My niece was attacked in school a few years back by another girl. A friend of the other girl video'd it on her phone and the girl that attacked my niece posted it to her FB page. My sister found it and sent the link to the cop who was investigating the occurence. Needless to say with video evidence of the other girl attacking my niece, the girl was suspended on the spot and was brought to court where she was charged with assault, found guilty and sentenced to probation and community service. These girls at the time were 14. Crazy!

 

[Stormy21]

If Mollie is deceased, which is more likely with each day that passes, it is quite likely that bugs and decomposition will reveal that she was killed close to July 18. Knowing when she was killed won't help with identifying a suspect. Evidence that may be on her body will completely deteriorate with decomposition and, if enough time passes, it will also be impossible to determine how she was killed.

I believe that depends on the method.

Ever watch those documentaries on The War of the Roses, or Finding Richard the III? Forensic scientists (in some cases) can determine the cause of death of knights and warriors in the middle ages. And farther back.

 

[cody22]

I know, but the person I quoted said her family lives in a nearby town? Which family is that? Not her Dad's. Her hometown isn't Brooklyn?

I think that person made a mistake as too where she and her immediate family(except for the Father) live. They all live in Brooklyn, Iowa.

 

[Kapua]

FITBIT SCIENCE EXPERIMENT - COMPLETE
Conclusion - Fitbit needs body movement to calculate steps. No physical movement = no steps.

EXPERIMENT:
I have a Fitbit Alta, the same one as MT... I pulled up the Fitbit App on my phone and synced to update my current step count etc. It does not show me any type of location , where I am, or map of where I have been today.

With my Fitbit on my wrist, I walked around and exaggerated my wrist movement and my step count was updating live and continued counting on my Fitbit app, I didn't have to re-sync/update or stop and wait to see how many steps I completed, it was counting live, Started at 1 step and ended at 100 steps.

Next, I took the Fitbit Off of my wrist and put it into a bowl. I walked the same route holding the bowl w/ Fitbit inside and walked, holding the bowl as still as I could, the step count did not change on the App, even though the Fitbit was technically moving around with me. My thought was, possibly Bluetooth/GPS/cell towers could just pick up the movement of the Fitbit from point A to B, not necessarily count by my body movement. BTW, if I moved the bowl just slightly, it counted steps.

LE could take the # of steps on her Fitbit account from a PC and re-create a map, north, south, east, west and go in each direction and see what landmark, forest, house, farm or a field is there. An example would be, 1000 steps recorded the day she disappeared... It would also tell them the time the Fitbit last had activity. If I sit down and watch a 2-hour movie, it will show I had no movement between 2-4 pm on 8/11/18. My last movement was at 2 pm but not 3 or 4 pm. This is also how it tracks your sleep, bedtime and wake time.

LE has to know the day/time MT started moving and stopped and the # of steps from the time she woke up to her last step from that day or days after. If she was sitting on a floor, and bound at the wrists but still twisting her wrist, it would still count steps. It's that sensitive. Also, the App shows the current Fitbit battery life as well.
B
Finally battery life info... If MT has her text messages, incoming calls and alarm clock synced to her Fitbit to vibrate, the battery drains faster. I don't know if this is the case... I will use mine as an example.. Based off 50 text alerts, and 1-2 alarms per day, my Fitbit battery will last 4-5 days. No alarms and a few texts, it will last 7 days +.. I'm sure with everyone in town texting and calling her, trying to locate her, it drained her Fitbit battery fairly quickly and it was drained within 24 hours if she had it synced.

Thank you so much for the info! I have a different model Fitbit (Flex 2) and have been hesitant to post in case the Alta is far more sophisticated than mine. In terms of battery life, this gizmo rocks! I am on day 3 and the battery indicator is orange. Normally, I would charge it, but I am trying to see what the REAL battery life is.
People seem to think that the Fitbit is going to give Mollie's precise location. I fear this is not the case.

 

[Cardinal47]

I addressed this several threads ago, but the timeline is very important in determining the veracity of tips, and to determine if a potential confession is valid or not. If someone knows something in regard to a portion of the timeline that has yet to be released, they could be determined to be truthful. “My boyfriend said that he kidnapped Mollie from this location at this time,” as an example. If a statement jibes with something that only LE knows, that could be huge.

You make a very good point.

I wonder--and this doesn't even fit in with my theory--if their timeline would make the perp realize that they were on to him.

Another good point.

Glad I asked the question and understand a bit more. Thank you!

 

[Daae]

It almost seems this fellow (WC) has really faded as a POI. Almost dropped off the map.

So, there is a good chance that LE has no physical evidence. I believe serial killers know full well how to minimize physical evidence. Serial killers search for targets at similar locations or on the web. A local person who stashed a body locally in a corn field would likely be found out.

 

[First_responder]

Wasn’t that a baseball movie? I love my horror flicks...especially the old cheesy ones. But I can say I don’t typically pick my movies based on vegetables.

This might be a crazy question. I’m don’t visit too many corn fields. The few I have walked it seemed like the ground was rock solid. Almost like concrete. Is that true of corn fields? Might make burying a body difficult.

The Hills Have Eyes always creeps me out.. .

 

[cody22]

Is that a quote from the Friday presser?

Best post of the day so far !....LOL !......MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[cluciano63]

I am not sure I ever followed a case when LE refuses to say when they believe the person was last seen. It might discourage some valid tips, if a possible witness has no idea if what they saw matters. If not giving this basic info is a strategy to weed out suspects, imo, it is a stupid one.

 

[Kapua]

Isn't Hayward in the heart of Hell's Angels and other biker clubs? A female biker gang there????

Wow. I lived there for 3 years, never heard that. ETA: A lot of bikers hang out in Hollister.

 

[Stormy21]

Wasn’t that a baseball movie? I love my horror flicks...especially the old cheesy ones. But I can say I don’t typically pick my movies based on vegetables.

This might be a crazy question. I’m don’t visit too many corn fields. The few I have walked it seemed like the ground was rock solid. Almost like concrete. Is that true of corn fields? Might make burying a body difficult.

That is a good question. Likely depend on the amount of rain that week.

Field corn is incredibly dense. I don't see how it even grows. It get tall and dense. That might protect the soil moisture. Farmers don't even plow anymore. They sorta chisel it up. Maybe because of the organisms present????

 

[First_responder]

So, there is a good chance that LE has no physical evidence. I believe serial killers know full well how to minimize physical evidence. Serial killers search for targets at similar locations or on the web. A local person who stashed a body locally in a corn field would likely be found out.

Anyone can eliminate the trace of a body... I honestly don't know how people get caught if they thought things through first.

 

[Q.E.D.]

So, there is a good chance that LE has no physical evidence. I believe serial killers know full well how to minimize physical evidence. Serial killers search for targets at similar locations or on the web. A local person who stashed a body locally in a corn field would likely be found out.

Just curious, what makes you think that a serial killer is involved? Not doubting you, but I am just curious.

 

[zencompass]

O/T, but just to lighten the mood momentarily...all you folks referencing Children of the Corn need to watch better corn movies...might I suggest Field of Dreams....

Dear SteveP,

This post of yours is my new all-time favorite on Websleuths!

Field of Dreams! I love this post!

 

[Parks]

Hi Parks~

I have been holding out hope that Mollie is alive. However, there are several things that make me sense that this is a total stranger abduction and initially it is how quickly the FBI came in. The articles below regarding FBI coming in are dated beginning on July 23rd. What could have happened in the days prior? It was even said initially by LC that 1 FBI agent was assigned, then 15 were expected but even more showed up. Mollie Tibbetts: FBI hopeful Fitbit, social media accounts can help locate missing college student What happened in these early days and alerted local LE to call in the FBI? Any why such a strong and aggressive number of FBI? I do think that local LE was spot on to ask FBI to come in quickly.
Most cases are lucky to get that 1 fbi agent who does support. I mean how many cases have we followed where we hope and beg LE to get involved before too much time passes. We all realistically know these outcomes. But, with each new case we support the family and try to have "hope".

July 23rd
Disappearance of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts remains a mystery


July 23rd
FBI joins hunt for missing University of Iowa student
FBI joins hunt for missing University of Iowa student


July 26
Mollie Tibbetts: FBI hopeful Fitbit, social media accounts can help locate missing college student


jmo

I 100% appreciate the links with info, you see that less and less these days. So you’re thinking stranger abduction due to fbi presence? Is that correct? I know 15 is a large number but also thought that could be attributed to state line crossings, SM interactions, etc... am I correct that your thought is it’s because early LE felt it was a stranger abduction? I guess they could’ve called them in, with the just, “we
Don’t have a clue, please help.” But true; would that warrant 15 agents to respond? They must have something to go on. My impression of FBI involvement, is children, desperation or “no joke, we got this.”

 

[Q.E.D.]

Anyone can eliminate the trace of a body... I honestly don't know how people get caught if they thought things through first.

Everybody make sure to be nice to First_responder!!!

 

[i'm someone]

And most of these men were raised in a dysfunctional home environment. They tend to vent their rage outwardly, while females raised in such an environment tend to turn their rage inward, and engage in self-destructive behavior.

If someone is born with psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies, it does not matter one shred their sex, race, upbringing(to a degree) or any other malleable environmental response. It's hardwired, and how severe it is determines the behavior over the lifetime. If the person is mentally ill, or has a personality disorder they can be violent and have bad intent even if they are tiny six year olds.

 

[Kapua]

Anyone can eliminate the trace of a body... I honestly don't know how people get caught if they thought things through first.

That is true, but having followed a few cases, I have to say, most of these perps are sloppy.