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

[cluciano63]

Anyone with a weapon can usually overtake anyone without, especially with element of surprise. Mollie jogging along, singing to her headphone, i.e...someone pulls up, follows along, taps her on the shoulder and she turns to face a gun or knife? Or just grabs her. It might not matter how big that person is, if she froze even for an instant.

 

[Stormy21]

I still can't believe the security light was out over at the electric company. Isn't that their business...electricity and items pertaining to electricity. Geeez 2 weeks?

Kinda like the water shut off in the water plant, or the farmer starving to death.

 

[Marie224]

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.

If she woke up with it on at BF house, the only way to determine her location would be for LE to put on a fitbit and recreate the morning, retrace her steps... But, taking into consideration, it's wrist movement, so standing and blow drying her hair would be counted as steps but they should be able to get a general location and timeframe (within 1 hour) of when she was moving and no longer moving the day she disappeared.

Even if her body was being dragged, it would still count steps. Also, they could look at previous days/weeks by the hour and see what's typical for MT... An example, did she normally have 1000 steps by 10 am? DId she normally wake up every day at 6 am?

The Fitbit app will tell them the time she went to sleep the night before, the time she woke up the following morning and took her first steps... it will also tell them the time of day and day of the week there was NO LONGER ANY MOVEMENT. Could be from the battery draining or another conclusion.

 

[Al Hoffman]

That's assuming the decay and insect infestation started... If they used cameras in the dusk hours day of or day after being killed...where the ground would still be warm, air cooler, but a body at the ground temp... I can aim the infrared camera and see handprints left on surfaces...

Exactly, you are correct. Apparently, it takes a few days for the maggot activity to rev up, but after that it is the gift that keeps on giving for months. Even better, apparently the fat and other waste that leaches into the soil leaves a fairy ring like infrared signature, even after the body is removed, due to continued microbial and insect activity.

 

[MassGuy]

Unfortunately, a lot of women kill children....

Generally they are related to the child.

 

[tarabull]

Oh no! Noooooo! Not the BLACK SUV AGAIN!

A few posts back, the discussion was regarding females abducting females so I was thinking more along the lines of the reporting of the black SUV...THAT has been niggling at me, iykwim...nonetheless, carry on

 

[zencompass]

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

Dear WideOpen,

Thank you for your detailed and informative post. Greatly appreciated!

Initially I believed that the perpetrator was someone known to Mollie, not well known, but familiar.

My reasoning for this was because it was the second night Mollie was alone in that house and there were no vehicles in the driveway, not overnight nor the next morning. This was like the "perfect storm" in a sense, because this seemed to emphasize the fact that she was all alone.

I thought that if someone had been planning this - and knew that Mollie would soon be leaving for the Dominican Republic - then this would be the opportunity.

If someone had been watching Mollie, this would be the time to act. If someone was obsessed with Mollie and happened upon this knowledge and saw her running, then an opportunity presented itself.

Your post has me now thinking more towards a stranger abduction.

ETA: This is looking more like they are dealing with an "organized" perpetrator as opposed to "disorganized" perp, (F.B.I. terms) and that is also why I am contemplating "stranger abduction".

NCJRS Abstract - National Criminal Justice Reference Service

 

[Stormy21]

The dirt in between the rows depends on the soil and weeds, ground runoff etc. The dirt where I walked was mostly soft and I could easily tell rows that I had been in before or where an animal had gone through. This was in Ohio. I don’t know if Iowa dirt is similar lol

Hell no. Our Iowa 'soil' is far better than anything you find in the Buckeye State.

 

[FindHG]

Rob Tibbetts is not giving up hope in the search for his daughter

not new, but the most recent, from 6 pm today.

 

[carbuff]

If a woman killed her, I doubt if she bothered with abduction. She probably just shot her or stabbed her and dragged the body out of sight somewhere.

 

[castilloisno1]

Generally they are related to the child.

Yes, you are right!

 

[bestill]

I still can't believe the security light was out over at the electric company. Isn't that their business...electricity and items pertaining to electricity. Geeez 2 weeks?

And the camera too. How convenient.

 

[Cardinal47]

I just took another look over at mapquest. 622 W Des Moines St - MapQuest
There have to be more working video cameras along those roads. Across the street and right next door. People are very equipment savvy and I just don't believe none of those neighbor didn't have some cameras.
Perhaps that's why they don't need us. They have a timeline and they have video. Now they are looking for Mollie.

 

[gforce]

And the camera too. How convenient.

yeah it's all part of the perfect storm

 

[MassGuy]

I just took another look over at mapquest. 622 W Des Moines St - MapQuest
There have to be more working video cameras along those roads. Across the street and right next door. People are very equipment savvy and I just don't believe none of those neighbor didn't have some cameras.
Perhaps that's why they don't need us. They have a timeline and they have video. Now they are looking for Mollie.

I’m sure they’ve gathered every piece of video evidence they can. The problem is that it takes humans to determine if the video has any evidence or not, and that can take a lot of time.

 

[Stormy21]

Generally they are related to the child.

And often psychotic.

 

[GMG1999]

I just took another look over at mapquest. 622 W Des Moines St - MapQuest
There have to be more working video cameras along those roads. Across the street and right next door. People are very equipment savvy and I just don't believe none of those neighbor didn't have some cameras.
Perhaps that's why they don't need us. They have a timeline and they have video. Now they are looking for Mollie.

If this is small town enough that people don't lock their doors for the most part, I wouldn't expect very many at all to have cameras.

 

[Deleted member 228069]

m


Michelle, I too in the beginning THOUGHT it is possible that the person who abducted her was a female. But I would think this female would have to be a pretty strong and big girl to overpower Mollie. Mollie seems pretty strong and seems like she could take care of herself, especially with a small female (not so much for a male). A male if strong enough can usually ALWAYS overpower a woman. My husband could overpower probably 2-3 women at once if he wanted to. Men are just much bigger than women (that's a fact). But I was also thinking MAYBE there is someone that possibly has a crush on Mollie's boyfriend (jealousy) and Mollie knows her. Maybe she showed up at Mollie's house or Mollie went to her house and thought nothing of it, because it was a friend of Mollies. Then MAYBE from there things turned ugly. I don't know though. Just a possibly too. Maybe a jealous friend (woman) that could have also been stalking her. Or could be someone that is jealous of her accomplishments too that was friends with her in school and was stalking her. MANY women become jealous of things like that. Mollie seemed like a very bright person with a great future headed for her. Maybe there a was a girl that was jealous of that for some reason (like a competition per se). Just ALL speculation.

I do see jealousy as a possible motive. As for overpowering her, I think that would be rather simple. Hypothetically, let's say a female "friend" arrived to pick her up for work that morning and brought MT a spiked Starbucks coffee. Nowadays, it'd take nothing to knock someone out.

 

[str8nightowl]

Ah

Because there is always evidence. Always. It may not be obvious now or 25 years from now, but it is still there.

And things are getting better with technology. Take DNA. One can determine DNA from a cigarette butt. I do not think it will end there. Not only is there DNA, but some day investigators will look at RNA, mitochondria, and even 'epigenetic' evidence. People are looking at the way drugs and the environment affect your DNA to predict drug use or toxic poisonings. They look at microtubules.

There wasn't DNA until Watson and Crick 'discovered' it, but it existed.

Stormy21, The problem is there is all these new movies like Dexter and all out there now that serial killers watch. It gives them ideas. Ideas of HOW to hide the evidence and make it harder to catch them. Sad but true.

 

[cheesyrider]

I still can't believe the security light was out over at the electric company. Isn't that their business...electricity and items pertaining to electricity. Geeez 2 weeks?

Is it possible that someone shot out the light to darken the area? Was it reported out the day before or the day the disappearance was reported?