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

[distracted]

I don't know how the Iowa statute reads, but--looking at this layman's language version--what you described above sounds like kidnapping to me.

Iowa Kidnapping/Abduction Laws. ... According to IowaCode § 710.1 a person commits kidnapping when the person either confines a person or removes a person from one place to another, without lawful authority and without the consent of the other to do so.
Iowa Kidnapping/Abduction Laws – ...
USLegal.com › kidnapping › iowa-kidna...

Yeah, that's interesting. Of the three degrees of kidnapping, none of the three spell out a scenario of someone being held against his will but not physically snatched.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

Well this is confusing. Is her mother's house not in a part of Brooklyn?

Yes, because you are quoting someone who quoted me after I quoted yet someone else. The OP was rainbowman, who said Mollie is not a resident of Brooklyn, her family lives in a larger nearby town, and there were people in her hometown who knew she was staying at her BF's in Brooklyn. I was asking what they meant, because I thought one part of her family lives in CA, and the other in Brooklyn on the other side of town. What part of her family lives in a larger town nearby?

Two ideas about the possible meaning of this. One is that I believe I read, somewhere in the last few threads, that MT's mom grew up in the area and went to the same high school MT graduated from. But that school, apparently (based on its name) serves kids from at least two other nearby towns. So mom might have been from one of the nearby towns. Maybe she still has family there. That might be what the OP was referring to, though I don't see the relevance to this case.

The other idea it gave me is this: if MT and her mom/siblings moved back to Iowa about ten years ago (MT was in 2nd grade, we read, so maybe 12ish years ago?) , they probably lived somewhere else before mom's current house, just based on how new the house and development seem to be. We don't know which town that house might have been in even if it's assumed to be in the general vicinity.

I recall seeing days ago that the fitbit must be paired with a phone to view the data. If the perp were to have destroyed Mollie's phone, or even powered it off, would anyone be able to see the data from the fitbit after that point?

The only way to get data from the fitbit after the phone is dead/off/out of range would involve having retrieved the fitbit itself. If they have the fitbit, it can possibly be synced to her laptop IF she has the app on the laptop (not all of us with fitbits even have smartphones). Or the fitbit company could presumably retrieve data from the physical fitbit.

 

[otto]

I'm not sure but I would assume any time a car passes that point it counts as one, so if a car goes by twice it's two.

Is the question:
Would 138 people in a town of 1500, plus surrounding farm population, visit a store like Caseys each day?

 

[MsBetsy]

Why would she get into someone's car willingly if she was jogging on her way to her mom's house to eat and collect the car? What would induce her to stop jogging to her mom's house?

We dont know that she was jogging to her moms house at all.

 

[mrkyle]

case could be like savanna greywinds, someone she doesnt barely know asks for her help here being a small town girl helps bam its over,

 

[Momma2cam]

Why would she get into someone's car willingly if she was jogging on her way to her mom's house to eat and collect the car? What would induce her to stop jogging to her mom's house?

We don't know that she was willingly jogging to her mom's at the time she may have got into someone's car or let someone in a home. MOO.

 

[wary]

Yeah, that's interesting. Of the three degrees of kidnapping, none of the three spell out a scenario of someone being held against his will but not physically snatched.

Isn't that covered by: "confines a person?"

 

[thesaint]

I'm not going to say she wasn't abducted, but I very strongly feel she got in a car willingly.

Yes, agreed. Maybe Monday the investigators will share when they think that happened (they likely know, within a narrow time-frame).

RANDOM SPECULATION:

I wonder if Mollie's mother's nonchalance about Mollie not showing up for dinner and Mollie's brother's uncertainty about Mollie needing a ride to work the next morning stemmed from Mollie maybe being uncertain herself if (i) she'd have plans/a visitor after her run (ii) a different ride to work.

Mollie could've kept it vague with both of them, "Hmm, not sure what I'm doing yet. I might come by for dinner/I might not need a ride, depends...I'll let you know later." Dunno.

 

[gforce]

Is the question:
Would 138 people in a town of 1500, plus surrounding farm population, visit a store like Caseys each day?

well that was 138 cars an hour pass Casey's don't know how many visit and dont know how far the camera covers.

 

[MsBetsy]

More than anything, the more isolated areas I thought were possible from map view (like Jackson street down by the high school) don't look so isolated in real life.

I understand it's hard for somebody like me to get in the "let's go snatch somebody" mindset, but trying to do that in Brooklyn I'm drawing a blank. The only areas I see that have any potential for that are out where nobody has mentioned and Mollie surely wouldn't be. For example, if there were any chance that she went West from the dogsitting house, 385th ave is a very isolated dirt road.

I'm not going to say she wasn't abducted, but I very strongly feel she got in a car willingly.

When you say you didnt see any potential areas for an abduction, what is your reasoning; are there a lot of houses, shops, traffic,etc, and does this apply to the evening as well?

 

[Confusion]

I would think she would use it before her run, but not bring it with her. It lasts about 4 hours. I am not sure if it has been mentioned whether or not it was found at the house.

If go out (I definitely don't run), I use mine before I leave, but I always bring it with me just in case. I don't know how bad her attacks are, or if inhalers help a lot or a little for her, so it's hard to know what she would do though. I guess, I wasted your time reading this, but I'm posting it anyway.

 

[katsrfun]

If Molly were missing voluntarily, certainly she must now know that tons of people are looking for her and are devastated, including multiple law enforcement. I can't imagine, from what we have been told, that she could be that cruel and without conscience. Who could do that? I know I couldn't even be gone a short time without checking in with someone in my family, because I know they worry about me, and I am a grown woman. I cannot even begin to fathom that she left voluntarily and continues to be gone without contact. However, I like everyone, can't come up with a reasonable idea of what happened and why no one can locate her. MOO. Thanks, Katt

 

[distracted]

Isn't that covered by: "confines a person?"

It appears it is. It just seems strange to me that there isn't a distinction in Iowa's law between being confined and physically snatched.

 

[MesquiteO21]

How did Mollie’s Mom think she was going to get there for dinner? Did the Mom occasionally pick her up when the shared car was not available for Mollie? Did Mollie frequently get rides from others when she didn’t have a vehicle? Would she have run over to the house?

Yes the whole going to moms for dnner thing is very frustrating. Mom said she was gonna go for a run and then come over for dinner. She didn't show up but as far as we know that was not concerning to mom since we know Mollie was reported missing the following day. Unless I missed it, we do not know 1) if she changed her mind and texted her mom saying she wouldn't be coming 2) if she changed her mind and didn't let her mom know but that was not unusual for her and wouldn't immediately cause concern 3) she didn't text and it wouldn't be like her to not show up and not let her mom know
I'm assuming however that LE does know and I will trust that

 

[Q.E.D.]

Welcome!

It's easy to visualize those corn leaves giving someone an asthma attack.

I think the big question would be--we seem to know that her phone was with her, so how could it not lead the searchers right to her? (And a corollary to that is--if it's really true that her phone/Fitbit signals were picked up, 10+ miles from town...how could that be?)

For instance, it wouldn't lead searchers right to her if it had died, was ditched, or destroyed.

If it were true that the ping last sent a signal 10+ miles away on the highway, it would only mean the phone was there at the point when one of those events occurred.

 

[otto]

We dont know that she was jogging to her moms house at all.

We know that she was last seen jogging. Why would her disappearance be described as an abduction if she voluntarily hopped into someone's car? If she was forced into someone's car, that is a version of "snatched."

 

[LaylaD]

Is the question:
Would 138 people in a town of 1500, plus surrounding farm population, visit a store like Caseys each day?

Difficult to speculate, without checking in with a manager. But, Caseys has fresh coffee and donuts, pizza by the slice (or by the box for carryout), snacks and other junk food, in addition to gas. So, it’s more than possible.

 

[thesaint]

Is the question:
Would 138 people in a town of 1500, plus surrounding farm population, visit a store like Caseys each day?

If it's close to the high school, they could get half that amount on lunch hour alone. Plus kids picking up snacks before practice after/before school.

 

[runfar262]

Mollie Tibbett's disappearance sparks participation in women's self defense class
Mollie Tibbett's disappearance sparks participation in women's self defense class

 

[Deleted member 228069]

Yes, agreed. Maybe Monday the investigators will share when they think that happened (they likely know, within a narrow time-frame).

RANDOM SPECULATION:

I wonder if Mollie's mother's nonchalance about Mollie not showing up for dinner and Mollie's brother's uncertainty about Mollie needing a ride to work the next morning stemmed from Mollie maybe being uncertain herself if (i) she'd have plans/a visitor after her run (ii) a different ride to work.

Mollie could've kept it vague with both of them, "Hmm, not sure what I'm doing yet. I might come by for dinner/I might not need a ride, depends...I'll let you know later." Dunno.

I have also wondered if she didn't show up for dinner due to her need to get home and work on her school paper.

 

[MsBetsy]

Do you have a theory of when she was abducted (or not).

He does NOT think she was abducted at all, just is trying to help out by visiting the town, re- walking possible routes, and video taping parts of that for us to see so we may possibly have a clearer picture.