Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #25

[Kapua]

After watching these videos and not seeing any people or much activity, it seems to me that Mollie would certainly stand out when running thru this town. I now think its someone who saw her run by on a regular routine basis.

I have thought that from day one, but I would not rule out a stranger abduction.

 

[MsBetsy]

After working all day, I got here as quickly as I could to hear the press conference. I know a lot of you think nothing was really said again today, and LE may really be clueless, but I get the feeling they actually have a pretty good idea what happened to Mollie, and may have an idea of what they are looking for in the way of a suspect vehicle, and just need one or two people who know SOMETHING to step up with some seemingly insignificant piece of information. I got the distinct impression, as at least one or two others here did, that the press conference was almost a one way call to the perp and someone who knows or suspects the man LE is looking for. Some have pondered that LE seems to think Mollie is still alive. I did not get that feeling, and do not believe that she is. JMO

I agree 100 percent. Especially that is directed to someone who knows perp. They must know or suspect something. Maybe they at not quite sure and dont think it could be true or don't want it to be true... and are scared to death to come forward.

 

[Fire Fox 2]

Her killer was from my town. Poor Mickey.. Her body was found a few miles from my house.
It was terrible for our community and an eye opener. He lived a double life but in hindsight, his sig other did notice strange behavior. Scary to know that I rode my bike every day for 13-20 Miles while in high school. Most definitely crossed him a time or two.

I have to admit, when LE started asking the public to think of any vehicles that had unexplained damage, or however they worded it, my first thought was poor Mickey Shunick, and it gave me the heebie-jeebies to think that Mollie may have suffered a similar fate. Mickey is one of the cases I have followed here that really hit me particularly hard, for some reason.

 

[YiYa]

I am curious why they are limiting the hours to 10 PM. It makes sense to have an expiration if LE knows that she left the area at this time. How could they know this? Have they figured out the original send time and place of the Snapchat to DJ at 10 PM?

Cell phone signal died? Just a guess.

 

[RavenCC2020]

I wonder if RT will backtrack on his theory that Mollie is with someone she knows and thinks she is still alive. It will be interesting to see what he has to say in any future interviews. Everyone looked a bit defeated during the press conference. I felt SO bad for them.

Me too. I was surprised that RT did not speak. I have to imagine being professional's they have already told her parents that with this amount of time having passed the chances of finding her alive are not good at all. As much as the LE spokesperson attempted to sound upbeat and state they still believe she is alive I didn't believe he really thinks this. He is just trying to keep the investigation moving. I think, and rightly so, that if people in general think she is no longer alive they will stop looking for clues. Them focusing on behavioral patterns made me think that they are definitely in recovery of body mode. Certainly doesn't mean they do not have poi or por's. I believe they do. To solve a crime where their doesn't seem to be much physical evidence, they are left with process of elimination unless something else comes along.

 

[Seattle1]

@Millhouse said: ↑
From https://findingmollie.iowa.gov/:

"On Wednesday, July 18, 2018, Mollie Tibbetts was last seen jogging in Brooklyn, Iowa in the evening hours. There have been no credible sightings of, or communications with, Mollie since that time.

Law enforcement is currently seeking additional witnesses and wants to speak to anyone who was in the areas indicated below on July 18, 2018 between the hours of 5PM and 10PM." (bbm)

Maybe I'm reading too much in to it, but the 5pm time frame seems a bit earlier than previously discussed. I'm guessing they just have some reason to be curious about the time leading up to whatever they suspect happened to her- this makes sense if they do have a perp in mind (maybe they knew the person was in town starting around 5 or something of that nature).

They aren't casting doubt that she was dropped off at 5:30 and texting with her mom though, right? If I read those two paragraphs together, it kind of sounds like they are. But, if I keep them as separate thoughts in my mind, I think it means that she hasn't been credibly seen or heard from since she was seen running, and then separately, they also want to hear from people at those spots from 5-10pm.
Just my thoughts.

I think they want anyone to think if they saw a strange car, i.e as early as 5pm...just so people don’t dismiss anything before 7:30.

Reading between the lines: Brooklyn is a destination town, i.e., unless you live there, you don't just happen upon it without a purpose. What event or purpose brings someone to Brooklyn on a weekday evening? Some have indicated Wednesday evenings are often Church functions. Mid July is also prime softball/baseball season and there was a Little League Tournament at 7pm the week prior to Mollie missing. Any other sports event on July 18 that would bring a "spectator" to town. Divorced Dad's are often spectators at ball games. May even meet kids in town for dinner prior to ball game. Just more brain-storming... COME HOME MOLLIE!

 

[Jabarn]

I agree. With the wisdom/experience of the investigators on this case, the mentions about a car are what grabbed my interest.

The one that stood out the most to me is the possibility of a suspicious someone who needed auto body work, since it is, at a minimal possible, she was hit by a car. It seems, if that angle works out, that may have been the “means” to subdue her.

It’s happened in other cases, as has been brought up here in an earlier thread.

Remember all that about means, motive and opportunity being key in substantiating the identification of a suspect.

Because of the car wash (d&m carwash on the map (https://findingmollie.iowa.gov/) being a location of interest, that may be something on her running route (not sure), or a place to find someone cleaning out evidence in a car. It would be nice to think something evidentiary was found there, but it would be pure speculation at this point.

I couldn’t get any of the other hotspots on the findingmollie site to open any information.

I felt pretty good about the presser, and am just now catching up on the thoughts of others. Not everyone feels the same, but that is Ok.

If a local crime, the use of a local car wash makes sense.

For auto body damage... interesting to think about that angle. Any car fires to report?

Only car fire that seemed odd I can locate through a simple Google search. Stolen vehicle catches fire in southeast Cedar Rapids

Sometimes, I go out and try to find an answer to my own question. The news story at the link above is probably not related (and too far away). This was a stolen car, so that might be the reason it was torched, hoping to get rid of fingerprints.

On a side note, if a car was involved in the abduction, which makes sense because there is an element of “disappeared without a trace,” that car was not seen by any eye witness as far as I can tell. Such a hard crime to solve.

 

[DeadCat]

Keeping track of IP addresses? There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have visited the site, just to view information on a case with major news coverage.

This!

 

[DoABarrelRoll]

"Restricted access"? You can't claim restricted access when it's an open website that not only is open for the public to visit, but is one that you've openly invited people to visit.

I only meant restricted as in, the login/maintenance/hosting of the website is restricted to LE/govt personnel. The website isn't operated by a nonprofit agency or MT's family. The government set it up.

Keeping track of IP addresses? There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have visited the site, just to view information on a case with major news coverage. You seriously think the cops are going to look at every IP, get a subpoena from a judge where the justification boils down to "this person went to a website we publicized during a press conference about a missing person whose case has been on national news", not have the judge laugh, not have the ISP laugh, then do what, go find Granny who is "concerned about that young girl who went missing in Iowa" and grill her at the police station about where she was on July 18th? Maybe do good cop-bad cop?

They may have certain POI in mind already, and want to see if said POI visit. Does the POI visit at all? Once? Dozens of times? It could help direct of the POI is anxiously checking it for new information on the case.

 

[soccergirl]

Uh, there are dozens of anonymous proxy services available, some free and some paid, which would allow someone so disposed to view the site without revealing his native IP address.

Hi guys, I've been following this case for a while as it hits close to home for me and I'm new here.

But to this post here, with the right knowledge and understanding (cause believe me it took a while for even me to understand), you can so easily get though those and figure out someone's real IP Address, especially if the perpetrator is someone who isn't too smart with the internet to begin with. The FBI has a team who specializes in this area, so they would know how to figure out someone's IP, beyond the proxy services.

 

[cheesyrider]

I am curious why they are limiting the hours to 10 PM. It makes sense to have an expiration if LE knows that she left the area at this time. How could they know this? Have they figured out the original send time and place of the Snapchat to DJ at 10 PM?

Possibly the "digital footprint" has her (or at least her phone/fitbit) at another site at 10?

 

[Alethea]

Keeping track of IP addresses? There are probably hundreds of thousands of people who have visited the site, just to view information on a case with major news coverage. You seriously think the cops are going to look at every IP, get a subpoena from a judge where the justification boils down to "this person went to a website we publicized during a press conference about a missing person whose case has been on national news", not have the judge laugh, not have the ISP laugh, then do what, go find Granny who is "concerned about that young girl who went missing in Iowa" and grill her at the police station about where she was on July 18th? Maybe do good cop-bad cop?

Devils Advocate here: if they have potential persons of interest, couldn't they cross reference their IP addresses and see if there's an unusual level of interest? Say a POI who claims they aren't following the case and then thousands of views from their IP? I know there are ways to mask your IP but assuming the person is not very sophisticated and just logs on from home.

I ask because I can see the IP addresses of the people who view my professional website and I am a sick competitive person so I always look through to see how many times a specific competitor views my site when we put up new information.

 

[MsBetsy]

Is SHARON NEEDLES on here yet? He was going to go to the Press Conference! Would love to hear his thoughts. But afraid it won't be good.

 

[Knox]

Does anyone think the information for the two missing circles was done on purpose? Areas of interest known only to the perp and maybe hoping he will go back there? Or any other theories?

One way to find out. Who is going to tweet a reporter and have them contact DCI and ask?

 

[mountainguy777]

So none of the said businesses listed have a running video camera on the outside? In a town that small, you could trace every vehicle that drove by.

 

[DoABarrelRoll]

So none of the said businesses listed have a running video camera on the outside? In a town that small, you could trace every vehicle that drove by.

The D & M Car Wash listed on the https://findingmollie.iowa.gov/ map appears to have several cameras on it.

 

[Emilyf886]

They aren't casting doubt that she was dropped off at 5:30 and texting with her mom though, right? If I read those two paragraphs together, it kind of sounds like they are. But, if I keep them as separate thoughts in my mind, I think it means that she hasn't been credibly seen or heard from since she was seen running, and then separately, they also want to hear from people at those spots from 5-10pm.
Just my thoughts.

I took it as the latter

 

[Bravo]

welcome soccergirl

 

[Seattle1]

At the PC, the speaker paused before saying "abroad." I think he misspoke and in the moment was trying to think of a word to describe other counties outside of the county. "Out of state" or "out of our jurisdiction" may have been more appropriate than abroad, but I didn't read anything into it and didn't think he meant there was really some foreign connection.

The other flyers have the "abroad" as well.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I've always understood "abroad" to mean outside of the country.

We addressed in prior thread. Searched anywhere that a lead led them to-- barns, silos, fields, etc. Agent said "... we've searched through out the county, and abroad." i.e, also outside the county. Not figuratively outside the country.

 

[Whiteorchids]

It kind of dug it. It looks very much like my small town. You wouldn't see people outside during the week, either. Most people work out of town and don'tget home until early evening. Thanks to urban sprawl, our downtown are is mostly empty buildings; the few stores that are there close around 5. People keep to themselves. One of the reasons I enjoy our annual Mushroom Festival is because it's two days out of the year that our town actually comes alive.

This way of life may not be for everyone, but many of us love it. I have lived in several large cities and all over the world, but I prefer the quiet isolation of my small town-even with its dead downtown and empty streets. We have seen no indication that Mollie was unhappy there. Indeed, the fact that she returned home for the summer when college students generally have other options available says something, ad does the fact that she chose a university close to home in Iowa (when she probably could have looked at places nearer her father).

And without being morbid, having grown up around cornfields and tobacco farms, if she were deceased in one of them right now, it wouldn't be hard to find her. A deer died in the cornfield across the road from us last week. Within 24 hours, it was obvious from a 5-mile radius. Critters come and you can't miss them.

I would probably be fine living there as a middle aged adult but I could see teens and college aged grads wanting to leave for more opportunity. Are there any nice restaurants, any fast food like McDonalds, what places do kids like to hangout? Are their bowling alleys? Do most people living there works on the farms? Im sure going on line and SM is very popular since not a whole lot else to do in Brooklyn. One poster lived near cornstalks said you wouldn’t find a body until harvest time.

 

[Marie224]

Cell phone signal died? Just a guess.

Possibly the Last time her fitbit synced to her cell phone. The time listed on the fitbit website when logged into her account would list the time the phone was shut off, even if the fitbit was still powered on.

*See my fitbit experiment on thread 22 or 23 can’t remember.