I want to preface this theory by saying I believe Mollie was taken by someone she knows. However, I do have a theory suggests a stranger abduction. Please bear with me as this is longer than I wanted it to be, but have much information to share. I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on it.
There was much talk during the Elizabeth and Lyric case about construction going on nearby, I believe on Hwy 20. On their thread #18, a poster mentioned that they were staying at a nearby campground the weekend after the girls went missing & it was almost full. They had been told that many of the construction workers were staying there while on the job. The possibility that a construction worker took the girls was discussed a lot on their threads.
So I was looking at the DCI map for Mollie yesterday, specifically the red areas south and southeast of Brooklyn. Since there are two areas in this direction, I was thinking that possibly the perp traveled from the south either on the way to Brooklyn or back, or both.
I then went to the Iowa DOT website and looked up current construction projects. Interestingly enough, there is a current highway construction project in Sigourney, approximately 40 miles southeast of Brooklyn. There’s also a campground called Belva Deer Recreation Area near Sigourney. Looking at the DCI map, the 2 shaded areas to the south of Brooklyn would be great areas for the perp to travel from if they were coming from there.
Google Maps shows 3 routes from the Sigourney area to Brooklyn. One route via B Ave can be thrown out as a possibility as you have to travel further east. The first route suggested is via Hwy 21, which is 8-10 miles due west of Sigourney & the campground, respectively. The perp could hop on Hwy 21 & go north, head west on I80 and get off of I80 at 398/V18, which is a straight shot north to Brooklyn. This exit is where the southern shaded area is on the map that mentions the area of the TA Truck Stop. The third route suggest by Google Maps is via V18. Again, perp heads west to Hwy 21. While this route on the map has you get off on 420th St and go west to V18, it looks like you could just as easily get off at 430th St and go west until you hit V18. Once at V18, its a straight shot north to Brooklyn (and this route has you go through the TA Truck Stop area as well). The southeastern area shaded on the map is on 430th St between Hwy 21 and V18, so along this suggested route.
So, let’s say a construction worker gets off work around 4:30 or 5 and travels to Brooklyn to commit some evil deed (maybe going further away from his home base to deflect suspicion). It would take about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Brooklyn. He trolls around a bit in Brooklyn, maybe even the TA Truck Stop or other towns before getting to Brooklyn. He sees Mollie around 7:30pm and then takes her to the northeastern shaded area. Once done, he goes north a few miles to Hwy 6 going east, then takes Hwy 21 all the way south. Back at the campground around 10pm and no one thinks anything of it.
