Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #28

[sripey]

The whole thing is based off the map LE put on the website. The problem is we don't know the rest of the information they have, so my theory, or anyone else's, is purely speculative and most likely wrong. Like putting a square peg in a round hole.

I have the same theory as you, with the exception that she was abducted on 2nd st just east of the car wash. I think Mollie was jogging east and the perp was driving west. I don't think he would have driven back into/through town if he abducted her around her boyfriends house. Was she stalked and the perp had been watching near her boyfriends house for her to start her run, then traveled down 2nd st and waited? I think LE considers that a possibility and thus listed it as a location of interest on the website.

After the abduction near the car wash, the perp went east on 2nd, north on Mills st, east on E Green st, north on boundary st until turning right onto 385th. This is not only the most direct route to 385th/200th, but it is also along the outskirts of town, minimizing potential witnesses.

I think the two highlighted locations on or right off of 200th St are places where the car stopped for some amount of time, possibly to re-secure/subdue Mollie. The hog farm was the last place the fitbit GPS tracked to...this is probably where the phone was disabled

I think law enforcement thinks the perp may have stopped at the truck stop on I-80 prior to exiting on to V18 north toward Brooklyn. This is why they are looking for info from there as early as 5pm.

 

[chihuahua]

I was thinking about this last night. I wondered if LE did not bring this up because it would mean Mollie likely met the same tragic and disgusting ending that Abby and Libby did and would cause fear and panic in the community, or if they have evidence or reason to believe it is not related. I am going to spend the weekend studying Lyric and Elizabeth since I did not follow that case as closely as many others.

Last night as I was falling asleep I wondered if LE searched the Lincoln Wildlife area not because of a tip but because of an offender MO they were worried about.

Good thoughts.
And yes it is worth your studying I assure you.
Could this man be a lineman (electrician) who works on the road for many days at a time?
Someone knows something somewhere, believe me.
Chi
ETA this map from Brooklyn to Delphi

 

[duster1979]

This has been on my mind from the start. I have wanted a grid search. The Sheriff claimed every property had been cleared yet yesterday there was news properties near the Car Wash were being searched.

WHY? If what the Sheriff said was true weeks ago? The only explanation I could come up with was a tip Mollie had been MOVED TO such a location after the Sheriff cleared every property in that town!

In the initial search they were looking for Mollie or signs that she had been there. The subsequent searches were probably conducted for other evidence. It's not really that unusual.

 

[OldCop]

Hopefully we can politely agree to disagree. I agree with you in some ways, but it seems you are asking us to have blind faith in LE. When LE is so tightlipped all we can evaluate is the results....after 4 weeks they think a POI is a single, divorced or widowed male. Disappointing. The performance of the FBI and LE needs to certainly be looked at; it seems that this case is getting away from them.

We can indeed. It’s good to listen to all sides of any viewpoint. I don’t think I have blind faith in LE. I do know that mistakes can be, and have been, made in other cases. However, I think the teams working this case are probably the best of the best, are experienced, and are committed to finding out what happened to Molly. If she was abducted by a stranger at an opportunistic time, ie a back road, no witnesses, no evidence, those are absolutely the hardest cases to solve. That is why serial killers get away with it for so long. There is nothing to tie them to a victim and no evidence left behind. If, and I’m not saying it is, but if this is the case, what would you do if you were LE?

 

[Cococat]

Happy Friday - Websleuthers...I have been following since day one and only comment occasionally. In reading through all 28 threads - I have come to the conclusion our thoughts and ideas and sleuthing has brought us no closer today than we were a month ago; as to what happened to Mollie. Except for the "five red dots" there is very little information to use to come up with who has her and where she is. Tempers seem to be flaring - most likely out of frustration. Please remember...we are all her to help find Mollie and bring her home to her family. IMO...

Agree and I've read most every thread. It's like having a jigsaw puzzle on the table, missing pieces and no picture to go by

 

[otto]

x

Why would someone who appears to have some practice in this deviance allow himself to be tracked for several miles with the victim's phone still active? Why not toss it at the get go?

I can imagine that the moment of grabbing someone off the street and driving away must be a bit chaotic. I think the first thought is to get out of the area as fast as possible. He might not be thinking about cell phone tracking until he's 10-15 miles away from the abduction site, when Mollie is more likely subdued, and then he would realize that he can't leave the body in the same place as a phone signal. That would explain getting rid of the phone/fitbit signal in the Guernsey area, yet police have been unable to find Mollie in that area.

 

[sripey]

I can imagine that the moment of grabbing someone off the street and driving away must be a bit chaotic. I think the first thought is to get out of the area as fast as possible. He might not be thinking about cell phone tracking until he's 10-15 miles away from the abduction site, when Mollie is more likely subdued, and then he would realize that he can't leave the body in the same place as a phone signal. That would explain getting rid of the phone/fitbit signal in the Guernsey area, yet police have been unable to find Mollie in that area.

I agree. This also seems to rule out a second abductor, as the phone would have been disabled much faster in such case.

 

[TheTruthWillOut]

RSBM

Sorry. When you said: 'look familiar to anyone'? I thought you had someone in mind...

I see you were just asking if he did!

I think.

 

[Dushi]

Ok, with a risk of sounding stupid

I am directionally challenged and know little to nothing about phones but...
About the phone being disabled.. how does one decide that the phone wasn't diabled fast enough ( post 1036) when we are not certain of an exact time that Mollie could have been taken?

The timeline given is between five and ten
Has LE stated when the last info came in from her phone?

 

[Veracity]

Of interst in Iowa right now: the location where LE found human remains in the search for 15 year old Jake Wilson is the area of Wolf Creek where they initially began searching. They said in the PC that they had previously search this area 20-30 times. I know LE has searched WC’s property and a couple other locations multiple times in relation to Mollie’s disappearance, but now many of us are asking how these previous searches for Jake could have possibly come up empty.

Who did these searches for Jake? If you were to compare the agencies, tools, etc between Jake's and Mollie's case what's the same? What's different as far as searches go?

 

[MsBetsy]

This has been on my mind from the start. I have wanted a grid search. The Sheriff claimed every property had been cleared yet yesterday there was news properties near the Car Wash were being searched.

WHY? If what the Sheriff said was true weeks ago? The only explanation I could come up with was a tip Mollie had been MOVED TO such a location after the Sheriff cleared every property in that town!

Which made me scratch my head - how on earth did that happen?

Even if cameras were NOT installed at the time of Mollie's disappearance it would seem logical to have some sort of surveillance in the days/weeks following to gather possible leads. In some cases there are officers who stand in the road and speak to folks traveling along a particular route to determine if they were on that route on a particular day during a particular block of time.

I don't recall that being part of this case.

I wondered if hunter's trail cams might be something police need in their arsenal. They could be installed in the middle of the night or by someone who looks like an utility worker and...

Can think of all sorts of things that could be done.

But in the end it is up to LE who are charged with solving this disappearance and bringing Mollie home to figure out the particulars. Keep hoping their strategies are going to bear fruit TODAY and Mollie will be found.

You make an excellent point about cars being stopped and drivers being questioned on what vehicles they saw. In the early nineties, I was stopped and questioned on an exit ramp as to whether I had noticed any vehicles the day before. There was a dirt road off the exit where 2 bodies were found in an abandoned house. The public was not given this information. There was a suspect that had murdered seven women in the area. Meanwhile, the family of the last and youngest victim heard from a friend that a certain man was making suspicious comments in a certain bar. They spent a week in that bar talking to everyone, never letting on they were looking for someone. One man that they struck a conversation with started talking about the case. They engaged him in conversation and asked his name. He told them. They reported him to authorities and it turned out to be the killer. His name was Nathaniel White. He murdered several women, the youngest was 14. Maybe it will be an unexpected thing like this that leads police to the killer. You just never know.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #28

We are likely talking about a first time killer here, one who isn’t going to have the foresight or ability afterwards (mentally)to worry about Mollie’s computer. This is movie type stuff, not real life.

A PC would have evidence of such software... even if the software was uninstalled it would still be detectable since deleting does not actually *delete*, it removes pointers to file locations. Reverse-uninstall software works by restoring the pointers. Evidence would also include logs listing IP addresses and communication protocols. Windows OS records and retains so much data behind the scenes it is a treasure trove for Forensics.

 

[rebel123]

Just a thought; do we know if Mollie has ever had a running buddy or has she always run alone?

 

[TL4S]

I can imagine that the moment of grabbing someone off the street and driving away must be a bit chaotic. I think the first thought is to get out of the area as fast as possible. He might not be thinking about cell phone tracking until he's 10-15 miles away from the abduction site, when Mollie is more likely subdued, and then he would realize that he can't leave the body in the same place as a phone signal. That would explain getting rid of the phone/fitbit signal in the Guernsey area, yet police have been unable to find Mollie in that area.

My question here would be why the perp would want to keep MT in the vehicle with him so long? Unless he planned to keep her alive, or had another location in mind, IMO, he'd want to take her, do whatever he was going to do, leave her somewhere, and be done in very short order. The longer she's in that vehicle, the more danger of getting caught.

Another option might be that he left her earlier on his route, discovered her phone or fitbit on the floor, and then tossed it out at the pig farm. You'd think they'd have found it by now, though. That's my problem with the whole getting rid of the cell phone idea...if it's tossed out the window, wouldn't it have likely been found along the road? If it's on MT, it's where she is, where the perp put her so she wouldn't be found.

 

[chihuahua]

Please note in the top video I posted from MSM that they explain it takes a long time for witnesses to come forward in some cases.
There are reasons. Fear is number one many times over and over.

 

[sripey]

Ok, with a risk of sounding stupid

I am directionally challenged and know little to nothing about phones but...
About the phone being disabled.. how does one decide that the phone wasn't diabled fast enough ( post 1036) when we are not certain of an exact time that Mollie could have been taken?

The timeline given is between five and ten
Has LE stated when the last info came in from her phone?

Mollies fitbit provided GPS information from the beginning of her run until the hog farm. The fitbit location data was the impetus of the searches around the hog farm. In order for the fitbit to relay such information, it must be paired with a phone. The phone transmits the fitbit data. When the phone is turned off/disabled, fitbit data will no longer be sent.

 

[OldCop]

Does anyone here think it makes sense that she was taken near the house on her way back......say someone was laying in wait at the TPI parking lot. They close at 4:00 and suuposedly the cameras were out so it would be easy for someone to loiter there until she returned. That would make sense as to the theory she never went back inside the house.[/QUOTE
I think it is very possible, but the big question is: Was it a very lucky coincidence or DID THE LOITERER KNOW THE CAMERAS WERE OUT?

 

[Dushi]

Mollies fitbit provided GPS information from the beginning of her run until the hog farm. The fitbit location data was the impetus of the searches around the hog farm. In order for the fitbit to relay such information, it must be paired with a phone. The phone transmits the fitbit data. When the phone is turned off/disabled, fitbit data will no longer be sent.

Thank you for your patience.

But because we don't have an exact time that she could have been abducted, could the activity that is recorded be from her on her run?

 

[Mellowmelly]

Just a thought but , heaven forbid, the worst has happened to Mollie and say she was attacked by a random person. It is possible that the person didn’t take her or drive her off and that he’s just hidden her somewhere out of sight but near to where it happened, in some undergrowth maybe. I think they should still have search teams out looking for her and was a little confused as to why they would call the search off. JMO

 

[Kapua]

Ok, with a risk of sounding stupid

I am directionally challenged and know little to nothing about phones but...
About the phone being disabled.. how does one decide that the phone wasn't diabled fast enough ( post 1036) when we are not certain of an exact time that Mollie could have been taken?

The timeline given is between five and ten
Has LE stated when the last info came in from her phone?

I can't speak for anyone else and this is just my theory. First of all, NO, LE has not stated when the last info came in from her phone. We do know that her brother dropped her off at DJ's house at ~5:30 PM. (Were they followed)? We also know that LE has requested information for the 5PM-10PM time frame. We're solid on that.
Now here's why I theorize that the perp may not have disabled the phone right away.
1) Mollie wore the phone in an armband. We don't know on which arm. A perp would have to wrestle it away.
2) Assuming (there's that word again) that the perp was working alone and also had to either persuade or manhandle her into a vehicle, he might have been far more focused on capturing her and getting out of Dodge, or in this case, Brooklyn.
3) I believe that Mollie's mom stated that Mollie did not like to run after dark - so I assume that she'd planned to be either at mom's for dinner or over at DJ's for dog/house sitting no later than ~8:45.
4) Amateur perps in other cases I have followed have overlooked the phone and it has tripped them up.
MOO