Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #29

[jman07]

They were just over 6 years apart. I've heard of SKs who killed in the same location in a much shorter period of time. MOO

Then maybe they are really confident they are onto him. I don't know. Just like everyone else I wish I had all the answers.

 

[Onescout]

JMO

I honestly feel that there is some aspect of Mollie's case that alerted LE and the FBI to the most serious nature of this case in the beginning on or about the time DCI came in on the July 20th and FBI on the 24th. What explanation is there for 30-40 FBI agents converging on this small Iowa town?
State, federal investigators involved in search for missing UI student Mollie Tibbetts

Also, the manpower has been there pursuing this aggressively for over 4 weeks now. FBI would have gone home quick IMO if it was a small town local offender. I don't recall how long the FBI was in Evansdale (anyone know off hand?) but for Delphi girls they left on March 23rd, so about 40 days boots on the ground trying to solve the murders. That had the makings to be a solvable crime, after all.

We will see & I suppose time will tell.
JMO

You have to involve Feds in order to get data info from devices, it’s all under Federal regs.

 

[MassGuy]

You have to involve Feds in order to get data info from devices, it’s all under Federal regs.

You don’t. Any LE agency can request data from companies via subpoena. The FBI has far more technical expertise though, something many LE agencies simply don’t have.

 

[MsBetsy]

Thank you. We know so little in the case sadly but we do know that MT drives (supposedly not well but she gets by).....

Correct. She was not unable to drive, just didn't do it often. Going to school most of the year, she probably didn't need to, except when she came home and had DJ 's truck plus the car she shared with her brother.

 

[Onescout]

You don’t. Any LE agency can request data from companies via subpoena. The FBI has far more technical expertise though, something many LE agencies simply don’t have.

Law enforcement can look into your phone, if they produce a warrant, but that's if they have the physical phone in front of them. Obtaining info without the phone is a a whole different ball of wax that requires Feds assistance.

 

[Quill]

I don't think she was a serious runner or training for anything. She ran in school, cross country or something like that, but since then jogged for exercise and enjoyment. Also she did have asthma so that may have prevented her from persuing it further.

It has been said here that her boyfriend said she was training for a half and that was what I was responding to. My marathon coach has asthma and she has run so many full and half marathons over the years. Asthma can be managed quite well for some who choose to run. I would think if Mollie ran on a high school cross country team that she learned how to manage it quite well and a half marathon wouldn't be a huge deal for her. Most of us who run become quite attached to it and have a hard time giving it up. I started around age 13 and have been running off and on for 40 years.

I suspect that Mollie loved it the way I do, at least it's possible. When you love it you don't care if someone else is faster or has a better runner's body. You just do it because it is a part of you and it makes you feel a certain way. I am certain that I am projecting way too much here, but anyway, I think the main thing for me is that if she was training for a race she would have developed a pattern with her runs that a perp could have easily picked up on. Another thing about the length of her runs as far as training goes, is who knows when the race date was. Many are training for races right now that are not until fall or winter. Due to the heat there are not too many half or fulls this time of year. This would impact how far along she was with her training.

 

[sun16]

I think about the red dots on the findmollie site. I think about the location of DJ’s house and her mom’s house. I think about the possible routes or roads MT would likely (or not) be jogging down. Whether they are paved, gravel. I think about the buildings inside and on the outskirts of Brooklyn that would have cameras pointed toward the road. Can we think of a location or route/road MT would have been jogging on ... in which the road into and out of Brooklyn would allow someone to drive into town, grab her, and exit out of town without the car being caught on camera on the road. It would be nice if a home owner had a Nest/CPI/etc. camera pointing toward their front yard and road. Do the truck stop cameras show the road? We know the coop camera was out. Any other establisment on the way out of town? You see what I mean, right? What route into and out of town has a blind environment?

 

[mtnlites]

Presently, I am not leaning in a "serial killer" direction. No evidence of that and LE aren't indicating that one may on the loose. In fact, the opposite. They said they feel the public is not in any immediate danger.

To me, "serial killer" means much the same as "sex trafficking" when it comes to theorizing about what happened to a missing person. They're the ol' go to when information is lacking and brains have been stormed out. The chances of her meeting either fate are about the same (infinitesimal).

JMO.

I'm there with you. In order for me, personally, to see SK in all of this I'd need to see a clearer MO for comparison's sake. With so little info released, that's just not possible right now. While there ARE more serial killers out there than I am comfortable with, people are much more likely to be killed by someone they know. I have been a true crime ghostwriter (as well as a mystery writer in my own name) for nearly 15 years and in all the cases I wrote about and researched, only one case ended with the person being a victim of a SK. When new cases pop up, however, and discussions get going that seems to be the fallback answer. (Fallback after family involvement, anyway.) Real life isn't all a Criminal Minds episode-which is too bad, in a way, because Garcia would have had the digital footprint stuff wrapped up before the wheels went up.

 

[PommyMommy]

Makes sense if she were planning on going for dinner. She also probably planned ( though I hate to bring this up) to pick up the shirt she would be wearing the following day to work.

It makes the most sense to me. There were at least three things we know of at her mom's: 1) the car, 2) her work shirt, and 3) dinner. I just don't think that she would have gone for a jog, then back to DJ’s to shower/eat and then walk IN THE DARK to her mom's. It doesn't correlate with what everyone who knows her has been saying. DJ said she usually went for a run about 6-7 pm. They (DJ and BJ) said she rarely stayed overnight at their home alone. She had homework, and I think she did it prior to her run because it makes more sense than her carrying her laptop over to her mom's. The dogs had plenty of food and water and they were in the basement for the night. She may have planned to go let them out in the morning before work. She didn't text her brother about the car because she intended to see him at her mom’s. All JMO, IMO, MOO.

 

[MsBetsy]

I think we need to be really careful when parsing quotes made by LE and the family or even witnesses. For some reason, there seems to be a lot of misquotes by reporters which change the implication of the data presented. Where at all possible, we should refer to any existing video footage and give that higher preference over written material by reporters who sometimes mishear or misinterpret.

For example, there's a big difference between "her world's a mess and she can't drive to save her life." and "her room's a mess and she can't drive... and, so..." There's a difference between a witness saying he saw Mollie at around 8pm and the written article saying 9pm. There's a difference between Jake saying he texted Mollie to ask if she still needed the car vs needed a ride to work vs needed a ride home.

Quite frankly I am appalled at how badly various media outlets are contradicting each other in terms of major and minor details. Especially since we already have a lack of information that LE is willing to even confirm or deny.

Let's try to refer to video sources first, when available. Quoting written text that accompanies such segments is proving to be a minefield in of itself with regard to "the facts".

I agree, it's so frustrating and I have never seen so many inconsistencies and even false reporting ever. I have no idea if this is common or not although I have seen it before. Hard to know what's going on when you can't even trust a news account.

 

[PaulR]

I agree, it's so frustrating and I have never seen so many inconsistencies and even false reporting ever. I have no idea if this is common or not although I have seen it before. Hard to know what's going on when you can't even trust a news account.

This is actually very common. It's just that you're noticing it because you're looking at the witness reports and comparing it to the articles.

 

[Onescout]

I also think the Federal presence has a lot to do with what is happening to rural America. Meth and Opiods are rampant in small towns, it’s worse than it’s ever been. Many times, these crimes are tied to such activities. It so disheartening. Small towns are having big city problems.

 

[MsBetsy]

Law enforcement can look into your phone, if they produce a warrant, but that's if they have the physical phone in front of them. Obtaining info without the phone is a a whole different ball of wax that requires Feds assistance.

The state police cannot do this?

 

[pamelado2]

So, did anyone else notice that her personal FB profile picture changed today? Also, May 10 to July 18 is missing from her timeline. I have screen grabs of them from a weeks ago so they WERE visible. My thoughts?? FBI has control of her page? That seems like they are on to something.. JMO, also, way back on 7/20 as I was seeing the news, I grabbed screen shots of her page and comments to read after work. Two very very close friends of the family posted TWO times and roads they themselves saw her running on that afternoon. One was gravel.. Now, I WOULD LOVE to list the roads and times, but I don’t think I can post a link from the family friends that posted those comments.. a friend did tell them to call LE ASAP. At that time, they were still posting MT moms personal phone number and DJ’s I believe. So early stages.. thoughts? I hope I’m not breaking a rule?? :/

I don't see the change to her Facebook?
Can you be more specific?
The post from hope on the 19th still shows the 2 sightings in the comments.

 

[ChiaPet]

Then maybe they are really confident they are onto him. I don't know. Just like everyone else I wish I had all the answers.

I'd settle for one or two answers at this point LOL

 

[MsBetsy]

This is actually very common. It's just that you're noticing it because you're looking at the witness reports and comparing it to the articles.

Thats exactly what I thought. And it's my first time doing it that way. I don't know if I can ever trust the news again.

 

[Jerrod]

Mollie herself mentions her questionable driving skills on Twitter.

 

[Onescout]

The state police cannot do this?

I’m not quite sure of State Police and their reach, I do know that FBI has a special child abduction unit (CARD) although Mollie is over 18 they are called in because of the system they have in place. They can jump through the legal hoops much faster when it comes to warrants and subpeaonas in asking for data with phones, and servers (they have a cyber unit) and App makers like FitBit.

 

[cluciano63]

LE seldom brings a “serial killer” theory to the public unless there is a DNA match or strong similarities in method of killing and/or disposal, i.e a signature. There is nothing known to suggest any of the cases mentioned are linked.

Also Mollie looks no more like a little girl than I do lol...she looks like a healthy, athletic young woman. The whole “mistaken for a child” thing seemed to have more to do with a pink coat that a child who had wandered off may have been wearing a similar one...I think Mollie turned into “I look like a 10-yr old” as a better funny story for social media. Jmo

 

[chihuahua]

No tears or sad posts please. None in regards to my situation---
In January of this year my ex-husband (over 18 yrs divorced) was staying in my home temporarily. He committed suicide.
His phone was accessed by Organized Crime and the Coroner by me guessing his password.
I had a roommate almost complete suicide in May of this year. They did the same with her phone.
They could've got a subpoena, but I would guess Mollie is a rather smart young woman who shares her password with someone/s.
I know I do. Always as well as location.
(yes I do suicide intervention...no reply about that subject needed)
jmho