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

[Mr. Obvious]

I suspect most of those tips are throw-aways.

Agreed!

I'd even venture to say that most of all leads/tips are quite lame/worthless!?

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Cold case as in LE not actively working on it ? No, not cold.

But unless something changes quickly, I don't think LE is anywhere close to making as arrest.
I doubt Mr. Tibbitts would go home if he thought this was close to being solved.

All JMO

To clarify, no one is claiming LE is not working the case, and stating an opinion that the case is "cold" is not a denigration of LE. The definition of "cold case" is quite clear:

cold case
noun

1. an unsolved criminal investigation which remains open pending the discovery of new evidence.
   "the cold cases that have never been solved"

I 'sense' this case as being "cold" status and I will assume so until LE reveals "new" evidence is being gathered.

 

[MsBetsy]

bbm



bbm



There is no time frame criteria that defines when a case is "cold." Nor are volume or level of LE activity. All it takes to categorize a case as "cold" is when no "new" evidence is discovered.

I seriously doubt "new" evidence is even trickling in. Of course, there is no time frame for when "new" evidence might be forthcoming but given the size of the town and potential passers-through on July 18 and given the widespread publicity this case have received we can safely assume that sponge has been thoroughly squeezed.

The cold waiting game has since begun.

I asked the question as to what defines a cold case long ago. Thank you for all the many definitions to all who provided one. The reason I asked is because I was surprised people were claiming this case was getting " cold" and wanted a professionals description of it. I have researched many cases and have seen cases remain open for one or two years before being declared as a " cold case". In my opinion, based on others knowledge, this case isn't anywhere near cold and I'm surprised anyone would even suggest it. Also according to the above definition there could be "pending evidence" a year from now.

 

[Al Hoffman]

Apologies as I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find it.
Was Mollie running on concrete or a dirt road most of what we believe her jog path to be? If dirt, do we know if any fresh tire tracks or two sets of fresh prints (one Mollie's) have been found? We may not know this of course.
I'm hoping there are footprints. You can determine so very much from footprints.

Yeah, you're right, but there was a rainstorm the morning of 19 July, and it would have been several days before LE might have known her run route(s) and what to look for. But a good point, in any case.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I don’t have a link to the article handy, maybe someone else does. But it is reported by Fox News in this audio (and discussed at length in earlier threads):

Tracking the Mollie Tibbetts Story

This info is not from LE, the only legit source. I’ll wait to form an opinion one way or the other when we hear something from LE. This is pure hearsay.

Thanks for sharing though, appreciated. : )

 

[ChuckMaureen]

I asked the question as to what defines a cold case long ago. Thank you for all the many definitions to all who provided one. The reason I asked is because I was surprised people were claiming this case was getting " cold" and wanted a professionals description of it. I have researched many cases and have seen cases remain open for one or two years before being declared as a " cold case". In my opinion, based on others knowledge, this case isn't anywhere near cold and I'm surprised anyone would even suggest it.

I understand that position, so I must ask this: do yo believe LE is discovering *new* evidence in this case at the moment? Only one answer would make this NOT a cold case.

 

[Dushi]

Well the thing about the shirt is LE may not have stated that Mollie's Mom said it wasn't hers, but LE has not stated it is hers either

 

[Safeguard]

This info is not from LE, the only legit source. I’ll wait to form an opinion one way or the other when we hear something from LE. This is pure hearsay.

Thanks for sharing though, appreciated. : )

Have to wonder why that wasn't cleared up though, surely LE has been able to determine if it was Mollie's shirt or not... They will not comment at all on if a red shirt was even found. I've always thought that was odd.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

bbm

I asked the question as to what defines a cold case long ago. Thank you for all the many definitions to all who provided one. The reason I asked is because I was surprised people were claiming this case was getting " cold" and wanted a professionals description of it. I have researched many cases and have seen cases remain open for one or two years before being declared as a " cold case". In my opinion, based on others knowledge, this case isn't anywhere near cold and I'm surprised anyone would even suggest it. Also according to the above definition there could be "pending evidence" a year from now.

Exactly. And the case would be considered as "cold" until that "pending evidence" is eventually discovered an entire year from now.

 

[amland01]

This info is not from LE, the only legit source. I’ll wait to form an opinion one way or the other when we hear something from LE. This is pure hearsay.

Thanks for sharing though, appreciated. : )

I believe a journalist reporting on Fox News is mainstream media. If I am incorrect, please let me know

 

[SteveP]

It isn't what this forum is about. I'm not making excuses for it but we're almost 30 threads into this case and we don't know any more than we did the day she disappeared. People are frustrated and sometimes humor helps with frustration.

Please know that we all want Mollie to be found, which is why we're all still here 29 threads later with nothing to go on, because abandoning Mollie is not an option.

With that, I'll check in again later tonight. God willing, today will be the day Mollie is found.

This is not aimed at you, I am just using your well-written post on this topic to reply to. I think part of the problem is that we are all stuck here, on the same thread, and so many of us started from different points, so the same topics get brought up over and over, ad nauseam. When I started following this case, there were already 12 threads to wade through to get up to speed. Anyone jumping in now, Lord help them. It just is not possible for most people to read every post, or even the majority of them everyday. Heck, even I had to skip an entire thread one day this week when we basically went through a whole thread while I was at work. And not everyone is familiar enough with this site to know there is a thread of info only. Newbies join here every day, and I, for one, am glad they do. So instead of getting frustrated with them when they ask that same question that has been answered 100 times, or instead of pointing out that it has been asked and answered 100 times and they should know better than to ask it, sometimes it is best to kindly answer them, or just scroll and roll. Almost everyone here is here with good intentions. Another thing, I have been on threads that were very popular, and they got divided into sub-forums, each covering a different topic about the case, so someone wanting to quote about the white truck, for example, in the case of Micky Shunick, didn't have to wade through pages and pages of stuff about numerous other things. Problem is, in this case, we have no facts, so there really is not much for the powers that be here to make into sub-forums, I'm not even sure if they still do those with this new software. BTW, when I first encountered sub-forums in the Micky Shunick case, I was not a fan, but I quickly became one when I got used to the idea. If we ever get some real facts in this case, I could see that happening here, perhaps. MOO

 

[MsBetsy]

I understand that position, so I must ask this: do yo believe LE is discovering *new* evidence in this case at the moment? Only one answer would make this NOT a cold case.

Even if they havent had new evidence in the last 10 days there is certainly more evidence to come. Thats why I mentioned " pending evidence". There is no reason for them to assume that they are NOT going to find evidence in the future. I would imagine they would wait a long time to declare a case COLD because they have exhausted all angles and don't believe they will find more evidence. In some cases, evidence is found years later! Isn't it easier, and better, to keep the case open rather than having to "reopen" it 2 years later?

 

[amland01]

Have to wonder why that wasn't cleared up though, surely LE has been able to determine if it was Mollie's shirt or not... They will not comment at all on if a red shirt was even found. I've always thought that was odd.

They haven’t really commented on anything though... of course it is always possible that LE asked mom to say that for whatever reason. Hard to tell anything in this case! I keep going back and forth on whether LE knows nothing vs close to an arrest

 

[Al Hoffman]

Agreed!

I'd even venture to say that most of all leads/tips are quite lame/worthless!?

Yeah, but it's just like panning for gold. You have to go through A LOT of sand and gravel to find a few flakes, never mind nuggets, of gold. It does not matter if most of the leads are crud, as long as you get the ONE that matters. Your gold poke fits in your pocket, but your tailings my fill a dump truck (or several, or more). The big reward $ will keep up the stream of information going to LE, and with time something pertinent will (hopefully) show up. Cases go cold when they fall out of the public eye, and people forget.

 

[MargeGunderson]

It's a little early to call it "gone cold" IMHO. When they start drastically scaling back personnel and other resources to a tiny fraction of what they have now it will be concerning. But as long as someone in LE is actively working on it every day it's not really a cold case anyway. I get the impression that Iowa LE is very professional, and very committed to Mollie's case since it's pretty obvious she didn't run away. They know it was foul play and they want her found. Mollie's family seems to be supportive of their efforts as well.

I don’t think that my thinking the case is cold, maybe not officially but practically, implies that LE working the case isn’t professional or committed. I just don’t think they have a lot of good leads or are close to an arrest as some are thinking. That isn’t their fault.

 

[MassGuy]

I believe a journalist reporting on Fox News is mainstream media. If I am incorrect, please let me know

The issue we have, and have had, is that there have been many mainstream reports that cite second hand information from witnesses and other people related to this case. We have no way of knowing if the information being relayed, is true or not. This is especially true with the early reports of Mollie returning home after her run. What LE purportedly believed at one point, may have changed as the investigation progressed. Many people, including me, take all of these reports with a grain of salt, as they are not coming directly from the mouth of LE. Although the source is legitimate, the information may not be.

 

[Mrs. Friday]

The Wednesday night church actually is something to think about. Who regularly attended? Was a regular attendee not there that night?
And what about youth group? Was that on Wednesday? A parent could have been dropping their kid off at youth group and had a little time to spare.

Churches also host community meetings for groups like Alcoholics Anonymous.

 

[Deleted member 155000]

Just read the last couple threads I missed while I was out the last 2 days. Wanted to weigh in on a few things.

On a sex trafficking or other group abduction theory: I agree that in the absence of information, anything is possible. But in order to develop working hypotheses, most of us generally try to narrow down to a couple explanations that appear most likely given the circumstances.

In this case, I lean toward MT getting into a vehicle with an acquaintance during her jogging route. Due to the amount of time that has passed, I think the most likely scenario is she ended up dead (accidentally or intentionally). But since her body has not been located, I mainly try to unearth any new lines of thinking that could lead to her being found alive...bc, in principle, we should fight to save a human being until it is too late...and then we should fight for justice.

I’ll add more comments in another thread so this doesn’t get too long.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

bbm

Even if they havent had new evidence in the last 10 days there is certainly more evidence to come. Thats why I mentioned " pending evidence". There is no reason for them to assume that they are NOT going to find evidence in the future. I would imagine they would wait a long time to declare a case COLD because they have exhausted all angles and don't believe they will find more evidence. In some cases, evidence is found years later! Isn't it easier, and better, to keep the case open rather than having to "reopen" it 2 years later?

There is no time criteria associated with the basic definition of "cold case". Certainly, we should expect more evidence to be discovered since the case is not resolved and we hope it will be resolved but that doesn't change the possibility nor likelihood that "new" evidence is not being discovered in the present tense. Even if new evidence were to be discovered next Tuesday that would not change a current status of "cold".

My opinion is LE might withhold as long as possible in classifying a case as "cold" as much for PR purposes as for official course of business. I understand LE would not want to admit "cold" because the common perception by the public is LE is not doing their job. I don't perceive it that way: if a case is "cold" I always assume it is that LE has exhausted all and everything then-currently at their disposal and it becomes a waiting game until that related-tip comes in or someone discovers bones or a torn shirt or a driver's license or whatever.

 

[Suglo]

Yeah, you're right, but there was a rainstorm the morning of 19 July, and it would have been several days before LE might have known her run route(s) and what to look for. But a good point, in any case.

Didn’t the whole town search for her the first day or two? I have a feeling that any footprints and/or tire marks probably were trampled on during that initial search.