Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #4

[gliving]

I'm thinking about the car sharing between Mollie and her brother. Perhaps after her run, she walked to where ever her brother was to get the car. I haven't heard where he works or what his hours were, but it's semi-unusual that he would make twice daily treks - 60 miles total. I guess it worked out for them, but at that age my kids wouldn't have like it at all.

Also, per facebook, Mollie's mom also worked in Grinnell. Wonder if they ever carpooled.

 

[Knox]

I can barely get this page to load, so making it to the help area is difficult. Can someone tell me why the site is having problems? Anyone else having this issue?

 

[JC40]

I can barely get this page to load, so making it to the help area is difficult. Can someone tell me why the site is having problems? Anyone else having this issue?

Me, too

 

[Normancita]

I’m having a horrible time with the site today.

It lags, slow to reload and even booted me out. It’s so annoying!

 

[TrishTris]

Me, too

Me three!

 

[chihuahua]

I live just outside Brooklyn, and work in town. This year's graduating class had roughly 40 kids in it- kids that grew up together and many of their parents are friends, siblings are friends. I'm sure he considers Mollie a friend, as she probably does him. Being such a small town (and school) most of the kids are a close group. I overheard one mention that she can't date most of the guys in school because they are like her brothers.
As we all know, life gets in the way, especially if you are a busy young adult- it'd be easy to get caught up with work and family and school, go a month and not speak to someone you were close to all your life.

Thank you so much for this. I just finally caught up but have been reading along and praying and sharing everywhere. I was so happy LivePD had the video.
I am sharing always as an admin at the Truckers Missing Child Project. We post for all ages. Also shared nationwide with Truckers Against Trafficking etc etc etc. Everyone everywhere is sharing and caring....
Whoever is responsible for this will pay eventually.
Praying that Mollie is home asap.
Nice to meet you,
Chi

 

[rosesfromangels]

Here are the two areas I would search

Pulling my post from page 6 forward; I hope these areas have been checked.
The mine area has concrete and lime....
The lake area would be another place to look IMO.

I don't think this is a random stranger passing through that is involved. This is someone who knew she was alone and stalked, IMO. I think the Perp is hiding in plain site, as unsettling a thought as that is.

 

[Hatfield]

Solved: How long can I go without syncing to my computer? - Fitbit Community


So if the phone was dead (and the phone's battery would probably be gone long before the Fitbit) useful data is on the device if it can be recovered. I don't know if the Fitbit running out of power will mean that the minute-by-minute data/summary data is lost, it depends on the type of memory they are using.

One thing that the Fitbit will record if she still had it on her wrist is her heartbeat. So that is one reason LE wants to find the device. It would be very important information regardless of any extra location data they could get from the device.

The synching and transmitting to the server gave LE data already up until last syncing. If they find the actual device they can get even more data including last read heartbeats. Its still important to find it if they can.

 

[kkdj]

But that is to add. We actually don’t know if he really was the last person to see her either if someone else saw her after she passed this neighbor and isn’t fessing

Right. The last person to see her is whoever took her, assuming someone did. This man can only describe his sighting of her and now he is the last person to see her before she went missing

 

[Catlady2]

She could've left the red shirt at work, thinking to throw it on last minute. That's what I would do. I think her abductor is known to her. He's seen her jog literally everyday. I think she was walking to her mom's when he asked if she wanted a ride. She felt safe to get into the vehicle. Going to mom's for brats+ either spending the night or getting the car for work. And again, there was a report saying she had made it home after jog, those reports are now unconfirmed. I asked the reporter.

 

[JnRyan]

I followed the Tara Grinstead case in great detail, listened to the full podcast, and this sounds A LOT like that sad case. Mollie may have had an "admirer" from a far in her small town, or someone at work who knew she was alone in the house, and wanted to get with her. Things went wrong in the encounter. Maybe he was waiting for her when she returned from her run?

I was thinking exactly the same. There wasn't much evidence of a struggle in the Grinstead case. Could the house have been the crime scene? Since her glasses and contact lenses are left behind it appears she may have not left the house willingly. In the Gray Hughes video he brings up the fact that the brother of her b/f bought the house in April. Did he change the locks? Not that the previous owner would have done it, but who did they give a key to? And then there are real estate agents.

 

[Stippling]

Only the most inexperienced, addled, or older non-technical perp would keep a victim's phone around post abduction. It would have been obvious to anyone who encountered her that she carried a phone. It is unclear if the ground searches are the result of a ping or a local tip prompted by an individual in the area with a problematic background.

 

[chihuahua]

I saw them on the south side of town this morning <modsnipped>. That was around 9 AM

I am late as usual but welcome!
Nice to meet you,
Chi

 

[carbuff]

How can he say she is definitely alive unless they definitely know that she is alive?? Seems to me that is a mighty bold statement.

Other links quote the DCI spokesman as saying "We think she's alive." (italics mine). Which is quite a different statement. I think it's more bad reporting.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Recall this working a few times on the "I Survived" series. Seemed to be most effective with perps who were obviously under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. One woman even convinced the perp to let her call 911 for her injuries he caused.

I suspect this is only going to work, if at all, with a kidnapper who plans to keep the victim alive for any length of time since it would take time for her to build sufficient rapport with him to influence his behaviour. If his intention is a quick rape/murder there would not be time for that. (Her and him/his respectively assumed as the most likely situation)

 

[rosesfromangels]

She could've left the red shirt at work, thinking to throw it on last minute. That's what I would do. I think her abductor is known to her. He's seen her jog literally everyday. I think she was walking to her mom's when he asked if she wanted a ride. She felt safe to get into the vehicle. Going to mom's for brats+ either spending the night or getting the car for work. And again, there was a report saying she had made it home after jog, those reports are now unconfirmed. I asked the reporter.

This is my amateur opinion and speculation as well. He's a local, a known.

 

[Jax49]

For info about SYSTEM ISSUES, check out this thread:

Welcome To Websleuths # 3

 

[OldCop]

Just my pondering as I read about this case. Trying to put together what we think we know, (based on le info), and what Mollie might have done up until the time she disappeared based on what seems to be a likely scenario. There are gaps obviously because we don’t know what else LE knows.

5:30 Mollie’s brother dropped her off after work.

1. What was she wearing then? Was it the red work shirt? How many work shirts does she have? Did LE find the shirt she had on that day at the house?

2. If I was watching the dogs, I would probably let them out shortly after I got dropped off because they had presumably been locked in the basement all day.

3. I might grab a snack or a cold drink. Relax for a bit. Is this when she was texting her mother about dinner and the dessert she wanted to make for Friday?


Sometime after this I go for my nightly jog.

1. Has she been positively ID’ed on this jog? Based on habit or did she tell her mother she was going? Based on eyewitness? Based on a cctv camera in town? Based on Fitbit info? Based on cellphone pings?

2. Do I always run the same route?

3. How long do I usually jog?

4. I put the dogs back in the basement before I leave.


Presuming I got home from my jog: (I’m pretty sure LE knows whether she did or not)

1. I change or wash up or shower or not in preparation to going to Mom’s for dinner. Again, there would be likely signs of this at the house.

2. I do not let the dogs out again. I figure I will do this when I get home from Mom’s.

3. I leave to walk/jog to Mom’s


What happened then?

If in fact she got home from her nightly jog, I believe she was abducted on her way to her mother’s and not from her boyfriend’s house for the following reasons:

1. There has been no reports of a suspicious vehicle at the home, nor has there been a bolo for any vehicle in conjunction with this case.

2. If someone followed her home from her jog on foot, he would have had to carry her away from the scene.

3. There would be evidence at the house.

4. I believe LE would give this info out so people would know the timeline and exact location when calling in possible tips.

5. This seems to be about the time the eyewitness says he saw her “walking nonchalantly”.


Additional questions to ponder:

How busy is the route she would have taken to her mother’s house between about 7:30 and 8:00 pm?

There was mention of some type of commercial building next to her boyfriend’s house.

1. Did people work there?

2. What hours is it open?

3. Is the Fitbit like a cellphone in that it gives general location rather than precise? Could it seem that Mollie got home when in fact she was grabbed and taken into the building next door? This would explain why LE seemed to think she might have returned home and then retracted that info when there was nothing to indicate she had been there.

4. Is there a garage?

5. Someone working there could easily have observed Mollie and knew she was alone.


Some theories that have her abducted from the home thought the perpetrator may have seen her out with the dogs and followed her home. I just don’t think this to be the case for the same reason burglars avoid homes with dogs. They don’t want to be attacked. Another question re the dogs: Did she usually walk them or just let them out into the yard?


Regarding contact lenses, I have several pairs in different cases at any given time. Someone could not come into my house and know definitively whether I was wearing any or not.


Whether she was abducted on her jog or on her walk to her mother’s house, I believe she either was the victim of a stranger abduction or she got willingly into a vehicle driven by someone known to her; perhaps someone she considered a friend but was harboring a secret crush on her.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Police say over 2m tall corn fields are complicating an aerial search.

Just an aside on the corn question, I'm surprised that shorter varieties haven't been developed for corn as they have for wheat and barley. A shorter plant means less time and effort is invested in growing the stem and leaves and more in growing the seeds or seedheads which are what are actually useful.

 

[TrishTris]

Question about how a fitbit "pings" or even the phone. If they searched those areas because of something from the Fitbit or phone I am curious if those things are accurate as in they "ping" where the person/device was or is that location where the signal was picked up as in a tower or something close by, but the phone/device/person might have been in a location close, but not that exact spot? I hope that makes sense..

I have heard other cases about someone's phone "pinging around town" or bouncing from tower to tower.. and so it doesn't mean that was exactly where the phone was, but it was closest to a certain tower it would ping in that spot.. but if moved it would ping on another tower.. could that be the case here? The "ping" was just close to those spots they searched.... as in someone taking her could have driven down the road and it would "ping" in that area, but maybe she wasn't there for long just passing by?