Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #6

[gliving]

I can surely be confused as to new technology. My apologies if I've misstated. It's all sci-fi to me.

 

[Doghairrules]

When I volunteered for the local YMCA, I got one free staff t-shirt. Everyone got one free shirt, took them home, and wore them on field trips. After field trips, everyone wore them home and washed them to wear for the next field trip. If Mollie had been on a previous field trip (very likely since it's almost the end of summer) she would have worn the shirt and wore it home to wash it.

And there is actually a picture of her on a school bus with a co worker and they are both wearing red camp shirts.

 

[Seattle1]

Relative to Mollie's twitter, she seemingly retweeted more than not. I found this retweet by Mollie rather consoling (trust your intuition):

i h8 being suspicious about things but damn that gut feeling really is always right

5:58 PM - 16 Jun 2018

 

[SuperTmo]

The only way I can understand not only the lack of details in this case, but also all of the mixed up messages and shifting stories, is that maybe this is a search and rescue mission and they are trying very hard to not tip someone off.

 

[Mr Obvious]

Strange things I’ve noticed…Mollie had tons of pictures with her dad, but I can’t find one with her mom. Mollie was invited for dinner and she didn’t show up. Who makes extra food and sets out an extra plate, then thinks it normal for the person to not show up? And not call with an explanation? The brothers are surprised Mollie didn’t make it to work, but she had no way to get there. I wonder if the information is inaccurate or if there was a big family rift? There are no clues showing foul play on her route or where she was living. No one came forward and says they were going to give her a ride to work and noticed she wasn’t home that morning. Mollie was sharing the car, but for the 2 days her boyfriend was out of town, she didn’t have the car and was left at the home with no vehicle. Is there any chance someone stayed with her that night and no one knew about it? Could that have been her plan, and that person would have been the one that was going to drive her to work? Either that or someone took advantage her vulnerable situation.

 

[ptandj]

I can surely be confused as to new technology. My apologies if I've misstated. It's all sci-fi to me.

It’s confusing for sure, and the wording of the media reports doesn’t help. I used to do some web development so I have a decent working knowledge of data and whatnot, though not specifically this stuff.

I find it helpful to separate out ways to go back for “historical” data (eg right when she went missing) from “now” data. For historical data, you can only interpret what was already collected. It’s the now data you can modify using different collection techniques. Not sure if that helps at all

 

[Bravo]

The only way I can understand not only the lack of details in this case, but also all of the mixed up messages and shifting stories, is that maybe this is a search and rescue mission and they are trying very hard to not tip someone off.

I agree. There is a reason we are getting piece meal in this case.

 

[lemmon714]

Just reading the gossip and noticed that the Mail finally has Mollie's case, first I have seen it there. Nothing new I don't believebut here it is with pictures et.c.

Missing University of Iowa student sent her boyfriend a Snapchat before she vanished | Daily Mail Online

 

[Hatfield]

Investigators turn to Fitbit data for clues about missing Iowa college student

"You can actually overlay the location data with the real world to find out what exactly happened," Thomas Yohannan, an expert on data recovery. "You are essentially trying to find a witness to the events that happened leading up to her missing person.""

JMO
This is what I was thinking about the other day.

If a perp did take her then he likely turned off his own cell phone either shortly before or shortly after he turned off her phone. And with such a small town I think if they can get records of any cell phone turned off right around the time hers was turned off and pinging off the same tower then it could identify the person that was with her.

Maybe this is the type of thing they were talking about doing. I hope so and hope it uncovers what they need.

 

[Whiskers16]

JMO
This is what I was thinking about the other day.

If a perp did take her then he likely turned off his own cell phone either shortly before or shortly after he turned off her phone. And with such a small town I think if they can get records of any cell phone turned off right around the time hers was turned off and pinging off the same tower then it could identify the person that was with her.

Maybe this is the type of thing they were talking about doing. I hope so and hope it uncovers what they need.

I have never heard of records that reflect cell phones in the area turning off.

 

[human]

With the new privacy laws, can LE get phone records for everyone? It seems so broad. I am not against it but I can imagine people would argue against it

 

[soap mama]

Strange things I’ve noticed…Mollie had tons of pictures with her dad, but I can’t find one with her mom. Mollie was invited for dinner and she didn’t show up. Who makes extra food and sets out an extra plate, then thinks it normal for the person to not show up? And not call with an explanation? The brothers are surprised Mollie didn’t make it to work, but she had no way to get there. I wonder if the information is inaccurate or if there was a big family rift? There are no clues showing foul play on her route or where she was living. No one came forward and says they were going to give her a ride to work and noticed she wasn’t home that morning. Mollie was sharing the car, but for the 2 days her boyfriend was out of town, she didn’t have the car and was left at the home with no vehicle. Is there any chance someone stayed with her that night and no one knew about it? Could that have been her plan, and that person would have been the one that was going to drive her to work? Either that or someone took advantage her vulnerable situation.

I am thinking dinner wasn’t “sit down” but more of an open invitation of what’s being prepared if one wants to drop by.

 

[SuperTmo]

I edited because don’t know how I quoted random things like that lol

 

[PaulR]

JMO
This is what I was thinking about the other day.

If a perp did take her then he likely turned off his own cell phone either shortly before or shortly after he turned off her phone. And with such a small town I think if they can get records of any cell phone turned off right around the time hers was turned off and pinging off the same tower then it could identify the person that was with her.

Maybe this is the type of thing they were talking about doing. I hope so and hope it uncovers what they need.

I don't know if the cell phone protocol necessary tells the company if the phone was turned off. Cell phones can also stop talking to the tower for other reasons.

There are also only four US Cellular towers within a decent range of Brooklyn and I think they'd all be hitting the tower near the Interstate since it is the closest, assuming you can calculate distance only you're basically looking at the population of the city. There may be other towers for other carriers but I don't know if they're going to be getting good triangulation data, the problem with a small city.

I believe there are legal ways to do what you are thinking of, and the FBI knows the proper procedures already.

 

[Seattle1]

Just reading the gossip and noticed that the Mail finally has Mollie's case, first I have seen it there. Nothing new I don't believebut here it is with pictures et.c.

Missing University of Iowa student sent her boyfriend a Snapchat before she vanished | Daily Mail Online

Actually, the DM was one of the first to inaccurately report that Mollie was seen running through the corn fields...!

 

[Gussified]

It’s confusing for sure, and the wording of the media reports doesn’t help. I used to do some web development so I have a decent working knowledge of data and whatnot, though not specifically this stuff.

I find it helpful to separate out ways to go back for “historical” data (eg right when she went missing) from “now” data. For historical data, you can only interpret what was already collected. It’s the now data you can modify using different collection techniques. Not sure if that helps at all

This is my first post in this thread, just trying to keep up. I’ve noticed in some other missing persons cases, like in this one, LE is very tight-lipped. I often wonder if, in cases where there’s no evidence of foul play (a bloody scene, for example), they may be trying to protect the missing person’s privacy, in case it turns out the disappearance was voluntary.

 

[ptandj]

@Seattle1 might I suggest clarifying in your post that they were inaccurately reporting her running through the fields before there is more confusion on that point?

 

[BRRI]

I agree. There is a reason we are getting piece meal in this case.

Totally agree. With the information coming out, I feel that they don’t think that she’s alive. If they did think she was alive, saying that they are using Fitbit data could endanger her. I think they know most of what happened and who was at fault, and it’s a game of strategy now.

 

[ptandj]

This is my first post in this thread, just trying to keep up. I’ve noticed in some other missing persons cases, like in this one, LE is very tight-lipped. I often wonder if, in cases where there’s no evidence of foul play (a bloody scene, for example), they may be trying to protect the missing person’s privacy, in case it turns out the disappearance was voluntary.

That’s an interesting thought. Particularly because she’s an adult - I wonder the extent to which that makes a difference.

 

[Mr Obvious]

I am thinking dinner wasn’t “sit down” but more of an open invitation of what’s being prepared if one wants to drop by.

That could be, but I always cook food based on how many people will be there.