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

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The biggest problem with getting the broad warrant for phone records would probably be nearby interstates/highways. People driving past the town would be connecting to that tower for as long as they were in it's radius, but they'd all "shut off" according to that tower as soon as they were out of range. That means that when MT's phone died, there could have been 30+ (I have no idea what actual numbers would be) others that appear to shut down within minutes, or even seconds, of hers.

If something happened that involved someone she knows, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a call or text from the person, but a lack of one wouldn't actually rule anyone out. Like everybody else, I'd love to have her found alive and well, but I'd really hate to think that someone with her reputation would ever purposely cause this much pain to the people who love her. I guess I'll just keep hoping for a reasonable explanation eventually which is for the greatest good of the people involved. MOO
 
GMG1999 said:
This is one of the reasons why I think she left with someone she knew. I think with the wallet, ID and glasses still there it could have been something really small like "hey come with me to the store before I take you to work" kind of thing. Almost like the person who she left with she was expecting something short. Could have even happened later in the evening say after studying.
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Both LE and the family have intentionally not made public anything about Mollie's transportation TO work. I think that is a detail very significant to the investigation. JMO
 
Veracity said:
I am all for this technology if it will help find a missing person. I can't understand why the ACLU works so hard to help criminals be more successful! Of course that is just my personal point of view after working for over 40 years to try and get new laws in place to undo what the ACLU set in place which hurt efforts to locate missing people - both children and adults, mainly women. Women buried in walls but LE was prevented from entering because of the killer's privacy protection. A child buried alive under a trailer yet police had to work for two weeks to gather enough 'probable cause' to search the plot - and of course the little one had died. I have notebooks full of cases. I am all for cameras in public places and LE having access to private security footage in the case of a missing person. We still have a ways to go in my opinion to set the pendulum back to where PUBLIC SAFETY was at least as important as personal privacy!
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I was actually just wondering about that. I know we don’t know what the police know but the latest quotes from LE says they can’t rule out foul play which to me seems like a step back from searching hog confinements. If they can’t prove there was a crime at some point will they stop being able to get warrants for various digital data? Does Mollie have a right to privacy on things like her phone if she’s on her parents account? How much tracking can they do without proof she’s in danger or worse? Now they may have that probable cause and we just don’t know but if they don’t then what? At some point if all you have is ‘this isn’t like her’ that’s not really probable cause.
 
New details emerge in case of missing University of Iowa student

Wow, is this new? This is from the video at the link, around 1:41:

A reporter says, “Late today, investigators told us they have completed a timeline of Mollie’s run using her Fitbit data, where her cell phone pinged towers, and where witnesses saw her running. Jeff, their timeline ends where they think she went missing. They don’t think she left by choice, or made it back to the house that night.”
 
BRRI said:
Yes but phone logs are different than tracking whenever a phone turns off or disconnects from a tower, especially in highly populated areas where people move about during the day (NYC for example). I’d bet that would be a more targeted venture.
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I think LE was brought in quickly enough that her cell phone data was retrieved. Mollie lived in a rural community not NYC by any stretch.
 
Whiskers16 said:
To be very exact, we do not have confirmation of where Mollie went missing from. However we have the address of the house where she is presumed to be "dogsitting" that evening/morning. I started a case map and posted it in the media thread, brb with a link to it. ETA: IA - MEDIA, MAPS & TIMELINES - NO DISCUSSION - Molly Tibbetts,20, Poweshiek County
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I think we do have confirmation. You can see when the missing person call came in on the police log for that day, which is on the Police’s official FB page. July 20th, 5:56PM.

Oh Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office
 
Gussified said:
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.
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ptandj said:
That’s an interesting thought. Particularly because she’s an adult - I wonder the extent to which that makes a difference.
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If a missing person turns up on their own, or LE finds the adult and determines their actions voluntary, they might not disclose where the person is or was found, unless given permission by the person. That would be the extent of privacy offered. Police would call off a search if they believed the departure of an adult was voluntary. I don't believe Mollie voluntarily disappeared, and her privacy not a factor today. Do you think she voluntarily left?
 
Gussified said:
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.
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Unfortunately there is "radio silence" with most cases after FBI gets involved.
 
Seattle1 said:
I know in Texas, Judges are on call 24/7 to sign a warrant. A warrant is all that is required to get the phone records and it was earlier reported that LE secured warrants for all Mollie's media and phone accounts about the time 15 FBI agents came on board.
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How many days was that?
 
MyBelle said:
I think LE was brought in quickly enough that her cell phone data was retrieved. Mollie lived in a rural community not NYC by any stretch.
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We are talking about something different from each other I think. I was referring to LE tracking phones that shut off or stop connecting to a specific tower. I don’t think that is currently logged. I know they can get her phone records and data.
 
PaulR said:
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.
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Thanks everyone for all the replies about that. Some good points made.

I guess I was hoping with LE and FBI technology that they have that they may have complicated algorithms that could list certain numbers in priority order and maybe with a list like that it may give them at least some possible prospects to look at.

For example if a phone number of another person X just happened to be turned off 1 minute before her phone was turned off and the tower was the same tower and maybe they even can get the GPS coordinates and saw they were identical then that would be a high candidate of someone to take a closer look at.
With such a relatively small town I would think they would have more luck with something like that than compared to a major city.

But yea I have no idea about the laws of such type of queries and whether its even legal for LE to be polling other numbers besides just hers.

Maybe its well within their right already so long as its just certain types of queries.

The good news is I am sure FBI is thinking along these lines and they are doing all they can do I am sure.

Thanks again for all the replies about it. Its great to hear other peoples opinions on something like this.
 
MargeGunderson said:
I was actually just wondering about that. I know we don’t know what the police know but the latest quotes from LE says they can’t rule out foul play which to me seems like a step back from searching hog confinements. If they can’t prove there was a crime at some point will they stop being able to get warrants for various digital data? Does Mollie have a right to privacy on things like her phone if she’s on her parents account? How much tracking can they do without proof she’s in danger or worse? Now they may have that probable cause and we just don’t know but if they don’t then what? At some point if all you have is ‘this isn’t like her’ that’s not really probable cause.
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No communication or money activity and lack of transportation is probable cause. All along LE has been treating Mollie's disappearance as an abduction. I don't believe their stance has changed. A Judge would have no problem signed a search warrant for her phone under these circumstances. JMO
 
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