Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #7

[ptandj]

To go to her moms, she wouldn’t need anything but her phone, which would explain everything that was left behind (wallet etc). It would also explain why nothing seemed amiss when housemates returned and why they assumed all was well, she must have decided to spend night at moms

RSBM. Housemates didn't return, assuming all was well, because they were all out of town. While I haven't seen a specific timeline for when the boyfriend's brother and fiancé returned, the boyfriend returned once it was becoming evident there was a problem.

 

[PommyMommy]

I think it was pretty early on because wasn't her boyfriend quoted as saying they were calling her (I *think* in that first day) and it was going straight to voicemail?

Yes, I'll be hunting it down, lol. Thank you!

 

[WildcatRunner]

Hi, I am new so don't want to run into issues with TOS and moderator who said farms are off limits unfortunately. I can tell you how I started to get info so you can recreate what I did. The addresses of the farms are listed in a couple of the maps done in earlier threads. From the address info I was able to track back to Federal, State and Town records. For one of the farms the owners was interviewed by local tv and family name was given so that was easy. I've been trying to figure out how labor intensive hog farming is and so have been trying to figure out how many people are employed at these various operations. As an aside I am not convinced an employee of the farm or farm owner is involved - they clearly haven't named any POI in case (why I'm not posting any info). I became interested in the farms because maybe a truck or person holding MT passed through the farms? So now I am looking at trucking firms associated with animal ag industry that have relationship with farms searched. Won't post anything on this though as its pure speculation.

My family owns a large farming operation (not in Iowa, and not pigs), and we primarily have our own trucks, and have family or employees who drive them. Most of the large scale animal producers will have their own, and even smaller crop producers have their own too. However, these employees may also drive a truck for other farmers in the area. It's pretty common in small ag communities - during harvest time, or when taking several truckloads of animals to sale or slaughter to call up "Larry" and ask if him and his kids want to help out, and then my family might go drive a truck for Larry's farm on a different day, or else "Larry" just has the commercial drivers' license, and everyone in the area knows him, so we call and say, "Hey, can you drive for us on Tuesday for a few hours," and he gets paid at the end of the day's work, and then we send him a 1099, as a contract employee at the end of the year. Just sharing this because it's common, and makes it nearly impossible to know all the people who probably interact on and around that farm on a relatively often basis, but not necessarily a consistent basis.

 

[gregjrichards]

James A Gagliano @CNN Law Enforcement Analyst

James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) on Twitter

17m
Joining @MikeGalanosHLN on set in Atlanta for “On The Story” @HLNTV at 2:30PM EDT today to discuss missing Iowa teen Mollie Tibbetts. Tune in for the latest developments.

Just posting this in case anyone in the states would like to watch it.

 

[gitana1]

WOW. Maybe you didn't understand my post? I am referring to protocols for LE who are working cases for folks whose loved ones file missing person reports!

The scenarios you offered are irrelevant unless someone reported you missing.

Sure Mollie has the right to go wherever she wants. Do you recall the Runaway Bride case?
Here is the other side of what you mentioned - no one has the right to stay hidden from authorities after a missing person case is opened. So in this case, if Mollie had just decided to go -LE has made it clear through the media there is a missing person report on her and she has a responsiblity - both morally and legally, in some states there are statutes on the books now that make a person who is willfully hiding from LE in such a case financially responsible for the costs incurred. Not sure how IA works - if you are in GA watch out!

And the true focus of my post goes back to the way MISSING TEENS and YOUNG ADULTS - college aged- cases have been worked. There were decades LE just naturally classified them as Runaways. Privacy laws prevented LE from being able to jump to it even when they knew something was wrong. Their hands were tied. There was an old case, forgive I can't recall their names off the top of my head, that finally proved the young couple - that's right a boy and girl- didn't just run off. They were murdered!

Protocols change as needed. Sadly most of the time it takes someone dying for it to happen! Which is just so wrong imo. We should be able to look at cases and determine what can make the next one have a better quicker resolution? And then get busy making the protocols what LE needs them to be. LE can only do what they are allowed to do by LAW! Many don't realize but it used to be illegal for police to tell the media there was a missing person case filed! I could go on and on with how much better we are today. But hey, we have a 20 yr old in the heartland in a tiny town missing. And she has been missing for 13 days!

I believe some of the ways LE are forced in some cases to approach a MISSING PERSON case slows their efforts. Some jurisdictions require a particular time lapse before the courts will app LE can use the time as part of the reasoning to gain access to cell phone data, etc. I want to know the particulars here.

In my home I have power of attorney for my hubby, he has one for me. If something happened to one of us either one could call the cell phone company and give LE permission to get anything they needed!
Clearly in Mollie's case she wouldn't have had such a document. It appears Mollie's phone was her own - not on her dad's or mom's plan so they could just request it and take it to the police -

or maybe it takes time to get these records - I want to know the specifics because we need to do all we can to close the time window down ASAP. Clearly her FITBIT and computer were her own.

Maybe parents and college aged kids need something in place to allow them to quickly work with LE to get what LE needs without having to do through the courts?

Some departments have protocols where they spent days assuming a person did exactly what you offered while time ticks by, evidence deteriorates or become more difficult to track down, ...

I stand firm in my post and opinion and believe with the way technology has altered the way we live we need to understand in real specific terms what we need to do and what we want LE to be able to do ASAP to resolve a missing person case.

No law anywhere makes it a crime to runaway as an adult. Voluntarily disappearing does not divest a person of their constitutional rights to privacy and against search and seizure. Georgia law, as many, makes it a crime to LIE about criminal conduct.

The runaway bride was prosecuted for lying about what happened to her, not for leaving to begin with.

Had she come back and simply said, "Sorry. I had to clear my head." There would have been not one damn thing the state could charge her with.

I know of no state laws that determine a certain amount of time has to pass before a warrant will be issued. It is based on probable cause. Period. Which changes based on the circumstances.

So if they came into a home and found blood everywhere and overturned furniture, that would typically be enough probable cause to get an immediate warrant for the missing person's electronics. Immediate.

There are constitutional protections in place that mandate protocols. They can't be changed just because some cases might be solved more quickly or more easily.

 

[cass523]

I think this might be some elaboration on the part of the reporter. I think that would have been much more widely discussed in MSM if it were fact that the Fitbit pinged there.

We will see, hopefully mentioned today during the PC. The article was today at 11 am, info from Mitch Mortvedt, spokesman for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

 

[lemmon714]

Does anyone feel she is still alive, and, if so, under what circumstances?

Searching for reasons to hope here!

 

[WildcatRunner]

I was wondering if someone disposed of an item related to Mollie in the manure lagoon @ the hog confinement imagine they are huge. Although am only familiar with fairy lagoons.

I too am more familiar with cattle operations, but hog farms do have lagoons, and I assume they're comparable in size, which yes - are huge.

 

[gregjrichards]

At one of the press briefings during the Abby Williams and Libby German investigation, the FBI special agent in charge said:

“If something just wasn’t right - if that person started using drugs, if their sleep patterns have changed, any indicators like that taken on its own doesn’t mean anything, but when you put it into a broader context of the timing and the location of that individual, it may be pertinent and I would ask the public for their help. We need that help”.

The FBI also wanted people to have a closer look at the people around them. Changes in behaviour or appearance that seem odd or strange should be reported to them and they will check it out.

It will be interesting to hear if anything remotely like this will be mentioned today.

Thank you for posting this it is very helpful. I posted that people need to look out for clothing going missing, a loved one/co worker or friend being away unexpectedly when Mollie went missing and if any scratches or injuries.

 

[chihuahua]

I second you comment about Prayers for today's update. A question for you if you don't mind. Do you have any insight into the types of truckers that maybe travel I 80 to service the farming or animal ag industries? How much tracking is done by huge fleet owners or are the truckers that service the animal ag or farming segments mainly independents that aren't subject to significant oversight by fleet owners - or is it a mixed bag? Someone had posted on here that the US Govt has mandated some level of GPS tracking for all trucks but I wondered if there were any exceptions. I don't know much about the ag industries that are such a big part of the region.

I have spoken with most of the trucking firms in that entire area. Even the ones that run the hogs back and forth and supply all the farms, many other businesses ect.
They don't run GPS as small companies but there is no reason to suspect one of them at all imo. The private family-owned ones I spoke with are personally in touch with the Tibbetts and deeply effected by this entire situation.
Every single person I have spoken with out there is praying Mollie is alive and believes the answer is very close to the beginning and assure me all farms, homes etc have been searched or are available to be, and also that the searches of the hog farms especially were not specific, in that there was zero reason to think she was at any of them.
I have no link. This is from my personal investigation into the trucking lines and I am not mentioning any names.
And remember this is from a widowed trucker's wife who knows a lot about truckers.
Last minute extra thought: many of the farms have computer apps that are helping the owners to actually run them, so there are cams and worker log-ins.
JMHO and praying for a solid lead.
Chi {I cannot share personal convos w/the locals but I will say they are optimistic to the extreme and fully immersed and in many cases personally agonizing over Mollie }

 

[Stippling]

Search for daughter who went missing while jogging is 'excruciating,' mom says

Tibbetts' boyfriend, 20-year-old Dalton Jack, told ABC News on Monday that he last saw his girlfriend on Monday, July 16. The next day, he went to Dubuque for his work at a construction company.

Assuming this is an accurate quote, it would suggest she did not spend Monday night at the house. If Monday was the last day he said he saw her, and he did not leave to go out of town until Tuesday, then I believe he would have seen her Tuesday if they both were in that house early in the morning, if just to say goodbye. Also, that story does not say where he saw her on Monday, just that he saw her.

 

[cluciano63]

Would a brother even know that she might be coming over there after work (which was never established for Thursday)? So,asking if she needed a ride “home” seems to mean from work to town. My brothers at those ages would not have known if I planned to fly to Paris later that day...jmo

 

[MargeGunderson]

I talked to my dad last night on the phone for 2.5 hours about Dez Bryant, Will Greer, Mason Rudolf, Roll Tide, Clemson, his dog, his neighbor's dogs, the fight between his neighbors over grass mowing, his new shirts from Orvis, the contractor who repaired his fence incorrectly, the weather, hurricane season, my mom's asthma, his church's new youth pastor, his church's vacation Bible school, and more.

It's not abnormal to talk to your dad for hours. Go call your dad! When he is gone, you will wish you spent more time talking to him.

Just getting someone going on Roll Tide can mean hours of conversation

 

[gregjrichards]

Does anyone feel she is still alive, and, if so, under what circumstances?

Searching for reasons to hope here!

I hope and pray Mollie’s case is one of the rare ones and she is still alive. My one hope is Mollie’s knowledge of psychology may help her survive this if she knows how to deal with the person who has taken her. That is one advantage she may have over other women who are kidnapped.

 

[WildcatRunner]

It wouldn't have even needed to be put in the lagoon, Hogs in those confinements can devour anything in a short amount of time.

I have heard - but do not know if this is true - that the hogs eating people "idea" is really only true if the hogs are underfed/hungry. The hogs in this situation I would expect are being fed to the max to fatten and sell as quickly as possible. But, perhaps I'm not correct in the knowledge I have of the history of hogs eating people - so take this statement with a grain of salt. I may try to research this after work (because that's a normal hobby, right? )

 

[katydid23]

I guess I am pessimistic, but I don't think we are going to get much information from the presser. I feel like they are going to ask for more leads and tips, and give out the basic info, that we already know.

I hope I am wrong...

 

[BRRI]

Gitana 1

You were correct on the Fitbit ping bringing LE to the farm.

"When her Fitbit pinged at a hog farm about 10 miles southeast of the house in Brooklyn, IA, where she was last seen, police searched the area but found nothing, Mortvedt said."

Everything We Know About The Disappearance Of University Of Iowa Student Mollie Tibbetts

I’m confused by this because a Fitbit doesn’t ping unless synced with a phone via Bluetooth. So if it pinged there, the phone would have had to remain on. Very strange.

 

[bizzle2]

Right. But she never came home, as intended, so I would expect the brother was still curious how she was getting home, from where she would have been (should have been) since she didn't show up. Also, she would have also needed a ride TO work, since she didn't get the car from him. It just makes a lot more sense that he was expecting her from the boyfriend's house to the mom's, IMO.

The distance is so short though. Healthy 20 year olds who like to go on runs don't need rides to go a mile or less. And brothers generally don't offer them.

Part of this goes along with my theory of the case. I think she was taken (either by stranger or acquaintance) when heading to her mom's house for dinner. I think her plan was to walk there for dinner around 8-9 and to drive the shared car back to the boyfriend's house after dinner so that she could take care of the dogs in the morning. (Only reason she would drive vs walk after dinner is because it would be dark by then, and she'd need the car with her in the morning.) When the brother wakes up that morning and sees the shared car still there he assumes she found a different way to get to work and is asking if she needs to be picked up from work for a ride home at the end of the day.

 

[Harmony 2]

New thread is ready and open for posting:

IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #8

This thread will close in 10 to 15 minutes...

 

[WildcatRunner]

Press conference is one hour from now.

Do you have the link to view it? I was going to bring that forward again for people to find easily since it is almost time, but my internet connection is refreshing so slowly that I am having a hard time locating it now.