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

[penny99]

Based on what I am reading I continue to believe what I stated yesterday. They are in a very tricky situation because someone abducted Mollie. They think there is a high chance that this individual will keep her alive for some time for himself. They know she is not in Brooklyn. They know the public won’t, at least for now, find her as she is being held somewhere. They do not need the public’s help because unless a member of the public sees a girl being held captive or something of that nature (which would lead to a 911 call not a tip) the public won’t be of any use to them. The public is a distraction because it leads to individual sleuthing and tips that have no relevance to the case. They do not, for now, need the public involved. They are concerned because this individual may act at any time. The less they tell the more they have the ability to assume some control in how the abductor acts. They want her alive. They have no clue where she is. They must find her and they want to do it soon and through their own investigative techniques. Mollie is most likely in a house or on a property of this individual. The situation is very delicate. They for whatever reason believe the individual will not just dispose of Mollie but will want her alive. If she is murdered the abductor may wait before disposing of the body. No public tip from sleuthing will help. The only tip that might help is someone who observes something, someone who maybe saw something around the time, or someone in the area of this individual who notes their behavior is odd or they randomly have more groceries or something along those lines. Sleuthing can’t and won’t help. Their releasing more information than need be puts Mollie in more danger. Read between the lines. This is an abduction and an ongoing one. I also personally believe they feel this person has done this before and therefore are being even more cryptic. They don’t want anyone to know what they know, what they don’t know, if they know anything at all. They need to do work to try and figure out who this individual is. Most likely he is more than 15 Miles from Brooklyn. This is all moo from observing.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Please let them find her alive and well.

 

[Mommy2samjake]

He was from Des Moines...Pella is about a 45 min drive from there. The business he was parked in the lot of is on the edge of town, near the first Pella exit (if you were coming on Hwy 163 from Des Moines). I'm not thinking it's likely he was trying to photo these two specific girls; he just got "lucky."

 

[KaaBoom]

No worries....we'll tell you all about it anyway.

I can save you the trouble and predict what they will say. Absolutely nothing just like this one. But thanks anyway.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

If she left on her own, and planned to just get away and clear her head, she would have taken some money and packed a change of clothes or two, and some hygiene essentials such as a toothbrush and some deodorant, IMHO. Also possibly a cell phone charger for when she was ready to get back into her life. This possibility seems inconsistent with her calling her mom, SC-ing her boyfriend, and house-sitting. She was described as "responsible" and "a creature of habit" (I will find links). You cannot survive forever on no money. Also, if I understand correctly, Mollie did not have a car with her. So if she DID leave voluntarily, she either took a bus (need to research bus system) or went with someone else. Again, it seems inconsistent with her normal way of life, but people do strange things. The runaway bride story comes to mind.

What if she left on her own for good? To lead another life somewhere else. She wouldn't take anything - outfits, toiletries, so it wouldn't look like she was planning to be going somewhere. Having her phone & fitbit (which were missing from the house) with her would be bare essentials, it seems, and her bf said she always had those 2 things with her. Those are the only things missing it seems. The red shirt is debatable since she could have gotten one at work for the day, and it doesn't seem like it's missing from the house for sure.

 

[Melanie1126]

I have the fitbit Alta HR. I am going to try to upload some screenshots so that those of you who aren't familiar can see what kind of data they show. Models have different features so Mollie's may be different.
The sleep tracker shows when you are awake and the various stages of sleep. If she'd gone to sleep that night, they'd be able to tell (if fitbit was tracking) when she woke up or was awakened.
The heart rate tracker shows a graph of heart rates throughout the day. Mine stays high but you can see it went up to red during my evening run. This would be very telling if her heart rate was "normal" and then suddenly jumped up very fast (heartbreaking to think about). If she were running, it would still go even higher if she was afraid. If she went for a run, cooled down and just walked off into the sunset, the heart rate graph would look very different from that of an abducted person.

 

[MassGuy]

I do not get the feeling they think she is still alive. If that were the case they would most likely be releasing much more information to try and locate her. This is assuming she did not leave on her own of course. I believe she did not leave the town alive but they cant figure out where the body was disposed of and are hoping the POI will lead them to it.

Very possible. I’m reminded of the Blaze Bernstein case out in California. Law enforcement knew early on who the likely culprit was, but they kept it quiet so they could track him. They put a GPS device on his car, hoping that he would return to the crime scene. Something similar may be going on here, especially if they are looking for a body.

 

[BRRI]

This, to me, is beginning to sound like one of those online meet-ups that may have turned out badly.

My first thought was if Mollie did leave voluntarily, wouldn't she have taken her contact lenses and/or glasses? Before I had LASIK done, I was as blind as the proverbial bat--couldn't see anything but blurred shapes.

But then, we really don't know what was found inside the house, do we?? LE has not released that info. Supposedly, one pair of glasses and her contacts were in the house, but I'm wondering if that is even true.

JMVHO.

We know nothing, basically. LE said they won’t confirm or deny anything being stated in the media. So other than what they said today about dates, times, that she was seen running...we don’t know if anything is really true.

 

[ptandj]

I have the fitbit Alta HR. I am going to try to upload some screenshots so that those of you who aren't familiar can see what kind of data they show. Models have different features so Mollie's may be different.
The sleep tracker shows when you are awake and the various stages of sleep. If she'd gone to sleep that night, they'd be able to tell (if fitbit was tracking) when she woke up or was awakened.
The heart rate tracker shows a graph of heart rates throughout the day. Mine stays high but you can see it went up to red during my evening run. This would be very telling if her heart rate was "normal" and then suddenly jumped up very fast (heartbreaking to think about). If she were running, it would still go even higher if she was afraid. If she went for a run, cooled down and just walked off into the sunset, the heart rate graph would look very different from that of an abducted person.

O/T but I am jealous of how much sleep you got! (Mom with young kids, one of whom doesn't sleep well)

 

[cluciano63]

Maybe she did take some belongings...how on earth would we know...

 

[MassGuy]

I have the fitbit Alta HR. I am going to try to upload some screenshots so that those of you who aren't familiar can see what kind of data they show. Models have different features so Mollie's may be different.
The sleep tracker shows when you are awake and the various stages of sleep. If she'd gone to sleep that night, they'd be able to tell (if fitbit was tracking) when she woke up or was awakened.
The heart rate tracker shows a graph of heart rates throughout the day. Mine stays high but you can see it went up to red during my evening run. This would be very telling if her heart rate was "normal" and then suddenly jumped up very fast (heartbreaking to think about). If she were running, it would still go even higher if she was afraid. If she went for a run, cooled down and just walked off into the sunset, the heart rate graph would look very different from that of an abducted person.

Melanie. Do you need the Fitbit on your person to access this data, or can you do it without the device?

 

[carbuff]

I cant talk about what pops out at me and I never used to think it. I have a horrible feeling.. does anyone else feel the same?

Don't know if it's for the same reason, but yeah. Bad feeling, telling myself stuff like that only happens in second-rate novels...

 

[gliving]

HLN covering Mollie again in just a few minutes.

 

[BRRI]

I found this Press Conference to be quite telling , actually. Please note, this is strictly my take away, and all based on MOO. :

1. They do have a suspect. They don't just don't know WHY the suspect acted in this manner. The motive is not clear.

2. They don't know where to find Mollie. Not yet.

3. They know when she went missing (at least within a good time frame).

4. They don't believe she purposely left home with no intention of contacting family, friends and/or co workers.

5. I am leaning towards the fact that Mollie knew, or was familiar with her abductor.

Reasons I believe the above is true:

1. This press conference has dual purposes. One is to keep Mollie's story alive. They need people to stay focused, keep asking questions, and NOT let the public forget that she is gone. Another reason: To keep pressure on the Perpetrator. They need this person to understand that they are NOT stopping. They have leads, they are following them. In order to find Mollie, they need to uncover the"why".

2. This is delicate. They have to follow their POI in both physical and digital ways. They have to befriend this person and gain their trust. They have to get to understand the dynamic between Mollie and their POI.

3. I believe them when they say that they have an accurate timeline. They know when she went missing within (A guess for certain) an hour - 2 hours. They cannot share this, because it will give the POI time to run, change stories, or obstruct / damage evidence.

4. Even though subtle, the point was made that disappearing is out of the line of normal for past behaviors.

5. The hesitation in the answer to whether people should be heightened on vigilance is telling. There was a leaning towards the fact that they want to know who was in this small town. Who frequents it.. and also how out of character this disappearance is. And, yes.. I do realize that the conclusion would be it is uncharacteristic.. however, in my interpretation of his message.. this feels more personal.

Please know .. once again.. these are my thoughts and take away. I look forward to the next press conference. I would wager a bet that this will see a conclusion within weeks if not sooner.

Bless Mollie's family and the little town that is trying to figure this out.

I couldn’t agree more with this, and I think is one of the best posts I’ve seen on this topic

 

[ptandj]

Melanie. Do you need the Fitbit on your person to access this data, or can you do it without the device?

Fitbits sync to a phone or computer via Bluetooth. You can access the data online after it has synced but it has to be within range to do the syncing.

 

[Earnjul11]

Melanie. Do you need the Fitbit on your person to access this data, or can you do it without the device?

On my fitbit, you need your iPhone or something with the Fitbit app to access this information. Your phone also has to be connected to Bluetooth and nearby in order for it to update. I am not sure what accessibilities law enforcement has in gathering this data, and how up to date it is if it's not logged into the Fitbit app.

 

[TrishTris]

Based on what I am reading I continue to believe what I stated yesterday. They are in a very tricky situation because someone abducted Mollie. They think there is a high chance that this individual will keep her alive for some time for himself. They know she is not in Brooklyn. They know the public won’t, at least for now, find her as she is being held somewhere. They do not need the public’s help because unless a member of the public sees a girl being held captive or something of that nature (which would lead to a 911 call not a tip) the public won’t be of any use to them. The public is a distraction because it leads to individual sleuthing and tips that have no relevance to the case. They do not, for now, need the public involved. They are concerned because this individual may act at any time. The less they tell the more they have the ability to assume some control in how the abductor acts. They want her alive. They have no clue where she is. They must find her and they want to do it soon and through their own investigative techniques. Mollie is most likely in a house or on a property of this individual. The situation is very delicate. They for whatever reason believe the individual will not just dispose of Mollie but will want her alive. If she is murdered the abductor may wait before disposing of the body. No public tip from sleuthing will help. The only tip that might help is someone who observes something, someone who maybe saw something around the time, or someone in the area of this individual who notes their behavior is odd or they randomly have more groceries or something along those lines. Sleuthing can’t and won’t help. Their releasing more information than need be puts Mollie in more danger. Read between the lines. This is an abduction and an ongoing one. I also personally believe they feel this person has done this before and therefore are being even more cryptic. They don’t want anyone to know what they know, what they don’t know, if they know anything at all. They need to do work to try and figure out who this individual is. Most likely he is more than 15
Miles from Brooklyn. This is all moo from observing.

This makes a lot of sense!

 

[KaaBoom]

Will LE say someone is cleared when they really aren't?

They could, but I don't think they generally do. Doing that a lot would kind of ruin their credibility.

 

[gliving]

You are right. I should have said boyfriend, not fiance.

She has a pic of her promise ring on instagram.

 

[Melanie1126]

Melanie. Do you need the Fitbit on your person to access this data, or can you do it without the device?

No. I don't have my fitbit on now and was able to get those screen shots. As long as it has been synced with the phone, I can access it at anytime from the app.

 

[monster12]

Let me ask this.... how many of you text while jogging? Or do you wait to get home? Maybe I am naive or crazy, but only one POI makes sense based on the very little information being released. It also explains why the police are keeping this tight to the chest - to be absolutely sure before accusing this person.

Depends what it is about and who it is. If I’m working out or at the gym and get a message, I might ignore it until I’m done. If it’s something I feel I should respond to, like plans for that day, I would probably take a break to send a quick Reply and just acknowledge the message. Everyone is different so you will have responses all over.

On a side note, and not sure which way you’re going with this, so I’m not implying you think this.....(wanted to post this separately earlier) but just because people claim she was a runner, doesn’t mean she’s out running 15-20 miles a day full force. I have many running friends and they run marathons and such but don’t run everywhere they go just because they are a “runner”. They aren’t walking to the store or a friends house just because they are a “runner”. They do their runs as their work out and drive places just like the rest of us that aren’t “runners”. But maybe there are people that just love to run everywhere!