I often read and do not post but I think this situation is quite odd. I do not agree with LE tactic thus far as it is literally do nothing to advance the case in a positive manner regardless of what they know. I do not think they have a POI but they might have a potential POI in mind. If they had anything substantial and did think she was alive...they would have moved in by now. This makes me think one of two options:
1. She went willingly and purposely not trying to be found for whatever reason. Could be depression, unhappiness, anything really. We are all affected by different things in our life (in this case maybe pressure or wanting more from life) that we can make really irrational decisions. Could also be why LE referenced "getting to know Mollie" in the PC. I feel if she did go willingly on her own...she did NOT take her life. The latest PC and the complete lack of urgency from LE seemed striking to me. I would agree with most that 85% of it was them patting themselves on the back. We get you are working hard but you cannot say in one breath that you want/need the public's help, yet give us no relevant facts, time line, etc. It is like a math teacher expecting you to answer an equation correctly when you can only see half of it. So this leads to everyone over trying and over thinking which than creates rumors and questions which they seemed now annoyed of. I cannot recall the statement specifically but LE at one point seem to imply that the public and media simply want details of the investigation...yes we do but to help not because we find this amusing. This is a tragic story regardless of what happened. I am all for protecting a case in court but at what expense and what could you potentially lose in the process of sharing nothing of substance?
2. The theory I am tending to believe is she may have been seeing or possibly talking to a guy on the side via SM. I am currently in my Masters for Security Forensics and we are taught techniques and what to look for when retrieving information from digital devices. LE has stated that they are getting a lot from the digital aspects (Fitbit, PC, etc). You would be shocked at the amount of information you can learn about a person from simply looking through their SM and digital devices. I have not read everything but most of the articles suggest that LE seems to have narrowed searches down and the urgency doesn't seem to be there once they got back some of the digital information. What I mean by that is they likely know the end result...so they are taking their time to gather evidence, possible body location, and other key facts before making their move. Remembering the Holly Bobo case, it was similar. They knew the end result and had POI's but court was not a walk in the park. If they felt she was still alive and could get to her...the PC's would be much different and more tactical. If they are trying to get someone to slip up, they would give some information with the hopes that POI or persons discusses it and gives more than what they gave in the PC. So giving nothing means they either are very close or are very lost.
I hope I am wrong but LE seems a bit lost to me. The PC seemed like complete amateur hour with the written word for word statements to being a bit unsure and confused on how to answer some questions. If I am LE going into a PC, you will walk through all the logical questions that will be asked and be versed and well spoken in your answers. The long pause when asking if the public was in danger REALLY threw me off. That would be one of the first questions that likely would be discussed amongst LE before the PC. When you come off as unsure, taken back, or lost in how you want the answer a question...that is not a tactic that is simply lack of prep. This is just my opinion of course from reading and following this case from the start and my background in digital forensics. I hope for a positive outcome but we are at the stage where it is starting to not look good. I hope I am wrong and my first option was correct and just needed to get away for whatever reason.