IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #36

[Inthedetails]

The evidence, as we know it, seems to indicate a spur of the moment, disorganized, blitz-style attack from an unrefined, and thus, inexperienced killer.

This crime fits the pattern of many sexually motivated killings, where the victim is attacked, (possibly) sexually assaulted, and murdered within a short time period. There are countless recent cases, committed in much the same way.

BTK was an intelligent, and organized serial killer. This guy is neither intelligent, nor organized. I highly doubt he’s done this before, but it needs to be investigated.

I agree, though he might have committed SA in the past. Not all victims come forward in that crime. My hunch this is his first murder....but if he wasn't caught, I think he might have done it again. Thank goodness he was caught.

jmo

 

[MassGuy]

I agree, though he might have committed SA in the past. Not all victims come forward in that crime. My hunch this is his first murder....but if he wasn't caught, I think he might have done it again. Thank goodness he was caught.

jmo

I agree. He’s likely got a history of assault and possibly, sex crimes. And if he wasn’t caught here, who is to say how many people would have been victimized by him?

 

[Stormy21]

"sharp force injuries"

Sharp force injuries are characterized by a relatively well-defined traumatic separation of tissues, occurring when a sharp-edged or pointed object comes into contact with the skin and underlying tissues. Three specific subtypes of sharp force injuries exist, as follows: stab wounds, incised wounds, and chop wounds

 

[cluciano63]

Criminals always lie or omit. It does not much matter. EVIDENCE will tell what happened.

 

[gregjrichards]

It is awful finding out what Mollie endured I knew it was going to be worse than what he was claiming. His “blacked out” claim is total b.s.

 

[Rossymom]

Deleted my original post.

My mind keeps wandering. I need to step away for a while. It’s too much.

 

[Q.E.D.]

Given what we know, if it is being reported that there were multiple "sharp force" wounds discovered on Mollie's body, it is my guess that there were a disgustingly large number of them (far, far more than were needed to kill her). It tends to be that in these types of sexual killings the perpetrators fly into an illogical, manic, whirl-winding, mutilating, rage.

Abstract from relevant study (PubMed)--BBM:

J Forensic Leg Med. 2013 Jul;20(5):502-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jflm.2013.03.005. Epub 2013 Apr 6.
Multiple stabbing in sex-related homicides.
Radojević N1, Radnić B, Petković S, Miljen M, Curović I, Cukić D, Soć M, Savić S.

Abstract
It is possible that sexually driven homicides are the consequence of sexual deviation, but more often than not the main cause of such homicides stems from a non-paraphilic person's emotional component. It is known that homicides which involve multiple stabbing are very often the result of the assailant's highly expressed affect. This study tries to establish whether such homicides are essentially related to the sexual motives of the murderer. This paper is conducted through a retrospective autopsy study that includes 766 cases of homicides. These were reviewed and analysed according to the motive of the homicide, as well as by method, age, and gender of the victim, and the relationship between the victim and the assailant. The motives of homicides are classified as non-sexual and sexual, including homicides related to rape, jealousy, amorous affairs outside of an established relationship, deviant sexual behaviour of psychiatric patients, paraphilia, and disturbed emotional relationships between the victim and the assailant. Cases include both hetero- and homosexual relationships. Multiple stabbing occurs significantly more frequently in sex-related homicides (≥ 3 stab wounds) than in other homicide types. When the criteria for multiple stabbing are changed (≥ 4, 5, or 25 stab wounds), the percentage of sex-related homicides rises in every group in relation to the increased number of wounds. Sensitivity and specificity are represented by ROC curves for 3, 5 and 7 stab wounds. The correlation coefficients between multiple stabbing and sex-related homicides regarding gender are all near 0.9. For female victims, all homicides committed by 25 and more stab wounds were found to be sex-related. Statistically, jealousy was the most frequent motive for sex-related multiple stabbing homicides. Regardless of age, homicides involving multiple stabbings should be considered sex-related, especially when the victim is female.

 

[AnnaGrace]

It sounds like a very messy murder, in addition to the head injury. I think his girlfriend needs to answer questions about what she knows about July 18. I'm partially wondering whether she suspected something but chose to remain silent because she relies on him to provide for her and their daughter.

OR she was afraid of meeting the same fate.

8:28..I believe this was when he grabbed her phone and turned it off and put her in the trunk. I think he then drove to the cornfield and most likely sexuality assaulted her and stabbed her to death there. It breaks me to even have to think this. Poor, sweet Mollie.
MOO

 

[MsBetsy]

The girl from Brooklyn who was Mollie's friend said she was freaked out about Mollie being missing and talked to everyone about it. She said (don't remember exact wording) something to the effect that CR didn't want to talk about it and she found that to be odd. Sorry, I don't have a link. Others here have mentioned this, maybe they posted a link?

That report was from the DM, I believe, so we dont really have any proof of this, but she said that she " panicked" when she asked him if he knew anything about the murder and his response and she talked to " everybody about it" The article stated this was the second time she asked him and was alarmed by his response. Then it goes on to say she never thought it could be him until she heard the news he was arrested. So the whole story just doesn't make sense.

 

[Quill]

He worked at a dairy farm, not a sugar cane plantation. Machete's aren't standard issue, and it's not likely something an employee would carry with him all the time anyway.

A folding knife makes more sense.

...or a boxcutter. We had boxes of those on our farm for many uses but mainly opening feedsacks and such.

 

[duster1979]

LE brought up the carwash long before they even knew what happened to Mollie, much less who killed her. IF he used it...they did not know it back then.

Agreed. I think the interest in the car wash was either because it was a place with surveillance cameras or that, if it had been a hit-and-run, the car might have been taken there to clean up.

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

He's certainly distancing himself.

Rapists (if he is a rapist, which is not confirmed) often blame the victim. As you know, it's a rage crime. The victim enrages the perp just by existing and being there.

I think we need to be careful with the "blacked out" phrase. As someone posted above, it's likely "blocked out" as in he blocked out the memory. Which is another distancing tactic and different that blacked out. IDK - blocked out makes more sense to me in this case.

Honestly, it's a miracle he confessed and showed LE the body.

jmo

 

[1987]

He worked at a dairy farm, not a sugar cane plantation. Machete's aren't standard issue, and it's not likely something an employee would carry with him all the time anyway.

A folding knife makes more sense.

I don't go around telling every one normaly but I carry a hatchet in my car and it has moved threw three cars with me. I keep it there because I don't want it left where someone could pick up on their way in if they broke in. not that I think he would be worried about someone breaking in, but point being people carry some strange things in their cars sometimes.

 

[MyBelle]

I wonder if he used a rock.

He had to have a knife to cut the cornstalks to cover her body. This guy knew exactly what he was doing. JMO

 

[IQuestion]

Autopsy....UGH!! He had a knife???
Preliminary autopsy findings show that Mollie Tibbetts was killed by 'sharp force injuries'

 

[R.U.Kidding!]

He's certainly distancing himself.

Rapists (if he is a rapist, which is not confirmed) often blame the victim. As you know, it's a rage crime. The victim enrages the perp just by existing and being there.

I think we need to be careful with the "blacked out" phrase. As someone posted above, it's likely "blocked out" as in he blocked out the memory. Which is another distancing tactic and different that blacked out. IDK - blocked out makes more sense to me in this case.

Honestly, it's a miracle he confessed and showed LE the body.

jmo

 

[Meem]

Gelding is what it’s called when a horse is castrated. Castration on cattle or horse or any other animal would absolutely not happen with a machete. Some people may cut them off w a knife, but on my farm, they usually get banded. I thought that was funny though. We also farm quite a bit. As far as the sharp object, it was probably something simple, like a knife. I can’t think of any type of “farm machinery” that you would carry would carry with you and could be used to stab into someone. Sure, there’s lots of dangerous machinery: swathers, combines, discs,etc. but you don’t have those types of things on your person. It’s probably the simplest answer and not a machete or farm equipment, IMO

 

[Jim G]

He has the eyes of an unsuccessful rapist. I don't believe a damn word he says.

 

[jillycat]

He 'remembered' what he chose to tell police, the rest was conveniently 'forgotten', but since these kinds of liars always tell part of the actual story in their lie, the bleeding from the head tale may simply be an unintended blab-like disclosure that this was a greater bloody crime involving a sharp weapon. She may not have had a head injury. Or she may have if he used some sort of blunt force to initially subdue her. He could have also injured her like Hannah and Morgan's killer (he has no name as far as I'm concerned) is known to have injured the victim who got away from him. He slammed her head into the ground right before he was about to rape her (he was seen and he ran off). Mollie's killer could have swiped her face or head with the sharp weapon as she fought and that's where the bleeding head tale came from, or she could have bled from her ear if it was blunt force. But whatever that's about, he is distancing himself from the important fact that he brutally took her life through a violent stabbing of some kind.

Since he's inserting a bloody head injury into the trunk part of the story, he may be saying something about an assault that occurred after the abduction and before the cornfield. I believe it was otto who said there may be two assault sites in addition to where he abducted her. (the cornfield being the final one)Please correct me if I read that wrong. But I do believe he had a longer night than the LE timeline.

 

[duster1979]

...or a boxcutter. We had boxes of those on our farm for many uses but mainly opening feedsacks and such.

I carry one all the time, it's more durable and less expensive than a folding knife and changing the blade when it gets dull is much easier than sharpening one regularly.

My guess is that the "sharp instrument" was either a folding knife, utility knife, or hunting knife that he regularly has with him and was just handy if the attack were sudden and unplanned. If this was something he was planning it could be anything.

But the idea that he just happened to be carrying a machete or a hatchet because he worked for a farm is ludicrous, IMHO.