IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #37

[dreamwarrior66]

Up thread many had hoped that MT had not been raped before she was killed. I shared that sentiment hiping that this was a rage kill and it was over fast for her and not have to have lived through even more horror. I don't know if anyone else posted this and if they did sorry but I noticed something when I read the arrest warrant last night that I overlooked the first time I read it. If the wording in the warrant is intentional then I'm afraid she was also raped

"the clothing found at the scene where the body was located and tentative identification by the medical examiner based on information about certain articles of her clothing, the deceased female is Mollie Tibbets."

It states clothing found at the scene where her body was located not the clothing found on her body or on her remains. This suggests to me that either she had her clothes taken off of her there and raped her (akward place for sure) or she was raped somewhere else and her body was dumped with her clothes thrown in to the location as well. Either way there was no reason for her clothes to be removed other then sexual assault.

That's police fact-talk. Usually they would be much more specific like "clothing was found 15ft from the body. it matches the style of clothing last worn by the deceased..."

An article on CNN said: "A body, dressed in Tibbetts' clothing, was covered in corn leaves."

 

[Al Hoffman]

JMO this was a pretty “simple” crime as far as such horrible crimes can be simple. He assaulted her, abducted her and likley assaulted her again, before or after killing her. Dragged her as deep into cornfield as possible, covered her body and left. Maybe went to clean up someplace, change clothes, get rid of an outer shirt, etc...I seriously doubt he held her or even wanted to hold her for any length of time...he was in rage mode, adrenaline etc...

LE surely wants to trace his movements for any number of reasons...maybe her phone has not been found, or her Fit bit etc...covering all bases. But science should be able to determine how long she was in the cornfield...I think it was since 7/18 by about 9pm.

I think that the the forensic entamologists will take the lead on providing the actual date of death and how long the body was in the cornfield. This along with data from CR's cell phone should link him to the crime and seal his fate!

 

[Hatfield]

One thing I had to think a lot about, too: I have my Iowa permit and the sole thing holding me back from buying (after a ton of research & going into stores & checking them out) is I don't trust *myself* when I get too depressed. The RARE instances. I don't entirely trust I would give it to a friend and say hey, can you hold onto this a while? That's just me, for now. (Lol, no I'm not depressed as I write this, yes I carry a knife everywhere I go, etc.) Just saying it's a consideration esp. in light of the high number of suicides by firearms in the U.S. Sorry, carry on. added: I strongly encourage women to get a gun. I posted this as just a consideration in the purchase process.

This is JMO but I think you are very wise to recognize that and everyone is different so in your case you may just want to opt for mace or other options.

I dont have any children so it is easy for me to be safe with one in the house but if I had kids I would reconsider. Because I remember how I was on a mission searching my parents rooms when I was a teenager and I easily found where my Dad kept his weapon.

It is very much an individual decision on what one chooses to do for self protection. And that is fine and the way it should be. Its good to be honest with ourselves and know what is best for ourselves.

Another example is my wife has never had the skillset to be good with one and she doesnt have the desire to want to practice enough to get comfortable with one so she chooses not to carry one either and goes with mace. I didnt force her to try to learn how to use one because I recognized her non desire to want to use one.

We are all different and what works for some may not work for others and that is fine.
The main thing is to try to take some steps to avoid becoming a victim and protect yourself and the good news is there are many options to choose from.

When I conceal carry I usually also have a lockback 6 inch knife in my pants pocket as well. Because I realize an attacker could get one up on me where I may not be able to even use my weapon and if it comes down to hand to hand combat then I have my backup knife to try to get out as well.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

This confuses me. If abduction, then why not add the kidnapping charge? If not abduction, did Mollie die at the first location?

Maybe LE only has definitive proof of the murder since he led them to her body and that is what they can charge him with / hang their hats on for now to get him off the streets and into jail and the legal system while they continue to investigate him.

LE may not have proof of actual stalking, abduction, SA, so they can't charge him on any of those crimes, and they only have his word to go on that he "blacked" or "blocked" out what happened between approaching her and killing her.

The other charges would just be in addition to first degree murder they've charged him with, and if convicted, he gets life in prison without parole, which I think is the maximum sentence under Iowa State Law anyway, so no additional charges needed really cuz they can already punish him to the full extent of the law. JMO of course

 

[SharonNeedles]

No, I think Pilot is pretty much a straight shot north from where she was found.

You are correct, Pilot is on Hwy 21 which goes south to Guernsey.

 

[Carolina Girl]

Too many threads behind, but I have not read much since the hearing. My gut tells me other people knew what happened and helped cover it up. I like everyone else has strong feelings about illegals in Our Country, but this is not the place for it. Prayers for all.

 

[tigertales]

I looked up the circumstances where kidnapping becomes a federal crime. There are 6 situations.

For reference:

1034. Kidnapping—Federal Jurisdiction

If MT were held for any period of time, it does not appear that it would meet the criteria to charge CR with a Federal crime.

 

[kpm]

I am also wondering if LE has gone back several weeks looking through video (she was home from University) to see if he followed her on her other nightly runs? I am thinking this is not the first time he saw her running and circled around to follow her but perhaps the first time everything was in place for him to make this move - no traffic, no other people, dusk (based on the arrest warrant timeframe).

True, he may have been trying to gain her attention gradually in hopes she would go with him willingly

 

[The Farm]

He lived locally and abducted and killed her and hid her body. It took LE 5 weeks to find him and arrest him and he led them to her body. It could have taken much longer to locate her without the video footage and cell phone data, etc. She could never have been found.

She would have been found when they cleaned the fields which would bring us to Fall.

 

[Gardenista]

No, I think Pilot is pretty much a straight shot north from where she was found.

Looked farther on the map, lol, but I just mapped both and they are about the same distance. TA is about 6 miles and Pilot is about 7. Maybe they were using her phone info?

 

[Anthony D]

Because it is now up to the DA to determine what is said publicly is my best guess.

Yea I guess they don't want to reveal too much so the defense can't look up/find more evidence to disprove certain things at the trial. You want something like this to go through smoothly and not have the defense find some loophole. I am sure at the trial the whole story will come out to prove their case.

 

[zecats]

I’m hoping his phone has his whole foot print

Does that mean he used a map to find the location he leapt her?

I’m not really understanding how or why his phone had that info in it unless he mapped it out

I often use my phone to navigate unknown roads, shortest routes, etc. When navigation is on (or google maps) you can see yourself (little blue dot) driving or walking on the map and know which road to take, which direction to turn. Sounds like he's saying he did that and used navigation to get back to town. Hopefully so. jmo

 

[cheko1]

She was 50 meters from the road, based on the pic where the corn was cut out. There is a grass driving path to get to other fields, she was 20 meters from the road, but only 10-12 feet from the grass driving path. I don't have a link to the picture but you can see both sides of the cut out they arc'd the rows at the edge of the field, leaving a driving lane. So I don't think he carried her 20 meters.

I read in a article he carried her 20 plus meters which is 62 foot into the corn field!

 

[Jeng1810]

I don’t think we really know anything about pings. We’ve assumed a lot, but I don’t think LE has ever clearly stated when and where her phone pinged.

I don’t ever recall a time either for the ping but they did say that the ping led them to the pig farm which doesn’t look to be too far from where they eventually found her IMO. Based on the arrest warrant saying between 7:45-8:28 And the charge is murder IMO they are using two points of reference—one the last time they saw her on video and two the ping they identified from her phone. JMO that they assume she was muedered somewhere during that time frame.

 

[wary]

Question: Did LE or FBI use dogs to try and locate MT? Dogs would surely have found a body lying in a corn field... I guess I thought dogs were always used. If they did use dogs, then MT wasn't in that corn field when the dogs searched there.

The question is: used dogs where?

We're looking at hundreds of square miles of cornfields, all of which needed to be searched. I have no idea how many teams of dog-handlers and well-trained dogs would be needed.

 

[tigertales]

As we discuss the signs or markers for someone escalating to murder seemingly out nowhere, there are certain domestic abuse characteristics that may be missed, hidden or overlooked. These can be indicators of future escalation. MOO

I also found this article:

Perspective | Which domestic abusers will go on to commit murder? This one act offers a clue.

 

[gillglock]

Sounds like a psychopath. Acted calm and normal after.
Mollie Tibbetts' suspected killer acted normally during search, coworker says

 

[kpm]

I often use my phone to navigate unknown roads, shortest routes, etc. When navigation is on (or google maps) you can see yourself (little blue dot) driving or walking on the map and know which road to take, which direction to turn. Sounds like he's saying he did that and used navigation to get back to town. Hopefully so. jmo

Right, but I’m wondering why he needed it on

She was left near where he worked, he’s familiar with the town so why would he have it on?

 

[duster1979]

Ok I need opinions , specifically because my daughter runs in our well populated neighborhood , we do know all of our neighbors (and she is 30 yo not a baby but very tiny a size 0) NOT Blaming Mollie not one bit either ....But does anyone really think its even remotely safe to jog anymore , I don't and I haven't for quite sometime ,

How many women in this country went jogging the evening of 7/18 and returned home safe? 1,000? 10,000? 100,000? Probably more than that.

Similarly, what percentage of people are attacked jogging vs. walking to their car, taking out the trash, or doing any other number of everyday activities? I'm guessing the percentage is miniscule.

The fact that Mollie Tibbetts was attacked jogging shouldn't lead anyone to believe that jogging is now some inherently dangerous activity that should be avoided. Rather, it should be a reminder that we need to be alert and aware of our surroundings at all times.

nor do I think its safe for my 12 y/o to walk home from school, I have found 7 registered sex offenders within a mile of her school

If they've been allowed to register addresses that close to a school the authorities must feel that they aren't a threat to school-age children. There are a lot of things that can land a person on the list that might surprise you.

I don't think Jogging with earphones especially is safe at all WHAT DO YALL THINK?????

I don't, either, mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with potentially being abducted.

 

[kc1023]

JMO I don't think it is a stretch that he had to GPS his way out. The corn all looks the same. I've gotten lost trying to cut thru rural corn field county roads (IN) because it literally all looks the same if you aren't super familiar and can't auto-pilot your way through. Especially in the dark I would imagine.