IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #40

[CheetosDust]

Here is the Iowa farm report for last week. For eating corn it’s about 92% ready (dough stage). For cow corn it has a long way to go before harvest.

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistic..._Condition/2018/IA-Crop-Progress-08-26-18.pdf

Yeah, from the drone video shot last week it looks like she was in field corn, still very green. There’s no way it could be brown already in one weeks time.

 

[MsBetsy]

Agreed. I'm not the OP, but I can confirm that the odor of a human body is something that is unlike anything else. Worse than animals. Not to be morbid of course, but my father and I went for a walk down our street a few years ago, and we smelled something horrible near this one particular house. We reported it, and it turned out the man that lived there had been dead for a week. It was in the middle of a Florida summer (August) as well.

I've heard that, and I can't even imagine it if it's worse.

 

[CheetosDust]

No the northeast so that was why I was asking about Iowa's harvest time. Cow corn would make perfect sense which means late harvest and no one would have visited those fields until then. Unfortunately because it is cow corn that would be harvested with combines and they might not have even see her and gone right over her.

I mentioned upthread a bit that I’ve ridden in a combine that was harvesting field corn and you could see the ground really well from up there. Getting stopped in time is probably another matter altogether.

 

[MsBetsy]

Yeah, it is an unmistakable smell, and even if you have never smelled death before, you know what it is when you do. And you do not have to be right on it to smell it.

Well in that case, how could noone smell a body where it was found? Was it that far away from anything?

 

[Wibb]

I mentioned upthread a bit that I’ve ridden in a combine that was harvesting field corn and you could see the ground really well from up there. Getting stopped in time is probably another matter altogether.

Not to be gruesome, but it is very possible/likely that the body would have been picked up in the head. We unfortunately get deer often, especially in tall corn (and at night). It's not a pretty sight when that happens.

 

[The Farm]

Yeah, it is an unmistakable smell, and even if you have never smelled death before, you know what it is when you do. And you do not have to be right on it to smell it.

I have never smelled a dead body but plenty of dead animals in the woods. So weird because just two weeks ago I could smell something real real bad so it I knew it was something big and also because there were vultures flying all over the place. As I was leaving one day a neighbor stopped me and said it was a dead deer off in the woods. It has been so hot and humid here so it was terrible and lasted well over a week. Surprised no one saw the birds flying around the corn where Mollie was .

 

[CheetosDust]

Well in that case, how could noone smell a body where it was found? Was it that far away from anything?

To me it looked like the road and where the body was found were pretty close, maybe about 7 car lengths?

 

[CheetosDust]

Not to be gruesome, but it is very possible/likely that the body would have been picked up in the head. We unfortunately get deer often, especially in tall corn. It's not a pretty sight when that happens.

What is “the head”?

 

[The Farm]

Not to be gruesome, but it is very possible/likely that the body would have been picked up in the head. We unfortunately get deer often, especially in tall corn. It's not a pretty sight when that happens.

That is kind of what I was thinking.

 

[Wibb]

What is “the head”?

Combines have a multitude of heads/pickers, etc:

Corn Heads | Combine Harvester Equipment | Case IH


In case you want to know anything and everything about Iowa Corn:

Official Website of Iowa Corn | Iowa Corn

 

[Anthony96]

That is kind of what I was thinking.

Maybe picked up from the head idk JMO

 

[TL4S]

Yes, that’s road is well maintained. I agree, he had to be at that POI at some point or it wouldn’t be a POI. Since it’s a direct shot from the point where Mollie was abducted and his immediate concern would likely be to get out of town quickly before anyone sees him, it makes sense to me that’s the route he took.



Note this route does not go back to Brooklyn, there’s 3 miles of rural area between Brooklyn and I-80. Didn’t CR live somewhere South of Brooklyn and North if I-80? Maybe not... But that is a logical route if he initially headed east just to get out of town then wanted to get back to the TA truckstop without going through town. That would then put him on a very direct tout past WC’s farm en route to the corn field where Mollie ended up.

Worth noting: if he was concerned about whether anybody was following him, these gravel roads make a lot of sense. You can easily see if somebody’s coming your way from a mile away. It would also make sense that if he were southbound on 200th and thought somebody was behind him he’d turn west on 400th (along the route I marked). If that car also turns west on 400th he’s probably being followed, but it didn’t so he continued on his way.

This does help fill in LE's POI map, if those POI's were digital signals, and if it was on the way to the cornfield and not on his return home. I've basically used your route but changed to go east at 430th so as to touch that POI, as well. Also of note, it takes him right past his house. Only way him driving this route makes sense to me is if he needed to stop at home for something, or he didn't know where to dump her and was driving around. Hmm.

 

[CheetosDust]

Combines have a multitude of heads/pickers, etc:

Corn Heads | Combine Harvester Equipment | Case IH


In case you want to know anything and everything about Iowa Corn:

Official Website of Iowa Corn | Iowa Corn

I’m glad she was found for obvious reasons, but definitely glad corn combines had nothing to do with it .

 

[The Farm]

I am glad they found her when they did, she had been desecrated enough.

 

[MsBetsy]

I wonder if he knew the cornfield area beforehand as a “makeout” spot. Lots of that happens in those field pull offs in corn country. I had a friend in high school who’s father was a farmer and he was always chasing kids off his land where the secluded pull offs were.

I've been chased off of some of those spots myself.

 

[Warwick7]

But, is it the texts that she is referring to his temper? You can’t tell tone over text- my husband and I have had this conversation many times because he often thinks I’m mad when in fact, I’m just super busy. From what I read, did the suspect just converse via text with the girl that was looking for Mollie?

Are we allowed to posts pictures of the texting? If so I can post pic and then post the link it came from.

 

[CheetosDust]

This does help fill in LE's POI map, if those POI's were digital signals, and if it was on the way to the cornfield and not on his return home. I've basically used your route but changed to go east at 430th so as to touch that POI, as well. Also of note, it takes him right past his house. Only way him driving this route makes sense to me is if he needed to stop at home for something, or he didn't know where to dump her and was driving around. Hmm.

To me it seems like he would have taken the path of least resistance in all his travels that fateful night.

 

[Warwick7]

I was interested in the part where she spoke of his temper. On Aug. 10th she did run into him while out with friends.

Yup!

 

[CheetosDust]

I've been chased off of some of those spots myself.

LOL. Reallllly?

 

[TL4S]

To me it seems like he would have taken the path of least resistance in all his travels that fateful night.

I agree.