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

[Hatfield]

Text messages between iPhones generally use iMessage which does show when a message was read.

Wow. Thank You. I had no idea this was a capability of normal text messages.

I have a knock off brand smart phone. LOL

 

[LadyBadWolf]

Re: wallet, glasses, etc - this is where lack of information is hurting us.

We don't know if her accounts were less any cash withdrawals or if she or her BF were known to keep cash in his home. We don't know if she had extra contacts there that are missing. I have boxes of contacts in my bathroom closet. Would anyone notice right away if one of those were missing? They're a three-month supply. I could easily make them last six.

 

[ThinkAbt0814]

I'm an android user, so not quite sure but it seems like this came up in another case. Can iPhone users see if other iPhone users viewed texts?

Yes. It’s an option in the settings. I have my sons set up that way but mine is turned “off”

 

[white rabbit]

welcome taiuqsab and thanks for that great insight!!! and i totally agree. the family and friends were in the house before LE was. the quote from her friend that "everything was where she left it" sticks - how the heck would she know where mollie left anything. and for all we know the red shirt was never there to begin with, maybe she left it in a cubby at day care just to throw it on the next day for the fair excursion...IMO...

 

[Ilovemy3boys]

This may not matter but I am still a little unclear about this part.

Because I know that he can tell in Snapchat whether or not she viewed a message he sent but since he is saying "texted" here. I didnt think it was possible with normal text messages to know whether or not someone views a text? I dont think its possible is it?

Maybe he meant because she never replied back to the text or maybe it was really a snapchat again and he just used the texted wording for the snapchat message.

"She hadn't called in,” said Jack. "I looked at my phone and noticed I texted her good morning that morning, and she hadn't looked at it. So I got ahold of her friends and family."

Family, boyfriend of Mollie Tibbetts clear up misinformation surrounding case

If they both have an iPhone, there’s an option in settings to send read receipts. This means that once the message has been opened, it will say read instead of delivered with the time it was read.

 

[LadyBadWolf]

I have wondered about the upcoming wedding. You know surely her and her BF began to at least consider marriage of their own since they were going to attend marriage of his brother. Maybe there had been some serious marriage discussions and she began to realize she did not want to marry him. Running away could be her attempt to end the relationship without giving him bad news.
Hmmmmm

This is pretty much where my head is at right now.

Maybe there was a little extra food and water left out for the dogs, knowing her absence would be quickly noticed and they would not be left alone very long.

 

[jashrema]

I'm about 15 miles from Brooklyn, so just a few thoughts from a local:

• The area had severe storms the day she was reported missing and may have very well wiped important evidence (i.e. footprints, tire tracks, evidence of struggle)
• Local LE has little to no experience in something like this. The crime scene was likely compromised by many persons, simply due to lack of experience.
• There's speculation that she may have been taken in the morning prior to work since the red shirt she was to wear that day was missing. However, her glasses are contacts were also left at his home and her family states she has very poor vision and can't see well without them. Why would she have prepared and dressed for work prior to putting her glasses/contacts on?
• In small towns like Brooklyn and these rural communities, it is not uncommon to leave doors unlocked, especially while in the company of dogs.
• The probability of her 'just leaving on her own' is VERY low in my opinion. From a local perspective, this idea is just not plausible. School is about to start back up and if she wanted a break from the life she's living, well it's right around the corner.

Thank you! The info about the severe storms is important and useful.
Small town LE is overwhelmed and inexperienced. Unfortunately, they have waited far to long, IMO, to call in the feds.
Her vision being THAT bad, she would not have gone anywhere without glasses/contacts unless there is an unknown pair (extra) that has not been made public. In which case, she does have them with her..along with her phone.

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

I'd really like to know about the snap she sent the bf. Did she send it after the run? What was she wearing at the time? It sounds like the last official sighting is before/during the run. Is it possible there was a hit and run (accident) along her running route and with the cornfields and such she just hasn't been discovered yet?

Two school buses of searchers, drones, a search dog, and airplanes searched for Mollie for days and they went through her running routes. It's very unlikely she's lying in a ditch on her running route.

 

[ForensicFiles]

This is pretty much where my head is at right now.

Maybe there was a little extra food and water left out for the dogs, knowing her absence would be quickly noticed and they would not be left alone very long.

I highly doubt she left on her own. Too many puzzling questions and she seemed to have a good support system.

 

[Hatfield]

iPhones

Thanks GG and others too. That is amazing to me. I had no idea that is a feature on Iphones for normal text messages.

 

[LadyBadWolf]

I highly doubt she left on her own. Too many puzzling questions and she seemed to have a good support system.

Fair enough!

Sometimes the fear of disappointing that support system can be awfully daunting and the puzzling questions are simply red herrings.

Or more often than not, I am completely wrong!

 

[Margotrita]

Maybe one of her boyfriend's friends knew he was working out of town and Mollie would be alone dog sitting?

 

[Jdart14]

Right where she left it I have to believe means that it was just in its normal place or that it was there at all. The fact that she left it was probably uncommon enough to say she normally took it with her and the fact that she didn’t means it was right where she left it ( the last place she was)

 

[TechGirl]

Maybe has been posted already, but this CR Gazette article summarizes info known so far pretty well.
Disappearance of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts remains a mystery

 

[jkloc420]

I'm about 15 miles from Brooklyn, so just a few thoughts from a local:

• The area had severe storms the day she was reported missing and may have very well wiped important evidence (i.e. footprints, tire tracks, evidence of struggle)
• Local LE has little to no experience in something like this. The crime scene was likely compromised by many persons, simply due to lack of experience.
• There's speculation that she may have been taken in the morning prior to work since the red shirt she was to wear that day was missing. However, her glasses are contacts were also left at his home and her family states she has very poor vision and can't see well without them. Why would she have prepared and dressed for work prior to putting her glasses/contacts on?
• In small towns like Brooklyn and these rural communities, it is not uncommon to leave doors unlocked, especially while in the company of dogs.
• The probability of her 'just leaving on her own' is VERY low in my opinion. From a local perspective, this idea is just not plausible. School is about to start back up and if she wanted a break from the life she's living, well it's right around the corner.

some people take a shower get dressed then put their contacts in. When i go to work, i get dressed first, then contacts. I like my eyes to get adjusted before I put them in.

 

[jkloc420]

Also if your comfortable with your surroundings, you will leave them out a litte longer

 

[geevee]

Maybe has been posted already, but this CR Gazette article summarizes info known so far pretty well.
Disappearance of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts remains a mystery

From linked article:

"The searches were called off Monday, according to local news outlets..."

I thought they were called off on Friday?

"The last known contact her daughter had with anyone was about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Calderwood said, when she exchanged Snapchat messages with her boyfriend."

"Exchanged Snapchat messages"? I thought he hadn't replied to her single selfie good night Snapchat?

Still getting some odd reporting, folks.

 

[Irishboy]

I'd really like to know about the snap she sent the bf. Did she send it after the run? What was she wearing at the time? It sounds like the last official sighting is before/during the run. Is it possible there was a hit and run (accident) along her running route and with the cornfields and such she just hasn't been discovered yet?

I checked with my SC expert (daughter) and snap seems to have a time the message was sent by an arrow on the upper part of the screen. This is only on the current versions. If the received (bf) just swept by it and ignored it then no way to know when the picture was snapped to him, only when he opened/read it. However I think snap saves data locally on the device (look back to the Frasina case where the girl thought she wiped the phone and left it but the stream was saved to a data card that the father transferred to another phone to read).. Would be interesting if the BF surrendered his phone to LE for analysis to validate his story.

 

[Ilovemy3boys]

some people take a shower get dressed then put their contacts in. When i go to work, i get dressed first, then contacts. I like my eyes to get adjusted before I put them in.

I’m wondering if she was already ready, she probably grabbed the red shirt or wore it over whatever she had on, but then the door knocked before she could put in her contacts .

 

[MFH]

Unless we learn more about her contact/glasses habits from her family/boyfriend, just from my own experience, I think the possibility that she had an extra pair and may have been wearing them shouldn’t be discounted. IMOO

What if she decided she’d taken care of the dogs for the evening and would take the shirt she was to wear in the morning and walk to her moms for dinner and to just stay at her moms house so the ride to work wouldn’t be an issue in the morning? And something happened on the walk? Or she decided to walk over to her moms house in the morning to just borrow the car, but never made it?

Could it be possible that she dropped/broke her phone and decided to walk to her moms since she could no longer reach her brother about a ride? Maybe someone offered to let her use a phone or give her a ride on the way?

Idk if phone records would be able to tell if the phone was off due to it breaking or not.

My current feeling is that she walked out of her boyfriends house willingly, but never intended to disappear.

Really hope I’m wrong.

All IMOO