Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #15

[akazia1978]

Taking an IP address and trying to get a physical location out of it is not entirely reliable.

Correct. If you have a wifi hotspot(Starbucks etc), it can show you as states away from where you actually are depending on the range. You can also use TOR, proxys etc.

 

[Kapua]

IF Mollie was wearing her cell phone in an armband and her Fitbit on her wrist, her abductor would have had to overpower her prior to removing and discarding those devices. I have followed cases (Charli Scott comes to mind immediately) where the abducted person's cell phone followed her all the way to a crime scene. My point is that perps do not always remove the victims' electronic devices immediately, as you might imagine. Based on where LE has been searching, I'm guessing that Mollie's cell phone and Fitbit gave LE significant location data and that they are close to finding her. IMHO.

 

[margarita25]

Just curious why many members keep mention g the red shirt.

Didn’t Mollie’s own mother tell the Daily Mail that Mollie only owned two of those red shirts, both of which were NOT missing?

Mother of missing Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts says she does not believe she returned home | Daily Mail Online

If any evidence was collected by LE, this might not be revealed. Additionally, it takes time for processing. Again don’t know if a shirt was indeed collected, but it had been mentioned she might have more than the 2 shirts, iirc.

 

[margarita25]

Thank you so much - when I tried to google walk it it looked like there was a rise in the middle - like a hill. So no, can see straight from Hwy 6 down past that rise.

That Creek is BIG Bear Creek. It is the same one that runs close to the HS and up there you can see tracks in the riparian buffer - not sure if ATV or Truck or what. Did it look like someone could run along that creek?

Also, I wasn't sure if someone could fall into the creek - say be hit while running by a drunk or doped in 170 and be thrown over into the creek?

SO HAPPY you are here!!!

Mention of this creek really stands out to me.

 

[Charliegizmo49]

FOX News is an unreliable source for almost any news....

I as a person who’s experienced a lot. And has manipulated media myself I do not limit unreliable news to one source. It’s done habitually. Ratings are so tied to revenue.

And I’m old enough to remember the wait and colors on tv 3 months prior to Ted Turner and his first broadcast of CNN. The quality of coverage has suffered in the last 5 years.

It gives new insight into the old adage;

I READ IT ON THE INTERNET it;

IT WAS ON THE NEWS so

It must be true.

 

[SharonNeedles]

I just don’t see this being likely. How would they have communicated in a way that would not be easily traceable by LE?

It appears Snapchat is her preferred communication, same as my daughters. LE can retrieve who she snapped with but not the content of those snaps. Running down all of a 20 year olds snap contacts even over the just the prior week is going to take some time... and that’s just guessing Snapchat was used, maybe it was something else.

 

[chi123]

I can't believe we're on to thread 15 already, and we basically have nothing. The only changes from day 1 is that WC has been interrogated twice and refused a polygraph, but that could be nothing. For all we know he could be a witness. Or they found some evidence in a ditch on his property that could have been thrown by anyone and they're grasping at straws with him. Just like the land owner in the Delphi case.

 

[margarita25]

Idk but do know that sec cams are often installed as deterrents rather than functional hardware. Could have been a dummy cam.

Not to mention so much footage we see is so grainy and requires much enhancement, but sometimes even then...

 

[chihuahua]

IP's are easily hidden and spoofed.
The IP on that "now missing" post was evidently out of Omaha.
That sighting remains 100% unverified but is interesting.
Where is Mollie and all the rest?

 

[Gussified]

I would think it most likely that somebody who lives in (location unknown) drove up to Iowa and brought her back home with him/her. If she’s staying with somebody she wouldn’t necessarily run out of resources right away.

Interesting. Hadn’t really thought of that possibility. I’m assuming LE would still find some trace of this person in Mollie’s electronic communications.

 

[margarita25]

@oceanblueeyes

Hi OBE! I see you lurking!!! What are your thoughts here?? Do you think a random abduction is likely? I do!

ETA: I can just see you now typing up one of your highly eloquent and insightful posts

 

[Wndrlst]

It appears Snapchat is her preferred communication, same as my daughters. LE can retrieve who she snapped with but not the content of those snaps. Running down all of a 20 year olds snap contacts even over the just the prior week is going to take some time... and that’s just guessing Snapchat was used, maybe it was something else.

Did you read the DSM Register article talking about Snapchat? It was a little confusing but it's my understanding that some of the metadata stays for 30 days so as long as they contact snapchat quickly, they'll save the data so it can be preserved and obtained with the proper paperwork. 88% of the time they'll release any information instantly if they have probably cause to think it needs to be released to LE. It can let them know last whereabouts and etc. from the app. It doesn't save the actual PHOTO that was sent or anything like that.. but they CAN get info from Snapchat, not exactly sure how helpful that info will be though.

 

[Veracity]

Not likely in such a small town.

How I wish cities and towns would require cameras. If folks congregate there should be security cameras. I think they can act as a deterrent too.

CAMERA on BIZ helped move case along -
Case that brought it home for me was Carlie Brucia.

City of Durham put cameras along part of their Greenway - crime went down where the cameras were!

Crime went way down in Virginia Beach after they put in cameras.

I can't figure out why it hasn't happened yet. Figured insurance companies would want businesses to have cameras too. Is there something I am missing about cameras being a bad thing for business owners?

 

[ChuckMaureen]

I am definitely NOT the techy-geeky type, so I didn't read your link. But on pinging (and I know this may be a stupid comment since I don't really understand it), my iphone reads my location as 30 miles away from here. I have to think if I ever went missing, my phone would be of no help in locating me. Like I said - I really don't "get" tech stuff.

Simple signal-level triangulation is tricky business. Imagine this scenario:

Three cellular communication sites (what you might refer to as "cell towers") are located near or within a relatively small town.

Since this is simplified triangulation we'll use signal level as the relevant point of measure. It is less complicated than the time-domain measurements used in current technology.

Assume flat landscape all around. Assume buildings are single-story. Towers are taller than all surrounding buildings, trees, etc. No obstructions. Also know this is NOT a realistic scenario for most cases and is designed only to illustrate how signal-level triangulation is executed. Real-world scenarios involve obstructions in direct signal paths, signal reflections, defective transmitters or receivers, etc.

The town is a perfect circle in shape and is 10 miles in diameter.
Cell phone is located somewhere in town. Powered on. Functional.

Cell Tower 1 is located 5 miles outside the north side of town border.
Cell Tower 2 is located 5 miles outside the east side of town border.
Cell Tower 3 is located 5 miles outside the south side of town.
Assume all sites transmit at the same power and have similar coverage.
Each signal covers similar area relative to their respective installation locations.

Cell phone detects signal from all three towers.

The signal from each tower to the phone arrives at a level relatively to the distance between their respective tower and the receiving phone.

Scenario:
Cell phone detects a strongest signal from Cell Tower One.
Cell phone detects an equally-strong (same level) signal from Cell Tower Two.
Cell phone detects a weakest-signal signal from Cell Tower Three.

Can you guess the general location of the phone?
Is it closer to the northern, southern, eastern or western border?

Without no additional information I would guesstimate the phone is located in the upper left area of town, perhaps on the border. That location places the phone equidistant from Cell Tower One and Cell Tower Two, with a greater distance to Cell Tower Three.

Note that this is quite an oversimplification and does not represent a real-world installation, but I hope it provides some clarification how this older methodology was used. Time-domain location technology works in similar fashion where triangulation is used but the TIME OF ARRIVAL of signal data is used as opposed to SIGNAL LEVEL. The closet analogy would be the differences between AM and FM radio: AM works off signal amplitude, FM works off of frequency variance, regardless of signal level.

 

[SharonNeedles]

Interesting. Hadn’t really thought of that possibility. I’m assuming LE would still find some trace of this person in Mollie’s electronic communications.

I would think so. But who knows how long this could take, or maybe there’s some untraceable messenger app that I don’t even know about.

 

[Veracity]

Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard - Wikipedia
Yes, a stun gun was used

Are their purchases regulated at all? Could LE know who has one? Understand of course some weapons may start out trackable and then slip to the dark side. I am not sure how stun guns work?

 

[Deleted member 227095]

Regarding the security cameras being out at the Co-op, was that a temporary issue? vandalism? technical?

We have no info beyond that they weren't working. Wonder if members have called into the co-op to make sure that their payments were processed properly. Locally we had a situation where thieves would lower themselves into mail box at PO to scoop out checks. These checks were then used as part of a larger operation to steal funds. Took awhile but postal police eventually figured out what was happening and the operation was shut down. I hope the co-op takes a look at its security after this experience.

 

[margarita25]

Are their purchases regulated at all? Could LE know who has one? Understand of course some weapons may start out trackable and then slip to the dark side. I am not sure how stun guns work?

Good question. I know you can walk into any sporting goods store and get one. Or purchase one online.

 

[Deleted member 227095]

ahhh thanks pommymommy that's what i was hoping for. if it wasn't secure i'd fear a lack of input by locals.

Good work!

 

[margarita25]

or CUE

(Hi Foxfire!)
(Our Late Great Foxfire volunteered with CUE)

Which brings me back to Hilton. An insightful poster mentioned GH abducting a jogger on a trail, iirc...I’d like to look at GH to see where he took his victims, how far etc, if not killing them there at the abduction location.

(ETA: o/t:

“Meredith survived for nearly 72 hours after being kidnapped by Hilton, held captive in his van as he drove town to town unsuccessfully trying to withdraw money from her Wachovia bank account using three different ATM machines. Each time, she gave him bad PIN numbers, causing failed transactions and a record of their location. Hilton then returned to the forest to bludgeon her to death and decapitate her. He let Meredith's dog, Ella go. Unfortunately, agents did not get a record of Emerson’s ATM card withdrawals until January 4th, when it was too late.” )