Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #17

[SharonNeedles]

You must have read my mind because as soon as I saw your post about you having teenage daughters I wanted to ask what you would think in the same situation but didn't dare. I know from the very beginning you thought she left on her own. I have a teenage daughter and although you never know how you'll feel until it happens, I think I would fear the worst. I can't even fathom going through such a thing.

I had a long talk with my wife and daughters tonight. It's easy to let this small town friendly lifestyle lull us into a false sense of security, this is a definitely a wakeup call.

 

[Stormy21]

23 y/o brunette female in Missoula Montana walks off into the darkness -- and vanishes. No clues...

Authorities fear missing Montana woman may be victim of sex-trafficking

 

[cass523]

I looked up the Kayla Brown who was held hostage in SC to see how long it took LE to get access to her cell phone records and if they mentioned privacy issues getting them released.

She was reported missing Aug 31,2017 Found Nov 3, 2017.


Kayla Brown was “chained up like a dog” for weeks in a dark storage container was lured to her captor’s South Carolina property. Kala’s friends say she worked with her alleged kidnapper cleaning houses. She met him through an old boyfriend and communicated via facebook for six years.

Brad Whitfield, an Anderson investigator who focused on obtaining and analyzing Brown’s cell phone records, said it was a process of narrowing down the location of Brown’s cell phone pings to the Woodruff property.

"You look at the records and then you look at them again," Whitfield said. "You may look at them two, three, even several times. You are trying to get them to tell you more than they want to in that first look."

Brown’s cell phone pinged on the Woodruff property up to two days after she was last seen by friends on Aug. 31, The phone went dead after two days, Anderson police have said.

But it took time for police to obtain a search warrant, get the records, analyze them and determine whether they needed a search warrant for Kohlhepp’s property.

"Just because you have a search warrant, it may still take a phone company weeks or a month to respond," Ezell said.

Elsas, with AT&T, said turning over cell phone records is a balance between law enforcement needs and customer privacy.

“We take our obligation to assist law enforcement very seriously,” she said. “We're also committed to protecting our customers’ privacy. When presented with a request from law enforcement for call records, our policy is to require the requesting party to comply with all applicable laws – e.g., present us with a valid search warrant or court order.”
Two weeks before obtaining a search warrant for Kohlhepp’s property, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office flew over the property and realized they needed to get on the ground, Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said earlier this week.

Once they did get on the ground, investigators trudging through the property heard banging and discovered Brown, alive, but “chained like a dog” by the neck and ankle inside a shipping container.

Brown and her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, went to Kohlhepp’s property in Woodruff to thin some underbrush.

"We had walked inside and got hedge clippers and walked back outside. Todd went back inside and told us to hold on for a second. Me and Charlie were standing side-by-side outside the building facing the doorway waiting for Todd to come back out. When Todd came back out he had a gun in his hand. He fired three shots into Charlie's chest. Charlie fell backwards. I was completely in shock. I looked down at him. That's when Todd grabbed me from behind, took me inside, put me on the floor, handcuffed me."

The complete story

How police used pings from a cell phone to find Kala Brown


Body is found on S.C. property where missing woman was chained ‘like a dog’ in metal container

Kala Brown’s chilling account of captivity released: ‘If he shot me it would be easier’

 

[kkdj]

There is something that has been on my mind since day one and I don't want to upset anyone but I've been wondering about the upcoming wedding and wondering if she was upset about the brother of her boyfriend getting married. Just saying. Can't get it out of my mind. JMO

I've read that they were all very close, she and the fiance. I've had the impression the relationships between them were all healthy

 

[WEL]

I must say...the link to the twitter interview with WC’s ex and daughter is an eye opener. According to the daughter, this guy was stalking her yesterday? So after all the attention he has received regarding a missing 20 year old in the last week, he still chooses to follow the daughters/ex anyway? Gotta say, if true that is a tad bizarre. The link is posted in another comment above but I can’t manage to successfully add it to the post right now.

 

[PommyMommy]

I've also been wondering if scent dogs followed her jogging trail. Does anyone know?

I haven't heard what kind of dogs were used. Sorry.

 

[Stormy21]

I must say...the link to the twitter interview with WC’s ex and daughter is an eye opener. According to the daughter, this guy was stalking her yesterday? So after all the attention he has received regarding a missing 20 year old in the last week, he still chooses to follow the daughters/ex anyway? Gotta say, if true that is a tad bizarre. The link is posted in another comment above but I can’t manage to successfully add it to the post right now.

WC says the FBI questioned him at least five times about Tibbetts. The former hog farmer has several convictions, including stalking and harassment. Charges in seven other cases were dismissed.

“[An FBI agent] wanted me to do a polygraph test or something, and I said no, I’m not doing it,” C said.

Former Farmer Questioned In Iowa’s Student’s Disappearance

 

[Alethea]

Would towels still be wet the following day? I shower in the morning and mine are dry, as is my shower, when I get home from work.

That's a good question - I guess it depends on the temperature, humidity, and ventilation in the bathroom. We shower at night and the towels are usually still damp the next afternoon. I guess even if the towel dried you'd be able to see how many were used?

 

[kkdj]

I wonder what quality of “tips” they are getting. When I worked a tip line for a while, the calls were borderline insane. Mostly complaints about people they don’t like or suggestions to LE to “look at the ex.” With this ridiculously high reward, the calls must be even weirder. Like when lottery jackpot reaches some insane amount, everyone turns out. I say ridiculous as I don’t believe the size of a reward increases the value of what LE gets. Jmo

I think the reward should stop getting larger and larger. That in itself might make someone wait to see how high it goes. Of course LE is probable getting some ridiculously outrageous calls too with this high reward.

 

[PommyMommy]

This part is very good:


Hazard lights! I remember that urban legend! Gang initiation rites in the '80s. I'm waiting to hear about LSD stamps with Mickey Mouse on them next.

Hahaha! I needed that laugh, thank you!

 

[clearskies1]

I just want to know if there was a wet towel in the bathroom when her family went to the BF's house the next day to check on her. If they didn't find a wet towel and they didn't find sweaty running clothes, I think you're looking at something happening before 11pm.

I think they didn't find her running clothes. Seems she disappeared in that outfit, so likely before 11pm.

 

[Ommmm]

I must say...the link to the twitter interview with WC’s ex and daughter is an eye opener. According to the daughter, this guy was stalking her yesterday? So after all the attention he has received regarding a missing 20 year old in the last week, he still chooses to follow the daughters/ex anyway? Gotta say, if true that is a tad bizarre. The link is posted in another comment above but I can’t manage to successfully add it to the post right now.

If there are as many FBI agents on the scene as has been reported, I imagine at least one had been assigned to monitor WC’s every move. Doesn’t seem like he would be able to pull this off, unnoticed, IMO.

 

[Whiteorchids]

Someone mentioned the red shirt I just came across this vid. My husband retired LE said they would have sent shirt in for DNA testing perhaps that’s why no arrest yet waiting for results. He said they don’t want that leaked to the public to scare off potential perp before arrest is made fingerprinting and other DNA testing as well.

Pig farmer refuses to take polygraph test about Mollie Tibbetts

 

[MsBetsy]

There is something that has been on my mind since day one and I don't want to upset anyone but I've been wondering about the upcoming wedding and wondering if she was upset about the brother of her boyfriend getting married. Just saying. Can't get it out of my mind. JMO

The impression I got from everyone around her was that she was thrilled about the trip. Her boyfriend talked about her looking forward to it. I would think it's hard to fake not being excited about something. Also the four of them must have been very close, as they were the only ones attending. She may have been a little nervous, but the feeling I got was she was happy about it.

 

[Emilyf886]

I must say...the link to the twitter interview with WC’s ex and daughter is an eye opener. According to the daughter, this guy was stalking her yesterday? So after all the attention he has received regarding a missing 20 year old in the last week, he still chooses to follow the daughters/ex anyway? Gotta say, if true that is a tad bizarre. The link is posted in another comment above but I can’t manage to successfully add it to the post right now.

IMO sounds like a sure fire way to make sure he never bothers them again you know what I mean? I want to see this confirmed on tape that he was in the vacinity of where she says the stalking took place.

 

[Stormy21]

Here is a headline from a story on the woman in Lee County (120 miles away from Brooklyn):
Mollie Tibbetts Case: Search Turns Up Woman's Body, but Investigators Say It Isn't Missing College Student

How can journalists get things this wrong? No search for MT turned up the unfortunate's woman's body. Those were separate investigations.

 

[jbeth]

IMO once someone is reported missing, their cell phone privacy rights should be completely out the window. Weeks or months to decide whether or not authorities should see records/pings/etc is ridiculous. Not like LE is giving out any other useful info, they surely wouldn't publicly post a copy of them.

 

[Madeleine74]

No, it is not common. That's why the FBI got involved, that's why it's in the news -- because it's unusual. People are rarely abducted or killed by complete strangers. When a person is killed or abducted by a stranger, when there's not a robbery or altercation involved, it's unusual and attracts media attention. The media attention might make it seem that crimes committed by strangers are common, but the reality is that such killings or rapes are very rare.

With all due respect, it's *very* common. Just look at the number of missing people reported on Websleuths. The FBI local/state folks get involved when they can offer support and resources and local LE asks for assistance. That isn't rare at all.

There are, literally, thousands of abduction cases that have occurred over the last few decades. I've lost count of how many I've followed in the 20+ years I've followed true crime.

Not all cases get the same media attention, but the ones with a missing child or a young female college student sadly tend to follow familiar patterns. Sometimes the person is found/body recovered. Too many times they're not found or at least not for years. Missing young adult males tend to not get the same media coverage, depending.

 

[kkdj]

So, what if someone that took Mollie knew of WC criminal record and framed him? Not because they were upset with him but because it would point the finger at him and therefore not at them? I would imagine lots of people in the area know and knew of his criminal background.

 

[lonetraveler]

The impression I got from everyone around her was that she was thrilled about the trip. Her boyfriend talked about her looking forward to it. I would think it's hard to fake not being excited about something. Also the four of them must have been very close, as they were the only ones attending. She may have been a little nervous, but the feeling I got was she was happy about it.

Yes, I'm aware that everyone gets the feeling that she was excited about the wedding. But, people are also discussing the suicide angle. You never know what is in someone's heart. I'm just keeping that angle on my list for right now. JMO