Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #22

[Stormy21]

Stormy21, The problem is there is all these new movies like Dexter and all out there now that serial killers watch. It gives them ideas. Ideas of HOW to hide the evidence and make it harder to catch them. Sad but true.

Agree. I could never stand to watch those shows. But yeah, life imitates art.

On the other hand those forensic and path scientists are pretty clever too. They stay ahead of the game.

 

[Al Hoffman]

It certainly could be in the realm of possibility.

This reminds me of what happened to my mother years ago. Also, Admin if this is not allowed then please delete and my apologies. Also forgive any spelling errors as I wrote this from my phone.

In the late 1970s when I was about 6 years old my parents purchased a house in a brand new neighborhood. So, there were new homes under construction around the area. My father always left for work around 8:00 a.m. during the work week.

One morning after my dad left for work a man who looked like a construction worker came to the door. He rang the doorbell and banged on the door. My mother asked through the door, “who is it and what do you want?” He said he thought my mom was pretty and knew her husband was not home. He matter of fact told her to open this door now or he was going to break a window and get her!

So my pretty, tough and quick thinking mother ran to the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. She went to the window closest to the front door where he could see her. She told him that if he broke into our house she would most certainly try and fight till she killed him!

When he heard her and saw the look on her face he took off running. Afterward my shaken mother immediately called the sheriffs dept.

The Sheriff dept. came out and confirmed that a man had been stalking young women in the area. An assault had already been linked to a man fitting his description. They had also agreed that the area construction is likely where he came from.

After all this happened, my parents had a home alarm installed and mom would often bring this story up through the years.

My point of this story? This supposed worker had obviously been stalking my mother by watching her and my father’s habits. He made direct threats and demands for her to open the door like he was not new to this kind of thing. But, my parents never knew of him until that morning.

This was a middle class neighborhood and the area was known to be safe. But, possibly due to workers in the area? Out of the blue this stalker guy came out of nowhere and with motive to harm.

It’s 2018 and please, always be aware of your surroundings.

Don't mess with mama bears, you may draw back a nub! Your mom sounds like a grand old dame!

 

[CheetosDust]

Hell no. Our Iowa 'soil' is far better than anything you find in the Buckeye State.

Ohhhhhh...so this is how we roll here lol.

 

[Deleted member 228069]

Anyone with a weapon can usually overtake anyone without, especially with element of surprise. Mollie jogging along, singing to her headphone, i.e...someone pulls up, follows along, taps her on the shoulder and she turns to face a gun or knife? Or just grabs her. It might not matter how big that person is, if she froze even for an instant.

From her own self description, she could have also opted to forego a fight or flight response and tried to reason and help the person.

 

[Jennifermn]

I recall seeing days ago that the fitbit must be paired with a phone to view the data. If the perp were to have destroyed Mollie's phone, or even powered it off, would anyone be able to see the data from the fitbit after that point?

I ask because I saw theories that the perp might be younger because they knew the fitbit could track Mollie, but is this the case if the cell phone is no longer able to pair up? I think most people these days would know a cell phone can track location and any perp would get rid of it. Not to mention a victim could try to call for help.

Since it's rumored the last ping from the device was near the pig farm, I wonder if the phone was also tossed in that area as well and if that's why the FBI and LE are so focused on that area.

 

[str8nightowl]

If a woman killed her, I doubt if she bothered with abduction. She probably just shot her or stabbed her and dragged the body out of sight somewhere.

carbuff, but if she was shot or stabbed there would most likely be evidence (blood) so they would have had to clean up and that would have taken time and more likely someone else could have seen them and witnessed that. I remember them saying there was no signs of a struggle at her boyfriend's house. I am thinking it could have possibly been something like chloroform or like someone else said (can't remember who or what thread) maybe someone spiked her drink. MAYBE she agreed to go to their house or something and have drinks and they put a drug in her drink or something. A woman would be more likely to do that now that I think about it. Just all speculation.

 

[MassGuy]

Stormy21, The problem is there is all these new movies like Dexter and all out there now that serial killers watch. It gives them ideas. Ideas of HOW to hide the evidence and make it harder to catch them. Sad but true.

This has always been the case (atleast in modern times). Media feeds the fantasy, and can be used to formulate ideas for carrying out a crime. Back in the 50s, serial killers used to feed this fantasy with true detective magazines. Research shows that this media does not create serial killers, rather it inspires them. It’s absolutely true that crime shows have made killers more leery of leaving forensic evidence.

 

[katydid23]

I agree. It’s either a big coincidence that a stranger picked the perfect time to abduct her, or the situation (nobody home) has significance in regard to a friend or acquaintance knowing this fact, and taking advantage of it. Unfortunately, we can only speculate if this fact has significance or not.

One other possible significant thing about her being home alone---no other cars or work trucks in the driveway. That could have signaled to a stranger, who had followed her home, that there was no one else hime at the time.

 

[str8nightowl]

Agree. I could never stand to watch those shows. But yeah, life imitates art.

On the other hand those forensic and path scientists are pretty clever too. They stay ahead of the game.

Stormy21, I watch those shows all the time. Dexter is one of my favorites. NO I would NEVER want to kill someone though. But when I watch those shows I think of murderers and serial killers and realize HOW MANY ideas it gives them. Same with the Forensic Files shows (I watch a lot of those too). It gives them so many ideas on how NOT to get caught. It is really scary too when you think about it.

Even my husband has watched some of those shows with me (but most times he doesn't watch them because he said they are too morbid) he tells me that they WOULD give serial killers or murderers ideas on how NOT to get caught.

 

[First_responder]

I would suggest, ...as the saying goes...don't try this at home.

Crazy people practice with animals I read somewhere

 

[Cardinal47]

If this is small town enough that people don't lock their doors for the most part, I wouldn't expect very many at all to have cameras.

I disagree. There is always the guy that likes things like camera's and video's. They do and that's what they buy. Also it's a new world. Folks living far out can be very savvy if they have things to protect. In fact I wonder if there was anything mounted on the home they were living in. Construction equipment and farm equipment can bring big bucks at a Pawn shop.

Is it possible that someone shot out the light to darken the area? Was it reported out the day before or the day the disappearance was reported?

I'm sorry. I think I made a mistake. It was the video camera not the lights that were not working.

 

[CheetosDust]

Crazy people practice with animals I read somewhere

Dahmer comes tomind

 

[Cardinal47]

I still can't believe the security light was out over at the electric company. Isn't that their business...electricity and items pertaining to electricity. Geeez 2 weeks?

Sorry I should have said security video camera was not working not light!

 

[Q.E.D.]

With the lack of known evidence (to us), I am not sure ANY outcome would surprise me. Our assumptions are only as good as the soundness of our presumed premises ... which, unfortunately, have a good chance of being garbage.

 

[Marie224]

I recall seeing days ago that the fitbit must be paired with a phone to view the data. If the perp were to have destroyed Mollie's phone, or even powered it off, would anyone be able to see the data from the fitbit after that point?

I ask because I saw theories that the perp might be younger because they knew the fitbit could track Mollie, but is this the case if the cell phone is no longer able to pair up? I think most people these days would know a cell phone can track location and any perp would get rid of it. Not to mention a victim could try to call for help.

Since it's rumored the last ping from the device was near the pig farm, I wonder if the phone was also tossed in that area as well and if that's why the FBI and LE are so focused on that area.

If my fitbit alarm is set for 6 am to vibrate but my phone died at 3 am my fitbit will still vibrate at 6 am. Phone off doesn’t turn the fitbit off.

Edit.. the fitbit alarm clock is setup through fitbit app not the actual phone alarm clock every phone comes with... If i had my phone alarm clock set, it wouldn’t sync to my fitbit and alert me. It’s solely a fitbit alarm clock option.

 

[otto]

Crazy people practice with animals I read somewhere

Some sociopaths (anti-social personality disorder) start with animals. The murderer of Jessica Ridgeway snatched neighborhood cats before he attempted to abduct first a woman, and then a child - in this case, Jessica. He was studying to be a mortician.

 

[Stormy21]

If this is a repeat ignore it. I find it interesting. LTE coverage for the area.

Global Cell Coverage Maps - OpenSignal

 

[RavenCC2020]

If someone is born with psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies, it does not matter one shred their sex, race, upbringing(to a degree) or any other malleable environmental response. It's hardwired, and how severe it is determines the behavior over the lifetime. If the person is mentally ill, or has a personality disorder they can be violent and have bad intent even if they are tiny six year olds.

This is very true. I've always been interested in abnormal psychology. The whole nature vs nurture thing I think is generally misunderstood. Often people will say well he this SK or that was mistreated by his mom growing up and grew up to hate women etc but reality is if someone is not wired correctly they could grow up in the Cleaver's household and still end up committing horrific crimes. The condition already exists in the individual. Their childhood experiences can be factors in how they act out as adults as abusive childhoods can and do exacerbate one's present and future behavior but are not necessarily the root cause of it.

What I found extremely interesting is that many attorney's and politicians in fact share similar personality traits to psychopaths. It is very common for both attorney's/politicians/psychopaths to be narcissists. The very traits that allow them to seek out these jobs are the very ones that allow them to effectively perform in their jobs. This particular combination of traits in a person allows them the ability to disconnect from shared human emotion and not concern themselves with the havoc their actions cause on not only society as a whole but the individual as well. I say disconnect because there is proof that functioning psychopaths can indeed feel some emotion it just isn't the normal wide range that most people are born equipped with. Their emotions are very limited and almost exclusively self serving. Harm done to them can cause them to feel and express emotion such as crying and pain but it usually segues into rage or the need to act out to kill that emotion. Very, very complex individuals when you study their motivations/behaviors and actions. So unlike the average person.

That is why profiling came to be. Normal people attempt to try to solve crimes by using logic exclusively. These people are not normal nor are they logical so in order to understand them you have to think like them. I recall one of the first profilers, not sure if it was John Douglas or this other guy whose last name started with an S but I can't recall it now, said that in order to solve these crimes you must put yourself into the killers mindset. Doing that over and over again is mentally exhausting and does have an effect on your own mental health. I thought that was interesting and it makes sense. If you have to live in crazy people's minds day in and day out, doesn't that make it the norm for you. Scary if you really think about that. How do you shut it off when it's time to go home to your wife and kids.

 

[Stormy21]

Some sociopaths (anti-social personality disorder) start with animals. The murderer of Jessica Ridgeway snatched neighborhood cats before he attempted to abduct first a woman, and then a child - in this case, Jessica. He was studying to be a mortician.

And they start young too, as Conduct Disorders.

 

[feralwriter]

Dahmer comes tomind

"I should have gone to college and gone into real estate and got myself an aquarium, that's what I should have done."