Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #29

[sripey]

Question: do any of you consider the idea that an abductor, if there is 1, is young enough to realize what a Fitbit is and they just knocked her out and then switched the Fitbit to their own wrist for a time? Although it would change the heart rate speed likely, it might be hard for LE to determine what changed the heart rate (was she knocked out, was she fighting, was she scared or asleep). If the perp wore it for a while driving and then discarded it, they may have influenced LE to believe Mollie was alive longer than she actually was.

Sure, but the Fitbit was also transmitting her location and the time. If the car slows down or stops, the Fitbit will show that. LE knows the route and the time along the route the fitbit travelled. Anywhere along that route in which the fitbit indicated the car was stopped had to have been searched by LE. Since Mollie has not been found along this route I think it is reasonable to conclude that Mollie was with the fitbit (either on her wrist or not) until the signal was lost by the pig farm.

 

[NewYork625]

Maybe the perpetrator is someone who dislikes girls/women in general. Someone who feels the need to rid them from society. Takes the opportunity when available. If so could be related to other cases of missing girls. Imo

Or someone who was frustrated because maybe he had one he couldn't keep and/or he couldn't find anyone on his own, so he took one for his own?

 

[Hte2w8]

Question: do any of you consider the idea that an abductor, if there is 1, is young enough to realize what a Fitbit is and they just knocked her out and then switched the Fitbit to their own wrist for a time? Although it would change the heart rate speed likely, it might be hard for LE to determine what changed the heart rate (was she knocked out, was she fighting, was she scared or asleep). If the perp wore it for a while driving and then discarded it, they may have influenced LE to believe Mollie was alive longer than she actually was.

I haven't actually considered her Fitbit was turned off or ditched, I've looked at it that the phone was turned off. Without the phone on, you aren't going to get a sync from the FB updating the location.

 

[str8nightowl]

not sarcasm, educate me on WHY they have a chase car??? I thought teams were when one driver was in the sleeper while other drove and they switched back and forth so the truck didn't have to sit just because driver was at their hour limit for driving.

1987, I team drove a semi-truck. One person drove 4 hours on (4 hours off to sleep), then the other person drove 4 hours on (4 hours off to sleep) and so on. I have never heard of a chase car. But I may be wrong. Maybe different truck companies do different things. But that's how WE did it.

 

[i'm someone]

Sure, but the Fitbit was also transmitting her location and the time. If the car slows down or stops, the Fitbit will show that. LE knows the route and the time along the route the fitbit travelled. Anywhere along that route in which the fitbit indicated the car was stopped had to have been searched by LE. Since Mollie has not been found along this route I think it is reasonable to conclude that Mollie was with the fitbit (either on her wrist or not) until the signal was lost by the pig farm.

I think it's already been determined the Fitbit doesn't work that way. It tracks steps and sometimes heart rate, not movement of a vehicle.

 

[Flowercb]

Mollie is not in the corn around Brooklyn. Her fitbit tracked to that one-time pig field twenty miles away. The two areas of interest located on 200th St that LE posted lead directly there. She was at those locations, that is why LE has highlighted them.

How do you know her fitbit traced there?

 

[Falcon500]

snipped for clarity, respectfully
Or the ever long backlog of evidence testing in the country being caught up. A person can hope.

That backlog of rape kits or other evidence will be thrown out before its analyzed. Not enough technicians and no will to hire more.

 

[Jabarn]

I don’t think we’re dealing with a genius here. Every perp knows that cell phones aren’t conducive to getting away clean with a crime. I imagine that the phone and Fitbit were turned off early in the abduction, and later destroyed or discarded. We’re talking about an offender who is likely in his 20s, 30s, or 40s. All of the above would be savy enough to know this.

I don’t think this is a genius criminal either... most of those get big jobs and careers, haha! I know most crimes result from a domestic situation gone bad, but for Mollie, I am not seeing clues in that direction from any reliable media source.

There does seem to be a probable explanation she was taken by a stranger on her running route... IMO, based on the information released to the public, and the new website asking for tips. That suggests to me the investigators are thinking someone unknown to them.

 

[PaulR]

I think it's already been determined the Fitbit doesn't work that way. It tracks steps and sometimes heart rate, not movement of a vehicle.

It can, but only under certain conditions - you've turned on Fitbit location tracking (which you manually have to do), you are in a car at least part of the time, and you get the chance to sync. The Fitbit isn't smart enough to know you are driving, but it will determine that you are moving very fast and will track your movements along a road, so LE or a user could determine that location tracking was on and they were in a vehicle if the Fitbit got a chance to sync.

I have pictures when I forgot to turn off location tracking after a hike. Fitbit thinks I was running for my life along a local highway.

 

[Emerald1328]

Mollie’s Dad is going home.

Rob Tibbetts goes home, Mollie's family "returning to day-to-day lives"

“Rob Tibbetts said he moved his sons into their college this week and she was on their minds. That’s because they passed by where Mollie was going to move in.”

So heartbreaking...

 

[str8nightowl]

This is why you would use a backhoe, mechanical digger or power argur that you might find on a farm. You want to bury deep enough that it won't be disturbed by plowing, at least a foot or two - the deeper the better. And why are you limited to as cornfield? Linemen use argur trucks to make a 6 foot deep by 16" hole for utility poles all the time. Who questions them when they are off the road digging holes? Plenty big enough for a small woman's body. Also, there is the waste water treatment plant being built near Brooklyn, and the Windmill farms under construction to the south of the town. What kind of massive excavation and cement pours must go on for that kind of construction, for retention tanks and footings. You must know that there is a cement plant in Brooklyn for a reason. And what about all of the hog farms around Brooklyn. Anaerobic hog waste digestion ponds are are great place to dispose of a body, and destroy almost all forensic evidence. Iowa, what a great place for a body farm. And you thought they just farmed hogs and corn there!

Al Hoffman, EXACTLY!!

 

[penny99]

Mollie’s Dad is going home.

Rob Tibbetts goes home, Mollie's family "returning to day-to-day lives"

“Rob Tibbetts said he moved his sons into their college this week and she was on their minds. That’s because they passed by where Mollie was going to move in.”

So heartbreaking...

This is devastating.

 

[Jaclin]

I think she'd need her passport, so I personally am discounting any out of the country travel. I suppose there are other ways around that, but not any I can think of that are likely.

also, with the national and even international coverage, if anyone saw her alive they'd be dialing trying to collect their award. really, the chances of her not being recognized by someone after a month unless she is living caveman style in a cave like a hermit are extremely small. that, and there is no reason to believe she would have ran away. I think landing in Oz is as likely as her running away.

 

[thecatmeows]

Unless she completely changed her appearance (dyed her hair, dressing completely out of character, etc), if she left willingly, by this point, there would be more sightings of her.

 

[Bravo]

I am about to turn 63 tomorrow, and a couple years ago, I decided to get healthier and bought a Vivofit HR, which is Garmin's version of the Fitbit, and I know several people in my age bracket who wear them.

Happy almost Birthday!!!!

 

[Deleted member 718]

Mollie’s Dad is going home.

Rob Tibbetts goes home, Mollie's family "returning to day-to-day lives"

“Rob Tibbetts said he moved his sons into their college this week and she was on their minds. That’s because they passed by where Mollie was going to move in.”

So heartbreaking...

Thank you Emerald1328. Darn, that takes my breath away. sigh.


"As bittersweet as the thoughts were, he's still confident they're going to bring her back home and she'll pick up from where she left off.

"I still feel that way, we all feel that way, that's why it's difficult
for me to knowing there's a good chance that we're going to bring her
home.," said Rob Tibbetts. "I want to be there when she arrives."

 

[Deleted member 155000]

Sure, but the Fitbit was also transmitting her location and the time. If the car slows down or stops, the Fitbit will show that. LE knows the route and the time along the route the fitbit travelled. Anywhere along that route in which the fitbit indicated the car was stopped had to have been searched by LE. Since Mollie has not been found along this route I think it is reasonable to conclude that Mollie was with the fitbit (either on her wrist or not) until the signal was lost by the pig farm.

I mostly agree. I was just trying to hypothesize if the following was possible.

*Theoretical*

Mollie is abducted between 6-7.

Mollie is killed (obvi I hope not) between 7-8.

The perp wears the Fitbit until midnight on his own wrist. If he’s really smart, maybe he even drives back through her neighborhood with it on.

This leads LE to think she was alive and possibly not yet in danger until midnight, which throws off the entire timeline.

Maybe it causes them to think that certain people have alibis for the time she disappeared, when really they don’t.

I know it’s a reach, but since we don’t have anything, I have wondered...

 

[Hte2w8]

also, with the national and even international coverage, if anyone saw her alive they'd be dialing trying to collect their award. really, the chances of her not being recognized by someone after a month unless she is living caveman style in a cave like a hermit are extremely small. that, and there is no reason to believe she would have ran away. I think landing in Oz is as likely as her running away.

Agreed. $400k is quite a motivator.

 

[Harmony 2]

New thread:
IA - IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #30

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[otto]

How do you know her fitbit traced there?

This information has been posted her before, but here it is again:

"This is a new arena for us. That's part of the reason we called the FBI in. It's probably pretty new to them, too," Mitch Mortvedt, spokesman for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, told CNN. "I don't know of another case here in Iowa where we have used specifically Fitbit info."

When her Fitbit pinged at a hog farm about 10 miles southeast of the house in Brooklyn, IA, where she was last seen, police searched the area but found nothing, Mortvedt said."

Everything We Know About The Disappearance Of Iowa College Student Mollie Tibbetts