Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #9

[jkloc420]

sorry messed up the post... was merely wondering if she was taken by the person picking her up from work, why did the BF recently tell Fox News that the house doors were likely unlocked and now people were locking them

might just be a small town no crime thing.

 

[ptandj]

[Regarding the recent interview with Fox News about unlocked/ locked doors].

I think they may have included that bit because it's an anecdote that indicates what kind of place it is, as well as the impact this has had on them and the town? And/or there was a leading question ahead of that?

Edited to remove quote text...

 

[ACG2x]

A calculating, experienced abductor might want to stage the scene such that it appeared that she disappeared while she was jogging, perhaps telling her to put the dogs in the basement.

We know that it took police some time to figure out where Mollie was abducted, and the dogs in the basement would suggest that it happened while she was jogging. Since everything at home appeared normal, investigators may not necessarily have assumed that the home is a crime scene until it was too late - until many people had been in and out of the house.

Agree with you on the logic but a few things stand out to me in this case:

- If that happened and she let dogs out of basement when she got back from the run, you would think they'd immediately pick up the scent of a strange person in the home and go to them or at least be excited/bark/etc. This would alert MT that something is wrong

- This also wouldn't give the intruder the element of surprise and even if MT walked around to investigate, she'd either have time to send some kind of alert message to someone

- Let's say the intruder grabs her by surprise and tells her to put the dogs in the basement again. That is going to take some time and I would think she'd struggle or at least try to fight them off; evidence of which would been available inside the home to LE

It's definitely a plausible theory but I don't think it fits in this case. Intruder would have to be in home too long and would need everything to go right for that to work. I think it's a much stronger possibility that MT left voluntarily because she knew whoever it was or knew who it was and they turned out to have sinister motives she was unaware of.

 

[2Hope4]

If Mollie has mailed a letter to Mom or Dad, I think they would give LE a thought she was alive, held captive, and from the way that press conference went, I don't think LE would tell us. Anyone think it's a possibility?

 

[jkloc420]

He was in the middle of the field beside her house. This is a few minutes from me. Highly recommend the book "A New Kind of Monster" about him if anyone wants to read about that case.



This is what makes me think she left willingly, with someone and then it turned bad. Or someone came to the door, and she left with them. Friend? 2nd BF? LE agent? All speculation by me.



It was his car hiding that tipped the police off though.

yes but what i read is he was linked to other crimes in that area. so far there is not any sex assaults in that community.

 

[MillyM]

I don't know if just me, but I wonder who was more into that relationship between Mollie and bf. He says she sends him a snapchat which he doesn't bother looking at for some hours, and then when he does, doesn't respond, even to give her a quick call or text to say goodnight. Given that he must have surely finished work, 5 or 6ish? and was somewhere seemingly on his own? did he really not bother all night to look at his phone even once? Then the next morning, he sends text but isn't again bothered to see if she got until later or even to call, then blithely says to press he was the one who sent out the red flags that something was wrong. If that were me and my partner and we hadn't seen each other for 24 hours I would have wanted to call for a quick chat Wednesday evening or at least been keen to make contact with a text or something. Doesn't seem to be the case here.

 

[bestill]

A few members were asking in last thread about when wedding was.

Not sure if August 25 here refers to the wedding or the reception later back in Iowa. Allie Houghton and Blake Jack's Wedding Website

This is curious. Why would they postpone the wedding that's a month out? I'm pretty sure I read that their wedding has been postponed.

 

[geevee]

Here is my understanding and / or speculation:

I believe she was to have gotten the car from her mom's house on Wednesday night, and that she would've driven herself to work in the morning. I think she might have even generally done most of her morning getting ready routine at her home and not at the bf's house. It's been unclear whether she spent a lot of *nights* at the boyfriend's place or just spent a lot of *time* at his place but my guess is that most of her stuff was at her own home and that she didn't necessarily take a suitcase over there to dogsit. When our son was in college and home for the summer, he did some house sitting but would always come on home in the mornings to shower and change and grab breakfast before heading off to work.

So basically, I think the brother was surprised to see the car they shared was still at home when he woke up in the morning. Knowing she'd have to hoof it home to get ready before jumping in the car and driving off to work, and that it looked like she was maybe running late, he texted her at 7:30 and asked if she needed a ride home (as in he was offering to drive over and pick her up so she wouldn't have to walk / run the mile home).

If I've put those pieces together correctly, I kind of suspect that she returned to the bf's after her run, showered (maybe) and started doing homework, and then someone stopped by the house and visiting with that encounter prevented her from walking back to her own home to get the car at a reasonable hour. I wonder if that person then offered to run her home so she could get the car, and she left willingly with them taking her phone but nothing else.

I know her wallet was at the bf's house. What about her car keys? Do we know if they were there, too? Or do we know if there was another set that would've been in the car? I realize leaving her wallet behind means she didn't have her license on her, but it was just a mile's drive and it's not uncommon for small towns to not have their own police force or for the police to be off duty except for emergencies late at night, so there'd be no danger of being stopped.

I think you're right about the car and the text from her brother. Haven't heard anything about her keys.

One thing that sticks with me is, before the FBI came in and shut down all details from coming out, either the sheriff or DCI (Mortvedt?) said her jog lasted only about 15 minutes - from 7:30 to 7:45, later we heard she apparently did homework that evening, but no one since has mentioned that very short jog she took. I still think she was grabbed during that short jog (and the homework was started before she went out), to head to her house to eat and bring the car back.

Another thing, wasn't the house only purchased this past April? If so, not a lot of time for her to basically be "living there" once she came home from college for the summer.

 

[Amonet]

What I find strange is that if the motive was a relatively fast attack, why not do that in the house? Why risk moving Mollie to another location? Do you think that might have something to do with why LE seem to be saying there's a good chance Mollie is still alive?

And how does LE saying they think Mollie is alive, and the new reward being for getting Mollie home alive, match with so many family members and friends talking of Mollie in the past tense?

 

[Seattle1]

Although unconfirmed by LE, there are now 3 reports that Mollie is believed to have returned to BF house after jogging, and that she did homework the evening of July 18: The first report came from brother Jake, 2nd from witness/neighbor Dave Collum, and this morning Mollie's Mother was the 3rd to report that investigators told her Mollie was doing homework in the evening. I see no reason for these three individuals to fabricate this information, but understand why LE will not confirm it.
Mother of missing Iowa college student recounts last text she sent to daughter

 

[jkloc420]

You got to understand, I think she went missing in the morning.

 

[Razz]

I haven't seen anything that says if the earbuds were accounted for or not, but it has been super hard to keep up!

That's a very good point. About the ear buds and the arm band. I always wear my Gear but when I come in after running, I'll get rid of the ear buds and armband.

 

[Jealoushe]

That is what makes me think she got into a car with someone and left voluntarily....which then turned ugly.

Whatever happened to Utah?

 

[ptandj]

This is curious. Why would they postpone the wedding that's a month out? I'm pretty sure I read that their wedding has been postponed.

That was the reception. The actual wedding in the DR was this upcoming week/ weekend.

 

[Deleted member 718]

Your battery is dead?

Unless I'm on the internet a lot or using gps while traveling, my phone holds a charge for a couple of days. Probably not comparable usage for Mollie who seems to text a lot. I wonder when she last charged. I don't mean to start a long discussion, but what would you say is normal battery life for someone like Mollie? Is it even feasible to consider or are there too many variables?
Seems she would have put her phone on charger at bedtime?

 

[taximama24]

WS TOS make it hard to discuss the very likely scenario that she knew the person and probably let them in/left with them willingly (which is ironic if you think about it, since crime statistics show that victims know the suspect the majority of the time) which explains why the home was never a "crime scene" and why they "can't say why she is missing" (because they don't know at what point it turned into foul play because they don't know where she is) <modsnipped sleuthing social media of non pois>

 

[jkloc420]

Does anyone know what time the sun came up that day

 

[MargeGunderson]

This is curious. Why would they postpone the wedding that's a month out? I'm pretty sure I read that their wedding has been postponed.

They didn’t. The actual wedding in the Dominican Republic was for this weekend. The party on Aug 25 was a reception at home for those who didn’t go to the destination wedding.

 

[Jealoushe]

If Mollie has mailed a letter to Mom or Dad, I think they would give LE a thought she was alive, held captive, and from the way that press conference went, I don't think LE would tell us. Anyone think it's a possibility?

If they knew %100 she was alive they would say so and time would be of the essence.

 

[PommyMommy]

If Mollie has mailed a letter to Mom or Dad, I think they would give LE a thought she was alive, held captive, and from the way that press conference went, I don't think LE would tell us. Anyone think it's a possibility?

Wow, I never would have thought of this. I don't know how likely it is, but anything is a possibility. Seems the postmark would be risky. ?