IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #39

[Bravo]

There may be a postponement but whenever it does happen we will get a bit more info.

 

[MsBetsy]

Not to be fascious, but what about dissociative fugue states associated with PTSD. The abused become the abusers, or so I am told.

The Daily Mail reported that his parents ride donkeys to their agrarian jobs. Sounds nuts, but remember that NAFTA destroyed the Mexican economy at the time, because Mexican farmers could not afford to grow even subsistence corn crops cheaper than American corn shipped into the country. CR comes from a village of 500 people that is nothing like anything we are remotely familiar with in this country, not in this century, or maybe in the one before that. It is a completely different world, with different rules and norms, rampant crime and corruption in some areas. Less than 100 years ago the Mexican government hunted down and killed native mesoamericans who looked like CR (The Yaqui wars). This does not justify anything that CR has done, but please recall that his cultural milieu is radically different than ours, and that attempting to look at his psychology from our POV might be more of a stretch than we might realize. To layer on top of this abnormal psych manifestations, and a search for rational explanations in the face of irrational and prurient behaviors could make for a trip down the rabbit hole, a dark, confusing and frightening place!

You couldn't be more right, especially that last statement! Not to mention how difficult it will be to find ANY past history. And yes, the abused have the potential to become abusers.It is a vicious cycle. As you have stated, there is so much to consider. What is normal in one culture may be absurd to another.

 

[Bravo]

Yes if down the pike he is not charged with a rape then there simply isn't the forensics to prove it. Or it didn't happen. As long as they nail him on Murder 1 and he never walks free I am good with that.

 

[JudgeJoe]

Waves of cars and people make their way to BGM High School for Mollie Tibbetts funeral, on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Brooklyn. After having been missing for more than a month, Tibbetts was found dead on Tuesday. Kelsey Kremer/The Register

An hour before the Mass was set to begin, dozens of vehicles filled the parking lot of the school where Tibbetts graduated in 2017. Hundreds had already found seats in the school's gymnasium. Law enforcement guided traffic outside.

Photos: Funeral for Mollie Tibbetts held in Brooklyn

13 photos at link

I’m waaaaay past my DR viewing allowance... not going to pay & help them profit off this. If anyone else has an alternative link, please post.

 

[SteveP]

The prosecution will have to have presented evidence that supports a sexual assault before making a statement like that to the jury.

I hope the jury uses evidence to convict and not just the words of a prosecutor. JMO

I understand, so let me put it another way. Jurors are supposed to decide a case based on the facts and evidence, but I think most jurors, even if the prosecution does not make such a statement, will probably still arrive at that conclusion in their own minds. Should that enter into their determination of his guilt or innocence when deliberating? No. Would it? Perhaps. JMO

 

[Seattle1]

I’m waaaaay past my DR viewing allowance... not going to pay & help them profit off this. If anyone else has an alternative link, please post.

Paywall is nasty. To view photos and bypass wall, click on the video camera in the DR tool bar above paywall message, and page to all photos and video is there.

 

[Al Hoffman]

...And tbh, if and when this goes to trial, even if it cannot be determined whether she had been sexually assaulted, due to condition of her remains, I do not believe it would be difficult to get a jury to arrive at that belief, if the prosecutors lay out everything they do know and say "do you believe this defendant did all of these other things, but did not sexually assault this woman he had stalked and attacked". Most of us here have taken that next step to believing there was a SA, I think. I believe a jury would arrive at the same conclusion. JMO

Exactly, and I agree with you. However, it the SA occurred after TOD (possibly from FitBit data) then that is not rape, but something else. Also, not being able to verify rape is one less element that can be used under the felony murder rule to support the Murder One charge, but Kidnapping would still suffice. But, did SR kill her before he put her in the vehicle, and did he even abduct her? Or, did he accost her, and kill her in a momentary fit of rage, because she hit him first. It matters in terms of the jury finding him guilty of Murder One or Two, or what the charges will be at trial. Though I think it will end with a Murder One conviction and life without parole for CR.

 

[TL4S]

The prosecution will have to have presented evidence that supports a sexual assault before making a statement like that to the jury.

I hope the jury uses evidence to convict and not just the words of a prosecutor. JMO

And possibly by then there could be DNA evidence linking him to other sexual crimes.

 

[The Farm]

Agree. I'm sure there was lots of evidence in that car. I also wonder if he was stupid enough to leave items in it.

1. The car looked washed obviously since then. I lived on a dirt road and a black car get dirt road dust dirty fast, you can see the sheen on the one being towed and the sheriff's SUV.

2. He cleaned it himself as best he could.

3. He told one of his pals or whoever the car belonged to and they helped him clean it.

4. And after the car was cleaned to the best of his ability he still in a 5 week span had time to have it detailed, he actually had a very long time to clean the damn thing.

 

[feralwriter]

I agree. Re your last sentence, the DA has charged CR with first degree murder, which in Iowa carries a sentence of "life in prison without the possibility of parole", so it's very unlikely IMO that he would ever get out of prison on a reduced sentence.

We'll see. Or, the younger people here will see what happens in 20, 30, 40, 50 years. We older folks won't be around. I'm a show me kind of person. As long as they follow through on the imposed actual life in prison sentence, I'm good.

 

[ar3593]

I do not see that anyone has posted this link about autopsy results, if so, I apologize! Mollie Tibbetts autopsy finds that she died by 'multiple sharp force injuries' - CNN

 

[Bravo]

The fact that they charged him with Murder 1 tells me they have evidence to support. Sometimes we see lesser charges that are eventually increased. They went right to Murder 1. I think LE has much we do not know.

 

[Seattle1]

"Today, we need to turn the page. We're at the end of a long ordeal. But we need to turn toward life -- Mollie's life-- because Mollie's nobody's victim. Mollie's my hero."

Rob Tibbetts, Mollie's Father

 

[MassGuy]

We'll see. Or, the younger people here will see what happens in 20, 30, 40, 50 years. We older folks won't be around. I'm a show me kind of person. As long as they follow through on the imposed actual life in prison sentence, I'm good.

Life without parole is just that, unless a new trial is granted for some reason (which would end in the same result). Not too long ago, a life sentence (with parole) for murder in states like Oregon and Washington, meant that killers were getting out after 13 years. Fortunately our justice system has gotten stricter over the years.

 

[ar3593]

"Today, we need to turn the page. We're at the end of a long ordeal. But we need to turn toward life -- Mollie's life-- because Mollie's nobody's victim. Mollie's my hero."

Rob Tibbetts, Mollie's Father

I cannot ever imagine being a parent and having to live through such heartbreak and torment

 

[jca1388]

At this stage now, all I am envisioning and hoping for are scenarios where MT suffered least..
As morbid as it sounds, the blindside hit causing blood to head or being struck by his car would offer the best chance that she had not even been conscious after the first strike …
Just listening to music one second and then boom, everything goes black.
There is some evidence to support this may have transpired this way, and that's what I'm hoping for..

 

[MsBetsy]

Morlock? (Cue H.G. Wells)

Again, sorry, I couldn't resist.

MOO

That's okay, I was going to say "animal" until I noticed the word clinical.

 

[Mica]

Mollie Tibbetts' funeral: 'Today, we need to turn the page. We're at the end of a long ordeal,' Rob Tibbetts tells attendees


>>snip

The person best equipped to help us through this is Mollie," he said. "So let’s try to do what Mollie would do. Let’s say what Mollie would say."

Rob Tibbetts said he wanted to honor his daughter by "celebrating something wonderful." So he called for a couple in the packed gymnasium to stand up and be recognized — they had just been married the day before. The crowd enthusiastically applauded.

"That felt good. That’s what Mollie would have done," he said. "Let’s try one more. Let’s hear it for the Bears football team — for their first win."

>>snip

The gym was outfitted with a makeshift altar, covered in a simple white cloth. Three of Tibbetts' senior portraits were displayed at the front of the gym. No casket or urn was present.

>>snip

Rob Tibbetts thanked the many volunteers, law enforcement officers and the media for assisting in the search for his daughter. While it wasn't the return home he had hoped for, the weeks of coverage allowed many across the globe to get to know his daughter, he said.

"You want to know why there's been such an outpouring?" he said. "It's because we see ourselves in Mollie."

 

[feralwriter]

Life without parole is just that, unless a new trial is granted for some reason (which would end in the same result).

snipped pleasantly
Okay, good, but if a new trial were granted, why would it have to end up with the same result? I'm missing something. Why bother with a new trial if everyone knows ahead of time it will be the same result....

 

[MassGuy]

At this stage now, all I am envisioning and hoping for are scenarios where MT suffered least..
As morbid as it sounds, the blindside hit causing blood to head or being struck by his car would offer the best chance that she had not even been conscious after the first strike …
Just listening to music one second and then boom, everything goes black.
There is some evidence to support this may have transpired this way, and that's what I'm hoping for..

There remains that possibility, and you’re right, it’s the best we can hope for under the circumstances.

It’s sad and ironic, that the case has evolved from hoping that she was alive, to now hoping that her death was quick.