Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #3

[Squirrel85]

I know Google also tracks people's movement and usage. On iPhones and Androids, it tells you how many steps were taken that day. Google Maps Is Tracking Your Every Move, And There's Even A Website To Prove It

How to stop Google from tracking you and delete your personal data | WIRED UK

 

[kkdj]

My thought exactly! If Mollie had been chipped she would have been found a long time ago...

When my kids were young I used to worry about them being taken plus someone threatened to take them. If chips would have been ok to do I would have chipped them. Also, if chipping were the norm, say at birth, we would never lose criminals let free, we could solve so many crimes, etc.

 

[Squirrel85]

We chip our animals......why not ourselves?

Because of privacy rights... I guess. Have you ever watched the episode of Black Mirror about microchipping people? Egads.

 

[MyBelle]

Yes. That's absolutely true. And the victims are primarily poor and/or black and/or runaways and/or from seriously dysfunctional families and/or have drug/alcohol problems and/or they suffer serious mental issues like bi polar disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Women and girls with histories of dysfunction and instability.

Not middle class, functional college girls.

The link I posted was about a middle class, functional college girl.

Yes. That's absolutely true. And the victims are primarily poor and/or black and/or runaways and/or from seriously dysfunctional families and/or have drug/alcohol problems and/or they suffer serious mental issues like bi polar disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Women and girls with histories of dysfunction and instability.

Not middle class, functional college girls.

It is not the norm but it happens.

It happened here in Toledo. 2 14-15 year old girls (cousins) were walking to the McDonald's on a busy street. A man pulled up and said he was a friend of one of the girls father's and they got into the car as the 14 year thought he looked "familiar" They were immediately taken to a house, beaten, drugged, raped, and then farmed out to truck stops up in Detroit. They were just out to get a shake, their families waiting for them, and they were taken. These girls were recovered and it was one of the biggest sex trafficking rings discovered back then. Multi states involved, over 31 people were indicted..insane. They did a 20/20, Dateline, etc. show on these girls. It was horrific. Snatched off the street. If they wouldn't have gotten in the car, they would've continued to cruise until they found someone. These were white little girls, from decent families...it DOES happen. Toledo ranks 3rd in the nation for sex trafficking. It's horrific here. My friends daughter (a beautiful, white, 17 year old pumping gas at a station was approached, intimidated, and she ran into gas station to escape.
It happens people. A lot more than people want to admit.

Yes, it is happening far, far too often. When the feds busted Backpage there were multiple arrests here in the Midwest. People don't realize I-80 is a transcontinental Interstate with heavy, heavy traffic. There are huge truck stops around I-80 near Brooklyn.

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

We have no clue what the government can access or not. With the right warrents i am sure anything

Never underestimate the NSA or FBI. My uncle worked for Army intelligence and later he briefly worked for the CIA. He told me that in 1965, US satellites were so advanced they could read the label off of Cuban cigars.

 

[Jdart14]

Do you think that a focus on electronic evidence would distract or hinder the search for evidence in a physical sense. I wonder if at some point there becomes a dependency on digital footprints

 

[Vedder]

Do you think that a focus on electronic evidence would distract or hinder the search for evidence in a physical sense. I wonder if at some point there becomes a dependency on digital footprints

IMO, no. I think it's more of an additional tool along with traditional search methods.

 

[carbuff]

If someone texted her to meet up LE and FBI would have that info by now. I really just think this was more random. At first I thought it was a stalker but now I'm leaning towards her out jogging and a crime of opportunity.
Are we sure she had gone for a jog around 7:30 or is that just speculation?

On the other hand, if she has been snatched off the road, you'd think by now they would have found some sign of where it happened.

And we don't know whether we have information like that. They've said they're following up on all her SM and electronics, but they haven't given any details.

The only time I've seen for jogging is approximately 5:30, give or take, when her brother dropped her off and her neighbor saw her.

 

[kkdj]

Because of privacy rights... I guess. Have you ever watched the episode of Black Mirror about microchipping people? Egads.

No I haven't. But I do understand privacy rights. I'm not a person that has anything to hide so I would be fine to be chipped. It would help me feel protected. But I do know many people that would never allow it!

 

[Twistinginthewind]

Yes that is correct about Elizabeth and Lyric, they were found by hunters months after they were taken in a very remote place called seven bridges a nature trail beside the water. There is a photo on google showing how remote the location is with their remains covered with white sheets. I don’t want to post it here as it is distressing.

It may be possible to be the same perp but do sex offenders usually kidnap young girls aged 8 and 10 and also young women who are 20?

Mollie is small framed, and has been mistaken for being much younger than she is according to her SM posts.

 

[Jdart14]

I’m curious how they can clear people when she hasn’t been found and there’s is no evidence to clear them from?

IMO, no. I think it's more of an additional tool along with traditional search methods.

A large part of me agrees with you simply because I think they’re probably handled by different teams. But just a thought.

 

[carbuff]

Just think how easy it would be for an abusive husband to track down his wife after she left him...

 

[Hatfield]

Not until they find the device. It doesn't have a way to transmit it to the server without the phone or a computer.

As Harmony posted above, here's the info on how it syncs: Fitbit Help - How do Fitbit devices sync their data?

It is over Bluetooth, which requires another device to be nearby to sync up to the Fitbit and send it to the central servers. It can't do that on its own.

JMO
You explained it really well.

Take all this below with a grain of salt because I dont own a fitbit and just been reading about them.

It sounds like certain Fitbit models have built in GPS to receive location data from satellites and store it on the device but needs the smart phone to send the data to the servers by the syncing. The fitbits themselves cannot transmit that location data without a cell phone synced to it.

So if I have that right then so long as she had both the Fitbit on and the cell phone on and near her then the servers probably got location data that LE can already get.

So if we assume a perp destroyed her cellphone the moment he abducted her then LE is probably able to get her last location the moment that happened. So long as syncing occurred close to that time.

The question I do have is shouldnt LE also be able to get her regular Smart Phone location data too at least up to where a perp smashed or got rid of her phone? And wouldnt it really be the same location data at the moment in time she is separated from her fitbit?

If so then its good news because it means FBI has two ways to access her potential abduction location. Both the Fitbit server data and the regular smart phones data. Both on different servers and different companies. Two chances to get it.

 

[btfly547]

Her mom is a class act imo. She's holding it together too. I feel so sorry for her.

I agree. Does anyone know if her dad is in the picture or not. Not sure if mom is widowed or dad lives elsewhere. Not that it has anything to do with the case, just me wondering.

 

[ptandj]

JMO
You explained it really well.

Take all this below with a grain of salt because I dont own a fitbit and just been reading about them.

It sounds like certain Fitbit models have built in GPS to receive location data from satellites and store it on the device but needs the smart phone to send the data to the servers by the syncing. The fitbits themselves cannot transmit that location data without a cell phone synced to it.

So if I have that right then so long as she had both the Fitbit on and the cell phone on and near her then the servers probably got location data that LE can already get.

So if we assume a perp destroyed her cellphone the moment he abducted her then LE is probably able to get her last location the moment that happened. So long as syncing occurred close to that time.

The question I do have is shouldnt LE also be able to get her regular Smart Phone location data too at least up to where a perp smashed or got rid of her phone? And wouldnt it really be the same location data at the moment in time she is separated from her fitbit?

If so then its good news because it means FBI has two ways to access her potential abduction location. Both the Fitbit server data and the regular smart phones data. Both on different servers and different companies. Two chances to get it.

Yes to everything you said with the caveat that you can set your Fitbit software to not auto-sync. When I had one, mine was set to only sync when I told it to. Otherwise I found it wore down the battery faster than I wanted. So it depends on her settings. The phone is the key to so much of this.

 

[Squirrel85]

I agree. Does anyone know if her dad is in the picture or not. Not sure if mom is widowed or dad lives elsewhere. Not that it has anything to do with the case, just me wondering.

Dad lives in California

 

[Gunslinging Granny]

My thought exactly! If Mollie had been chipped she would have been found a long time ago...

Or an evil predator would cut the chip out of her. People cut the chips out of their unwanted pets before they dump them.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

I don't think any of her family members or her boyfriend's family members are suspects. The headline was misleading as to who LE was talking about but in the end we know LE was talking about her boyfriend and his brothers and they were out of town on business. They cleared them with the evidence that solidifies where they were. Oddly enough, they said nothing about the fiance of her bf brother, but I do not think she is involved in any way either. She was reportedly out of town with them.

That's a good point about LE not saying her boyfriend's brother's fiance was not a suspect, since she lived in the house too.

 

[eucalyptuz]

I'm just becoming aware of this case now because I've been off-grid
I will try to catch up on all three threads but for now (and based just off a few news stories), I don't have a good feeling...shades of Vanessa Marcotte

I find it very interesting that info re tracing the Fitbit has been released and I wonder if it could be to bait a perp? Wouldn't LE just get on with the job of locating the Fitbit and use the information about location to build a case against someone? Makes me wonder if they have suspicions about a POI and are trying to attempt some kind of trap.
From what I know about my fitbit, it doesn't work like find-my-phone...it is more like your phone becomes like a detector and you can re-trace your steps searching for a lost fitbit and see if it pings your phone. This would be super handy if the police had her phone but that doesn't seem to be the case...so I'm not sure how the fitbit would be useful for tracking...which brings me to my suggestion that LE might be trying to force a perp to return to scene to disable the fitbit.

 

[soap mama]

I think i know too much about hogs now

Switching gears, i was school shopping with my 13 year old who has social anxiety but is getting better, so when she wanted to run back to the school supplies and change a product out, i didn’t want to cause fear and say no, so we came up with a code word that she can request in case anyone ever says, oh your mom is waiting outside or something like that. Nothing is 100% but it made her feel really good and in control.