Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #15

[MalloryPike]

MT’s boyfriend said in an interview that he tried calling her phone everyday for like a week and it was just going to voicemail.
If the call goes straight to voicemail it’s typically turned off/dead.
Well technically it will go straight to voicemail if you decline the call as soon as it comes in but you would have to literally be holding the phone to decline it that fast.

I believe her phone was most likely dead or turned off, but there is a feature on iPhone (and similar one on Android, too) called do not disturb. I use it all the time when I want to use my
phone for something (like watching a video) but don’t want calls or notifications. Notifications are silenced and calls go straight to voicemail. But as I said, I don’t think this was the case for Mollie.

 

[Alethea]

I think we should keep in mind that LE has subpoenaed and has access to her social media accounts already. If she was chatting or in contact with some stranger, they likely already know about it. Her phone company will be able to provide every number dialed and information about texts outside of iMessage. Since her Macbook was left behind, they may be able to access her iMessages through the Macbook, bypassing the usual iPhone encryption.

They also already conducted 200 interviews, almost certainly asking every one of her friends if she's mentioned anyone new lately. In other cases where we've seen young women run off with men from the internet LE announces they're looking for XYZ shortly after they get that information. I just don't think it would take 3 weeks to find a secret penpal or boyfriend. There would be some evidence and I think the focus would be on finding that person.

 

[tokyorose]

if you wanted to leave and be able to deny who you were you sure would not want a id on you that said exactly who you were.

she could have been taken, just as easily though she could have walked off. not enough public info to really know.

It actually is not so easy to just walk off in the middle of Iowa... no ID, no passport, no debit card and probably no money... even if you have an accomplice to drive you out of town, you can't use your credit card and you have no way to get cash, you can't hop on a plane or a bus and your picture is plastered all over every truck stop in the midwest... not so easy to disappear these days as many would think.. would require amassing a large amount of cash and convincing false ID both of which are actually not that easy to come by especially without attracting attention in Brooklyn, Iowa...MOO

 

[cluciano63]

Police are searching fields and ponds...we need to remember that jmo.

Also $300k (almost) will bring in “tips” like crazy. I helped on a tip line years ago...much smaller reward. “Tips”consisted of “did you check out ex-boyfriends” “my neighbor has a lot of trash in his garage” to “young girls run away to be models”...etc. so Le probably has no time for a uninformative PC. Jmo

 

[VeryVeritas]

I think we should keep in mind that LE has subpoenaed and has access to her social media accounts already. If she was chatting or in contact with some stranger, they likely already know about it. Her phone company will be able to provide every number dialed and information about texts outside of iMessage. Since her Macbook was left behind, they may be able to access her iMessages through the Macbook, bypassing the usual iPhone encryption.

They also already conducted 200 interviews, almost certainly asking every one of her friends if she's mentioned anyone new lately. In other cases where we've seen young women run off with men from the internet LE announces they're looking for XYZ shortly after they get that information. I just don't think it would take 3 weeks to find a secret penpal or boyfriend. There would be some evidence and I think the focus would be on finding that person.

Nor would they be searching pig farms. I'm pretty sure the FBI has other things to do.

 

[Ivey]

Still wondering why this case has attracted so many FBI agents...I can see one or two but 15+ seems like they suspect this could be a piece of a larger puzzle JMO

 

[kkdj]

Searching the pig farm and WC's home and garage 3 times (at least) is certainly a tell. Doesn't mean WC has Mollie, but I do think it means she and/or her phone were there. Are there any underground bunkers around that could be missed easily? A storm shelter?

 

[mountainguy777]

3 weeks in, and they would have to know every person she’s communicated with on social media.

 

[killshot]

I think we should keep in mind that LE has subpoenaed and has access to her social media accounts already. If she was chatting or in contact with some stranger, they likely already know about it. Her phone company will be able to provide every number dialed and information about texts outside of iMessage. Since her Macbook was left behind, they may be able to access her iMessages through the Macbook, bypassing the usual iPhone encryption.

They also already conducted 200 interviews, almost certainly asking every one of her friends if she's mentioned anyone new lately. In other cases where we've seen young women run off with men from the internet LE announces they're looking for XYZ shortly after they get that information. I just don't think it would take 3 weeks to find a secret penpal or boyfriend. There would be some evidence and I think the focus would be on finding that person.

Agree, and as someone else mentioned, they would not be searching a pig farm and surrounding areas if they believed she left of her own volition.
Maybe I am reading a book by its cover, but to me, she and her boyfriend appear to be in love and planning a future together. If she had some secret life elsewhere, why come home for the summer to live with your boyfriend? All signs point to Mollie being taken against her will.

 

[VeryVeritas]

Still wondering why this case has attracted so many FBI agents...I can see one or two but 15+ seems like they suspect this could be a piece of a larger puzzle JMO

It may or may not be a good idea to speculate why. I'm happy that they are involved. Hopefully your post won't trigger a zillion replies with "It's because she is pretty and white, etc..." There certainly are situations where FBI must handle certain things. I'm not going to list them.

 

[Stormy21]

A woman on your street goes missing. It's been 6-7 days. There is no 'crime scene'. Where is she? Your answer might be revealing.

- She needed some space, she left for a few days
- She might have been in an accident
- She eloped
- She got lost, I hope they find her
- She was kinda depressed
- She got kidnapped by some guy

Who would say that after a 5-6 days? I could be wrong, but it is like a oral Rorschach.

 

[Deleted member 227095]

The thing that I question here is why would she abandon the dogs intentionally? Her reputation as a responsible young woman and dog lover has been discussed.

Maybe she put the dogs away with the idea of heading to her moms to get the car and/or eat and in the process of this happening got a text/call/snap about getting together with someone and that person offered her a ride to moms and things just went south on the way? Or, this person was cruising because they knew her rough schedule and casually asks if she wants a ride and she accepts. Things could have been totally innocent until they weren't any more.

 

[Harmony 2]

Mollie Tibbetts' case is bringing back difficult memories for another Iowa family.

It's been 17-years since Erin Pospisil vanished in Cedar Rapids, and she's never been found.

Mollie Tibbetts’ case reminds Iowa family of girl missing 17 years

 

[DeadCat]

if you wanted to leave and be able to deny who you were you sure would not want a id on you that said exactly who you were.

But you would want your glasses...

 

[TPeeFitz]

LE has not confirmed when MT actually fell off the digital grid (phone off), but we know she did not reply to brothers early am text 7/19, or any calls. I believe her communication disabled/off beginning about 10pm on 7/18. MOO

Also it wasn’t just stated that she didn’t reply, it was stated that she didn’t read, which tells me that she usually had her “read receipts” on, otherwise boyfriend wouldn’t have said they weren’t “read”. So there is a good chance her phone was either off or she didn’t have access to it/look at it anytime after when her boyfriend first cited that his texts went unread.

 

[cluciano63]

Isn’t the reward mainly crowd-funded? If so, the size has nothing to do with what LE may think happened...

 

[GhostGhost]

That doesn't make sense to me. I believe her cell phone was working just fine when she set out that day, now during the course of the next 12 hours it was either turned off or ran out of juice...but she was seen talking on a functioning cell phone around 7:30 pm on July 18th.

They know the location of the phone when it stopped pinging.

They know the time it stopped pinging.

Forensics will show if it was manually turned off.

.

 

[poohgranma]

What does MOO stand for? Thanks!

MY OPINION ONLY

 

[WildcatRunner]

By "they" does he mean the person who took her or that person and MT

I read it as "they" refers to the person who took her, to avoid saying he or she.

 

[ptandj]

Also it wasn’t just stated that she didn’t reply, it was stated that she didn’t read, which tells me that she usually had her “read receipts” on, otherwise boyfriend wouldn’t have said they weren’t “read”. So there is a good chance her phone was either off or she didn’t have access to it/look at it anytime after when her boyfriend first cited that his texts went unread.

Although you can get around this by not opening that person's messages. You'll just have the notification/ count showing. You could even know what it said and have read it in the pop up notification, depending on length, but not have actually opened it so it would show as unread still.