Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #11

[Sconnie]

Good morning, all. I have been here from the beginning and am thankful for all of your dedication and rational ideas. I was anticipating the press conference today, but now with the revelation that a red shirt was found, I have to take a break. I know it could be any old red shirt, but I doubt it, and it really hits home. Knowing how emotional I am about all of this makes me think of the wealth of emotions her family, friends, boyfriend and college roommate feel. I especially keep thinking of the roommate, because this is the fun time they should be planning for their apartment and looking forward to an exciting sophomore year of college. They are all in my prayers. I feel as if we have all adopted Mollie, and she is all of ours, but that isn't even close to reality. God bless the searchers, LE and you guys. I will look forward to updates later today, but for today I am going to try to get my mind off of it and enjoy our Wisconsin sunshine.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Can I obtain detailed information about a current FBI investigation that I see in the news? — FBI

Can I obtain detailed information about a current FBI investigation that I see in the news?
No. Such information is protected from public disclosure, in accordance with current law and Department of Justice and FBI policy. This policy preserves the integrity of the investigation and the privacy of individuals involved in the investigation prior to any public charging for violations of the law. It also serves to protect the rights of people not yet charged with a crime.

Makes me wonder which department (local or FBI) has the lead in this investigation.

 

[Seekingtruth08]

Otto, did investigators say the fitbit was why or are we just assuming? I assumed that she was alive based on fitbit til i realized the perp could be wearing it. But then again, if bpm and bp were like her normal, then i supposed theyd assume that was her logically speaking.

Maybe they are saying they think shes alive to try to earn perps trust. Like hey we are giving you the benefit of the doubt and will give you the opportunity to tell us if something happened and how it was an accident. However, ive never seen police say that they feel the victims alive in a case. Has anyone else? Surely they wouldnt want to upset the world and her family and lose everyones confidence....why else would they believe shes still alive?? Is someone snitching on someone and being watched?? I dont see why else theyd still feel that way. Or maybe theyre going the still alive route because they figure its likely theyll find out if shes actually alive by offering a high reward. If this doesnt work, maybe theyll say something different and assume she passed? Surely they wouldnt give the suspect money for her safe return. I really feel the le knows way more than theyre saying...

 

[know_what_i'm_sayin']

I keep reading about police dogs. Can anyone confirm if they are scent dogs or cadaver dogs? Both dogs are specifically trained, I'm curious as to which type of dog LE is using.

I asked this a while back, forgive me if I received an answer and missed it, so I'm asking again. Let's find Mollie you guys!

 

[samp320]

Do you guys think that the reporters/journalists will be more aggressive when asking questions to the speakers at the press conference today, or will the speakers just end it right away? Or will they continue to be vague?

 

[distracted]

Press conference is scheduled for 9:30am Central Standard time.

TODAY: News conference for Mollie Tibbetts' disappearance; witnesses report ongoing search in Poweshiek County

 

[Momma2cam]

Sounds like you found a discarded bag from a car prowl, or one that flew off a roof rack. The Brooklyn community is living, breathing, eating, Mollie's abduction, and I believe they're on high alert to report anything down to a wet sock. Although red t-shirt found has not been confirmed by LE, I don't think it's Mollie's Day Camp red t-shirt.

If a red shirt was found, I'd be very surprised if it isn't Mollie's. They would have known pretty quickly if it was the daycare red shirt, anyway. And they continued searching for hours and even came back again in the evening to search. JMO.

 

[Seattle1]

I wondered about the eyeglasses and contacts at first. Then I realized that everyone I know has more than one set of contacts. Some have boxes of them.

For some reason I just can't shake the theory that she was abducted while she walked to her Mom's very early the next morning.

Your idea makes sense, as well. Especially since her boyfriend confirmed that they were not in the habit of locking doors.

I am looking forward to the press conference at 9:30 a.m.

I have terrible night vision, myopia (nearsighted) -- need correction to drive especially. For about a year now, I've been wearing only one lens, and I'm sure my family is not aware of this. I could see them saying that I left my glasses/contacts behind, and worry that I was too blind to drive, when I was actually fine. I wish a reporter would ask the family about Mollie's eye refraction, that we could determine whether Mollie could function without her lens.

 

[ChiaPet]

Can I obtain detailed information about a current FBI investigation that I see in the news? — FBI



Makes me wonder which department (local or FBI) has the lead in this investigation.

Does the FBI really defer to local authorities once they step in? I thought FBI led investigations once they were called in since they'd always have more man power and resources

 

[pamelado2]

I really don’t see a perp getting the dogs corraled and into cellar...jmo. Unless very well known to the dogs.

Also supposing he/she simply walked in behind her after the jog...why would she happen to have the red shirt? She would wear it jogging, imo, not if she needed it for work.

But seriously...does anyone know a person her age who would get up, get dressed, put the dogs away etc...and never touch her phone or tablet during that time? She had been seen texting or using phone while jogging, according to one neighbor...that is my sticking point about the morning abduction. But the shirt at night makes no sense either, as well as dogs in cellar (if that is true.)

How do we know she didn't look at her phone at 6am? Her boyfriend said she didn't open his text, but what time did he send it?

 

[Stippling]

Given the sparsely populated rural terrain and aerial imagery, it would appear highly unlikely there would be a wifi signal that would extend to the road or in to more remote areas around the purported search. Maybe a farm house or farm machine shop or office would have it, but unless you have a yagi or a repeater, the signal would otherwise extend maybe 20-30 yards at most outside a structure. Plus - most wifi networks have some level of security to prevent random access and logins. So if there were a signal, it most likely would have been bluetooth over cellular data through a paired device.

 

[osu]

Far-removed true-crime fans from across the U.S. have taken to online forums to dissect publicly available information in the Tibbetts case.

The official investigators warn that misinformation is rife on the internet, that there is a great deal the amateurs cannot know, and that even their well-reasoned conclusions are almost certain to be speculative. Extra awareness of Tibbetts' disappearance, though, could help lead to the tip that finds her, the investigators say.

Websleuths, a popular true-crime forum, promotes its "very active" discussion of the case. Closed Facebook groups devoted to Tibbetts have garnered between 3,000 and 6,000 members who post their thoughts and speculations about the 20-year-old who went missing from Brooklyn, between Des Moines and Iowa City, on July 18.
~snip

With few answers around Mollie Tibbetts' disappearance, citizen sleuths surface online

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Does the FBI really defer to local authorities once they step in? I thought FBI led investigations once they were called in since they'd always have more man power and resources

No. The bureau may be tasked to play an assistance role to locally-led investigations. If it involves federal law then the bureau would take lead.

 

[Mauig’ma]

My prayers are with Molly and her family this morning. Five minutes of silence for today being the day she is finally found. The family & community are in enough pain. Please use your higher power to help resolve this...

 

[Ontario Mom]

Sounds like you found a discarded bag from a car prowl, or one that flew off a roof rack. The Brooklyn community is living, breathing, eating, Mollie's abduction, and I believe they're on high alert to report anything down to a wet sock. Although red t-shirt found has not been confirmed by LE, I don't think it's Mollie's Day Camp red t-shirt.

I can't see that they'd expend the resources they did if it wasn't her shirt. I mean, I'm sure they matched the size, confirmed it was in fact the same shirt she had (with the same logo), etc. And if it was her size and her same shirt (same logo) seriously, what are the odds that that shirt would be found right there, if it wasn't hers? Unless there's a sicko in Brooklyn with the exact same shirt that thought it might be funny to plant it there. Or, unless there's a sicko in Brooklyn and it is in fact MT's shirt, and it was planted there.

moo

 

[another-amateur]

Sorry bit lengthy,but might be useful information to people without fitbits.

This type of fitbit device basically records three types of information :
1) Steps taken
2) Heart rate
3) Time

The device will take a sample of the heart rate every 5 seconds, unless you are doing an "activity" such as running , in which case it will record every second. You can trigger an activity either manually by pressing the appropriate button to start and stop or the device will attempt to automatically recognise an activity by changes in the heart rate, or an increase in the number of steps.

The fitbit will calculate the length of the run by multiplying the number of steps by stride length (which can be calibrated), so this method isn't as accurate as GPS, but in my experience is within 15% accuracy.

The fitbit stores this data locally on the device, and will store about 7 days worth, and then start overwriting the oldest data. Generally people want to store the data longer term to track progress etc so you need to sync the data with another device.

On an iPhone, you would download the fitbit app onto the iPhone, connect to the fitbit by bluetooth and it will ask you to pair the device by the fitbit sending a number which you enter on the iPhone.

Now the device is paired, syncing can occur automatically in the background as long as the fitbit is close (say <10 metres), I believe as part of syncing the data will be uploaded by the fitbit app on the iPhone to fitbit servers. Once it's stored on fitbit's servers you can view the data on other devices by logging into your fitbit account.

Now, whilst the fitbit can sync automatically in the background, a lot of people turn this off and decide to sync manually, the main reason is that battery life takes a hit on both your fitbit and iPhone. In my case the fitbit's battery went from about 5 days to 1 day ! so I would typically sync once I got back from a run.

Note that at no point does the fitbit device record your location or "ping" wifi devices or cell towers, so you can't "track" a fitbit device, fitbit data is as I stated at the beginning, limited to time, steps and heart rate.

Now the story changes if you run with your iPhone as well - which I'll post separately if people find this useful....

 

[Cherry]

Her boyfriend stated in video early on that she cannot see without her contacts or glasses.

 

[ChuckMaureen]

Given the sparsely populated rural terrain and aerial imagery, it would appear highly unlikely there would be a wifi signal that would extend to the road or in to more remote areas around the purported search. Maybe a farm house or farm machine shop or office would have it, but unless you have a yagi or a repeater, the signal would otherwise extend maybe 20-30 yards at most outside a structure. Plus - most wifi networks have some level of security to prevent random access and logins. So if there were a signal, it most likely would have been bluetooth over cellular data through a paired device.

GPS data over cellular makes more sense. All this reporting of "Fitbit data may help find Mollie" is as maybe more hype than it is reality.

Fitbit technology (certain devices) includes elevation information (for determining step count for up and down stairs), but in this case is vertical positioning a critical factor?

If MT is still alive and wearing an adequately-charged Fitbit and it is synced to a phone and that phone is communicating through its carrier network and uploading data then we might see heart rate, elevation over time (stairs) and other data based on the feature set of the Fitbit device... but none of that is relevant except maybe the stairs/level information.

GPS data is the critical information and is all you'd need to determine MT's location.

 

[Athena12]

I read a sketchy news report that somebody "mowing" turned in a shirt he found. I assumed he was "mowing hay," as in a pasture and not a lawn. Is there a location cited to clarify the "mowing?"

They might have been mowing the ditch. Where I live in the midwest, the county mows the ditches of rural roads a few times a year.

 

[Vail]

Can I obtain detailed information about a current FBI investigation that I see in the news? — FBI
Makes me wonder which department (local or FBI) has the lead in this investigation.

The FBI joined in on the 24th of July State and federal investigators join in search for Mollie Tibbetts

Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Mike Krapfl is the one speaking to the press, but it still appears to be a joint effort by all involved.