Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 #17

[MargeGunderson]

Yea I was thinking the same. My best friends parents were murdered 2 years ago. It was very high profile because they were “missing” first. A news conference was scheduled on a Tues. LE called us and met with us to say they were found and murdered so they postponed the conference for 3 days to get arrest warrants and MAKE an arrest and to get all the evidence secured so the public did not get a chance to interfere. This postponing makes me very worried

First - how awful. I am so sorry for you and your friend's loss. What a horrible thing to go through.

I am really surprised to hear this is how it happened in your case. I had always assumed if press were already involved, as they are in this case, that it would be nearly impossible to find a body without people knowing about it. If they have found her, they would have to remove her from wherever she is and I would think that would draw attention. But clearly it doesn't always.

 

[Ommmm]

Just a tidbit from Mollie's father's interview with Shep Smith on Fox News earlier. He asked social media companies to set aside privacy concerns to aid in further developing Mollie's social media footprint. Yes, subpoenas can be served, but it's a lot easier if these companies do it on their own, and perhaps go a bit further than simply providing data on Mollie alone.

Snapchat... we’re looking at you

 

[Marie224]

The father's new wife? Are you referring to the blonde woman who looked rather upset? She was from a Missing Persons org. I saw no other woman there.

MT's parents have been divorced for a long time. Father recently got remarried to another woman who has attended 1 PC with the family.

 

[mommylicious]

I thought the same thing. She seems a little too smart to be taking pics of herself in a lacy bra and posting on social media. The pics of her sticking her tongue out or ones in her underwear are so “off”. They just don’t fit in. It seems like those would be the type of pics posts a young teen would do not thinking about the impact it has being seen by the world, not a 20 year old psych major.

Eh. I was a psych major (not that it's here nor there, but I was a double major at a pretty small, private college, high academic achiever, etc) and I did a lot of less than smart stuff. Thankfully cell phones were just taking off otherwise I'd probably have had similar pics. It really wasn't until I was entering the workforce that I really started paying attention to what I was putting out there on social media.

 

[Fire Fox 2]

If LE did figure out who it was or just found a body, due to the high profile, they have to cross all i’s and dot all t’s. Also if there IS a crime scene somewhere they need a few days to comb thru it and preserve evidence. Also, if there is a perp and that person is know to family and friends, they want to get the arrest before they can be tipped. It took 3 full days of us knowing everything until the public was told. Just my experience.

 

[Bits777]

Early on media was reporting that Mollie's electronic footprint would find her- has all the data been processed? Is it likely that her phone never left Brooklyn Iowa or that it lost charge before she left her town? If she ever did leave her town.

 

[Whiteorchids]

YES, I do. Again, this is because of the murder of my close friends. They were wealthy, all three kids (adults) had jobs. From the first meeting with LE, we had reported them missing. LE asked us how we wanted to do the press. So we were there for the 1st to ask for help in locating. They were found in their car in another town murdered. We were given that delay in the press to allow us to seek privacy and they wanted to arrest the 2 killers before they had any clue. They were def a flight risk. They were also VERY close friends... so this case is starting to make me worry.... I pray I’m wrong

Im so sorry for your loss. Such a tragic story. Hugs

 

[margarita25]

Behind here again, catching up but want to say I have changed my views on the possible random traveling SK predator, I find the interview with WC very troubling, moo. Not accusing. Could be way off. If this violates TOS, my sincere apologies, please delete. But the distance etc possibly makes sense to me. And the FBI’s obvious strong interest.

Also possibly leaning now towards someone close to her, moo.

—-still curious about the burglary.

Ps great posts and interesting thoughts in the last couple threads!

 

[gregjrichards]

If LE did figure out who it was or just found a body, due to the high profile, they have to cross all i’s and dot all t’s. Also if there IS a crime scene somewhere they need a few days to comb thru it and preserve evidence. Also, if there is a perp and that person is know to family and friends, they want to get the arrest before they can be tipped. It took 3 full days of us knowing everything until the public was told. Just my experience.

Welcome to Websleuths Fire Fox 2! Thank you for joining us.

 

[Ilovemy3boys]

Early on media was reporting that Mollie's electronic footprint would find her- has all the data been processed? Is it likely that her phone never left Brooklyn Iowa or that it lost charge before she left her town?

That’s what I thought. Maybe whoever took her, broke it and threw it before they left town

 

[Marie224]

Snapchat... we’re looking at you

This is true and why its also important to add a trusted person, other than your significant other, (like a friend or relative) to be an authorized user on all your accounts, especially your cell phone provider.

In today's world, it takes days/weeks to gain legal permission to gain access to these accounts, if there was already an added user, there would be no issue at all and the information would be released immediately vs. unknown timeframe.

 

[Twistinginthewind]

YES, I do. Again, this is because of the murder of my close friends. They were wealthy, all three kids (adults) had jobs. From the first meeting with LE, we had reported them missing. LE asked us how we wanted to do the press. So we were there for the 1st to ask for help in locating. They were found in their car in another town murdered. We were given that delay in the press to allow us to seek privacy and they wanted to arrest the 2 killers before they had any clue. They were def a flight risk. They were also VERY close friends... so this case is starting to make me worry.... I pray I’m wrong

Thank you Fire Fox 2, for your input. So sad to learn of your best friend's parents being murdered. It must be life changing and devastating for everyone who knows them!

 

[Fire Fox 2]

First - how awful. I am so sorry for you and your friend's loss. What a horrible thing to go through.

I am really surprised to hear this is how it happened in your case. I had always assumed if press were already involved, as they are in this case, that it would be nearly impossible to find a body without people knowing about it. If they have found her, they would have to remove her from wherever she is and I would think that would draw attention. But clearly it doesn't always.

Thanks. It would be hard to keep it under wraps BUT her parents were found in a small town 30 min away in their SUV that had been parking in the back at a busy truck stop/gas station. We were given the 3 days mostly to be able to get off work and go hide. It’s sad but true. We were not allowed to tell ANYONE until the announcement to public. Again, I hope this is not the case. But the DA had come over and told us he wanted the arrest warrant to be SOLID and catch the 2 by surprise before they fled.... imagine if they just said today that they found Mollie dead or had a suspect. The family would have ZERO privacy...

 

[MillyM]

A woman in black dress with short blond hair attending last PC was introduced as RT's (new) wife.

Ah. Will try and find and have another look. I am sure was just one, or on clip I saw! Maybe was edited version of what you saw and she was cut out.

 

[Stippling]

They don’t have her phone to even request it be unlocked in the first place.

But they most likely would be able to access her most recent icloud backup and also her ISP or cellular provider will be able to provide lots of data to reconstruct her activities that afternoon and evening. Nothing beats a forensic image, but they may be able to image the phones of the people she communicated with that day and get an accurate picture of her traffic with those phones. It is my understanding some Snapchat traffic can be retrieved from Android phones. It has been done in other cases. Not sure if any Android phones were used here.

 

[gitana1]

I’ll join you in being no fun. This is a high profile case. They are not going to wait 3 days to arrest anyone or to have a grand press conference on a Friday so the perp can sit in jail. If they have someone they will arrest him or her immediately. I personally don’t think they have a single POI and I don’t think they know where she is or exactly how she was taken.

100% agree. It would leak quickly in a case of this magnitude and the moment they have enough to arrest a perp they're doing it.

 

[PaulR]

This is true and why its also important to add a trusted person, other than your significant other, (like a friend or relative) to be an authorized user on all your accounts, especially your cell phone provider.

In today's world, it takes days/weeks to gain legal permission to gain access to these accounts, if there was already an added user, there would be no issue at all and the information would be released immediately vs. unknown timeframe.

Keep in mind even without a subpoena, it does take time for companies to pull the data in a way that LE can utilize. And typically there is data that is connected but not displayed to a use - like the IP address that a specific tweet was posted from, exactly what time a Fitbit was last synced, etc.

 

[gitana1]

Agreed. I think if they arrest someone, it'll go down like EAR/ONS did. We log on one morning and are stunned that it's all over and we had no idea anything was in progress. I highly doubt they are arresting WC between now and then and announcing "big news coming!" to tip him off. I don't think he's really involved at all.

What's EAR/ONS?

 

[Whiteorchids]

Early on media was reporting that Mollie's electronic footprint would find her- has all the data been processed? Is it likely that her phone never left Brooklyn Iowa or that it lost charge before she left her town? If she ever did leave her town.

Her Fitbit last signaled at or around WC property. That’s what took LE there to search in the first place. Mollies possible 3rd missing red tee shirt was found by a Gardner who was mowing the lawn near WC property. Im sure LE would have already tested it for her DNA. If they have confirmed it was hers they are keeping info close to the vest. There again not to raise flags with the possible perp.

 

[SharonNeedles]

They don’t have her phone to even request it be unlocked in the first place.

That’s what I’m saying tho. If my phone disappears my wife can restore it intact on another iPhone. It’s crazy.