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

[PaulR]

I think a lot of it has to do with 'translating' the data that the FitBit is storing. I work with data output IRL (different industry altogether) - the data points it is spitting out isn't going to necessarily going to say Mollie ran 10 feet due north, turned right, ran half a mile until 7:35, etc. All of these probably just-numeric data points will need to be transformed into usable information. It can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially if they've never had to use it in this capacity before. It doesn't seem like a FitBit has been used in this manner before, off the top of my head. It is different from the data just being fed into the pre-designed apps that can almost instantly give you your running and sleeping stats.

Fitbit does this though with the uploaded data - if you turned on location tracking before going on a walk/run/etc., Fitbit's web site will show you where you walked, you heart rate, etc. You also have to tell it to stop once you are done.

If (say) she was abducted by car while she was on a run, and location tracking was on, Fitbit will keep tracking your location. It's not quite smart enough to know that humans can't run at 60mph.

 

[Bravo]

Well eye witness accounts are deemed the least reliable. He may have seen Mollie on another day in a pink sports bra

 

[MelmothTheLost]

People who have never lived in a small town don't know how edgy they can be!

That's an interesting comment. What do you mean by "edgy"? I can see that in a small community that's been fairly stable for decades, if not generations, then most people will have a history of some sort with a significant number of other inhabitants. Any of those negative histories could boil over into violence or criminality in the right (or wrong) circumstances.

 

[LadyBadWolf]

Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office Facebook:

Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office

 

[arabell]

i think small towns have just as much of a chance to have murder, disappearances, and other crimes as cities do. it's difficult to understand how a girl can go missing in such a small town, but there's evil people in every community. i live in a small town in Illinois, a little bigger than Brooklyn, and a little girl my age was abducted from her home in the middle of the night, raped, killed and dumped in the forest preserve in 2004 i think. as i've grown older, and technology becomes much more advanced, my parents have become even more strict and always keeping a watch on me. we have video cameras around our house and they ALWAYS have my phone location running on their phones. always thought it was annoying because i never had freedom, but with all these cases and especially Mollie's, i am very thankful that they keep such a close watch on me.

as far as the discussion about putting microchips in people, i'm not against that. i think it would be very beneficial in helping LE with disappearances and criminal activity. i think if we did implement something like that in the US the info should only be available to LE, of course.

perspective is everything. what happened to Mollie could happen anywhere and to anybody. i don't think anyone should feel 'too comfortable' wherever they go, even if it's the friendliest town in the world. when my parents moved to our small town, they never thought a young girl their daughter's age would be abducted and killed only a few mere blocks away.

i don't think anything should be ruled out due to the lack of information on Mollie's disappearance. she never showed any warning signs of depression or wanting to leave, but she very well could have killed herself or ran away. we all need to have open minds. sadly, it does look like foul play was involved. hoping for her safe return or any sort of justice for this sweet girl.

really didn't mean to type an essay there!

 

[MFH]

Yeah, I also read it was a black sports bra.

I believe the neighbor said pink, but the original posts from le and family said black & around 5:30 for time seen as opposed to ~7:30 which the neighbor on the Facebook comment said. So it may have turned out that another sighting was mistaken and this neighbor was correct.

IMOO

ETA: typo and broadened time sighted by neighbor

 

[wary]

I think she made it home from running due to the Snapchat to BF...who would send a Good Night Snapchat at 7:30 pm before their run? Something happened after that...perhaps lured outside...perhaps picked up by somebody she knew...or they just dropped by. I hope they were able to glean something from it.

I don't believe we have any reason to think that it was a "Good Night snapchat." At first, people thought it was, because the boyfriend said he opened it at 10pm, so we assumed it was sent then. But was it ever presented as such?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

"brother Jake said Mollie always ran in the evening and wore a FitBit and a cell phone holder on her arm, the music playing in wireless headphones."

Oh boy.

 

[gforce]

I think a lot of it has to do with 'translating' the data that the FitBit is storing. I work with data output IRL (different industry altogether) - the data points it is spitting out isn't going to necessarily going to say Mollie ran 10 feet due north, turned right, ran half a mile until 7:35, etc. All of these probably just-numeric data points will need to be transformed into usable information. It can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially if they've never had to use it in this capacity before. It doesn't seem like a FitBit has been used in this manner before, off the top of my head. It is different from the data just being fed into the pre-designed apps that can almost instantly give you your running and sleeping stats.

And I think they are overlaying all of the data they are getting from different data sources to see if they can get more precise on locations and activities.

 

[finine]

Officials: Iowa not seeing spike in missing persons cases

THANK YOU! I am so tired of seeing that fear mongering article about missing persons in the last 10 days. There is nothing going on that’s beyond normal numbers of missing people right now.

 

[Ilovemy3boys]

Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office Facebook:

Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office

Weird that he comments he saw her jogging past his house 8:30-9:30

 

[Vedder]

All of this, practically word for word, is me! Like, I could have written your post!

In my new car the doors unlock automatically when I put it in park...and it drives me crazy! If I am parked I want my car doors locked! I always re-lock if I am not getting out right away.

You may be able to disable that in your settings. I know when I flip through the settings on my dash, there's all sorts of things you can enable/disable.

 

[T_mar]

I don't believe we have any reason to think that it was a "Good Night snapchat." At first, people thought it was, because the boyfriend said he opened it at 10pm, so we assumed it was sent then. But was it ever presented as such?

In the very very beginning there is reference to him saying it said goodnight or something along that lines. I will try and go back and find it but it may have been an updated article

 

[soap mama]

I am forever thankful not to be part of the Facebook rumor mill, it always turns into a 3 ring circus

 

[LadyBadWolf]

And I think they are overlaying all of the data they are getting from different data sources to see if they can get more precise on locations and activities.

Which only makes it more frustrating and time-consuming - it can be a pain without the added stress of helping to find a missing young lady looming over you. I can't even imagine trying to align it all.

 

[ptandj]

Mollie must have several different running shoes since they don't know the color. I would think the boyfriend would know the color of her shoes since she is an avid runner.

I have a couple of pairs of running shoes because I sometimes am a regular runner (I'm not consistent as I stop for months at a time but I have done distances up to and including half marathons). My husband would not be able to tell you the colors of my running shoes with any accuracy. He just doesn't pay attention to that kind of thing. He would probably erroneously mention shoes I had a long time ago that were memorable or something.

Didn't that guy say she had on a black sports bra, though?

I believe there were two different accounts of her out running. One was around 5:30 and mentioned a black top, the other was later and mentioned the pink top. Unclear if she was out twice or if the first was mistaken.

Just catching up on a few pages and a post (can’t remember who’s) made me think about something...
I know we have rehashed the frustration of not knowing how she planned to get to work in the morning (and that no one else seems to know), and that it may not be worrisome to her mom that she didn’t show for dinner, ***BUT wouldn’t she have needed transportation to her moms for dinner if that was the plan? Was one of her brothers supposed to drive her or had they discussed, or assumed that she would come on foot? She does not have a vehicle at this point either, soooo what was the plan? I’m guessing it was for her to come on foot because someone would have followed up or arrived to the boyfriends house to pick her up if not, correct? This bugs me as much as her unknown plans to get to work in the morning, unless it has already been answered.

IMOO

She could have planned to walk/ run over to her mom's for dinner. It's about a mile, easily walkable.

 

[Emerald1328]

Wanted to share what I saw just now...Mollie’s missing poster in a movie theater bathroom in a suburb of Des Moines...approximately an hour from Brooklyn. I can’t remember ever seeing a missing person flyer in a movie theater around here. Good to see!

 

[MelmothTheLost]

THANK YOU! I am so tired of seeing that fear mongering article about missing persons in the last 10 days. There is nothing going on that’s beyond normal numbers of missing people right now.

The only thing that strikes me about the list is that it does not include any elderly people. We see so many misper threads posted here about elderly people with dementia who have wandered off and trigger a report and search.

 

[ptandj]

Weird that he comments he saw her jogging past his house 8:30-9:30

I think he meant that he is usually out there around 8:30-9:30 so that's when he'd guess it was? Maybe it's possible it could have been earlier that particular day and he just didn't realize or specifically check the time. Half hour earlier than usual wouldn't be too notable, I don't think?

 

[Jealoushe]

Officials search hog farm for signs of Mollie Tibbetts