Found Deceased IA - Mollie Tibbetts, 20, Poweshiek County, 19 Jul 2018 *Arrest* #34

[jpo74]

He’s a private attorney

The judge asked him if he wanted a court appointed attorney or if he was satisfied with the private attorney, he wants to keep the private attorney.

How is he getting a private attorney?

 

[Inthedetails]

We are all talking about it....I guess it worked..right?

As my super smart but country-bumpkin-looking farmer grandpa from the midwest would say, "Yep."

 

[cvaldez1975]

I think, even if he makes bond, the moment his feet hit the ground, he is picked up on the ICE detainer and placed in a detention facility.

his feet would never hit the ground. if he bonded out or charges went away, the DOC staff notifies ICE and ICE picks him up.

 

[Justice101]

And I bet he or someone else will either try to claim racism or because he is illegal that he is being railroaded. I think he's guilty and needs to life in prison but I fear that is gonna happen

Whenever the Defense is weak, that's when the other tactics are tried. They seldom work. It's a long long long shot to claim temporary insanity, or racism, or something else totally unrelated to the case. Last gasp and everyone knows it.

It infuriates us... but really never works.

 

[MsBetsy]

Makes sense to me. The court reporter can only translate what is said in court. His own translator could clarify, explain, answer questions.

What a specialized job these translators have!! Just being able to listen and instantly translate blows my tiny brain. I can't even type if someone is talking to me.

jmo

I'm not sure even with a translater will he understand. Many ESL individuals with the intelligence of a seventh grader do not understand complex language even in their native language.

 

[Charliegizmo49]

I'm surprised at the defense acceptance to get things rolling faster. Usually the defense does everything it can to drag a case out.

What's the strategy here??

He didn’t waive the preliminary hearing. It’s on August 31. He slowed it down. Would have speeded it up to waive.

 

[Stormy21]

it was stated on HLN that the 5 million had no conditions. It's the full 5 million in cash.

Was thinking that a bail bondsman charges 10% then fronts the rest.

Of course that isn't going to happen.

 

[Inthedetails]

Gentle suggestion for people upset about the bond to go back to the video to listen what the judge says.

jmo

 

[Chebrock]

Sounds like the database they use verifies the person by checking for matching information on documents. However, from what I've been reading, if the documents are falsified, the database doesn't know that and will clear the employee because they "match."

Isn't it illegal to hire undocumented workers? Of course the employer wants to show that he was documented in some system or other. LOL

 

[CheetosDust]

Hi All !! I am posting this beautiful tribute to Mollie that was written by one of her friends. ***( I have author's Approval AND Approval from the MODS here on WS to post this)****
The Author's words are their personal thoughts and feelings but written with the hopes of sharing the message so that those that didn't know Mollie personally could see her how her friends saw her.

***The world we live in is unjust. There are no certainties other than that it’s unfair. It harbors dark places in which evil lies. It is a cruel place that can break you down moment after moment. It is one of great sorrow. The world we live in is also wonderful. It brings us to people that care about you and you can care about in return. It has hearts full of nothing but joy and kindness. It’s a place that you find support no matter the situation. It is one of much love.

I know Mollie because I had the inexplicably lucky opportunity to work along side her for a day camp in which she devoted her heart to. My journey of friendship with Mollie began specifically on Thursday, June 14th when I was attempting to draw a couple of coworkers (not very well I might add) and she sat beside me and initiated a conversation of what details I had lacked in adding or what was spot on. Needless to say the drawings amounted to little more than hilariously drawn people that were supposed to be coworkers. More importantly, something else had happened. A spark of new friendship with someone I’d never met before had begun.

The next day I wanted to make an impression on my newfound friend so I bought her a McDonalds caramel frappe because she had made a comment the day before that she would “looooove it” if someone went and got her coffee. This act surprised her as a kid who she just met had bought her this as essentially a sign of wanting a friendship.

The next few weeks continued and I began to connect with her through our love of theatre and avid enjoyment of running. Her involvement and care for the kids at the day camp was heartfelt and compassionate. I hoped one day I’d be able to connect to the kids as well as she had.

My next big bonding moment with Mollie came when I was casually singing Whitney Houston to myself and she heard me and began to sign along as well. I remember vividly walking into work one morning after a fairly difficult swim practice, not ready for the day whatsoever, and as soon as I opened the door she shouted from down the hall “DON’T YOU WANNA DANCE, SAY YOU WANNA DANCE!” to which I appropriately replied with the response of “DANCE! WITH ME BOY!”. This became a common ritual as we both loved the song and we loved the way the children looked at us like we were weirdos.

All of us at the day camp are comedic legends in my eyes. A common phrase that was used between us was “She is beauty. She is grace. She is Miss United States” This phrase never made sense whenever it was used but we all loved it. One time, a photo was posted on our group chat and someone began the saying with “She is beauty. She is grace” to which I immediately chimed in “Mollie is shorter than cinco seis”. I found this immensely funny and laughed for days at my own clever wittiness. Mollie’s height was a thing that always got pointed out, usually by myself, and it became a running gag of how I could point it out each day. We’re both very huggy people and our heights complimented each other.

On the last day I saw Mollie, Wednesday, July 18th, she brought me a caramel frappe. She was so excited. She was like “HEY! I finally bought you one!”

Thursday, July 19th had a rainy morning. Swim practice got canceled and I went out to breakfast with my cousin and I remember thinking it was odd that I hadn’t received one of Mollie’s usual morning “Fact of the day” snapchats yet. The day went on and she never showed up and our concern level had gotten high. Mollie was announced a missing person and thus began the longest month. I remember that weekend I did not want to go back to the day camp because all I had were memories of her there and the pain of not seeing her would be to great. We did go back and we pushed through together. I realized that I didn’t want to be anywhere but the day camp because when there, I was surrounded by warm and happy memories of you. A new sense of hope was in our hearts and we weren’t giving up on you no matter what.

Eventually one week became two. Two became three and so on, until we reached today. Today, Tuesday, August 21st, I woke up to the most utterly gut wrenching news I could imagine. Mollie was gone. I received an absolute massive amounts of messages about condolence and sympathies. I didn’t open them because I knew once I read those messages and responded to my friends, it would all become real for me. I felt as if the air we’d all had to hold our breath all of this time had just been sucked out, leaving nothing but pain. I didn’t know what to do as no details had yet been released, so I did the one thing I could. I went to McDonald’s, bought a caramel Frappe, went to the location of the day camp where we worked, and listened to the silence as I let every memory come likes waves in the ocean. I went through the motions of the rest of the day until I went and stargazed. There, I felt close to your soul.

As I draw closer to the end of this writing I want to talk about Wonder Woman, more specifically a quote from it. In the Film’s climactic end battle, Wonder Woman is faced with the reality that evil things in the world are not, in fact, as a result of an evil force that, once defeated, will cause all evil in the world to go away. She realizes that a choice between doing good and evil resides in each and every one of us and it’s how we make that choice of choosing that determines how our world continues. Mollie saw the good in everyone and encouraged them to be the best possible “them” they could. With that, I believe it’s up to us to choose to do good and see the good in people as Mollie did.

I’ll be honest, I wish I could keep writing this forever because I know once I stop, I’ll have to continue in a world that doesn’t get to make more memories with you. A friendship like the one I experienced with you is something I never expected to have or know I needed. This pain will never disappear, but I know it too will get better and life will continue. I’ll think of you often as you’ve shaped the way I view the world in my eyes. To quote the Golden Girls, “It’s been an experience that I’ll hold very close to my heart, and these are memories that I’ll wrap myself in when the world gets cold and I forget that there are people who are warm and kind.”

I love you Mollie

Crying my eyes out. Thank you.

 

[tabitha111]

We really don't know. We have the five points of interest, and we know that one of those points of interest is close to 1900 385 Ave (which is mentioned in the warrant).

These updated maps are the best I can figure out at this time. I don't understand the meaning of 1900 385Ave if the video footage of the suspect chasing and attempting to abduct Mollie is at Boundary/Middle. With all the directions that she could run, why would she run along a road out of Brooklyn?

MOO is that he might have "forced" her in some way to go down that route. If he was waiting for her as she started to go further up Boundary and she decided to quickly change her route to get away from him. Or, he got out of the car at that intersection and started "running" with her and sort of herded her in that direction, not letting her pass on either side of him- until she realized that all she could do was break away and start running from him. MOO

 

[PommyMommy]

OMG—-it just occurred to me..WC is innocent!!!!!!!

 

[SuperTmo]

OMG—-it just occurred to me..WC is innocent!!!!!!!

Of course he was. They would have arrested him immediately if they had reasons to suspect otherwise. I feel bad for that guy and glad he wasn’t railroaded just for the sake of “solving” this case. I’m glad the real bad guy was found

 

[Chebrock]

And I bet he or someone else will either try to claim racism or because he is illegal that he is being railroaded. I think he's guilty and needs to life in prison but I fear that is gonna happen

I thought the same thing but the fact that he took them to the body is pretty damning. It's hard to claim he was railroaded when he was the only one who knew where the body was.

 

[curvecuti]

Was thinking that a bail bondsman charges 10% then fronts the rest.

Of course that isn't going to happen.

Yes, a bondsman does. A bondsman can not be used in this case.

 

[rebel123]

I don't think he killed her because he was afraid of deportation. But, her threatening to call the cops might have enraged him all the more because he thought he could be deported.

BUT....this was a crime of rage from start to finish - and he didn't really need a rational reason to be enraged. He was primed and ready to be enraged. If the thought of deportation enraged him, that was just one aspect of the crime, imo.

I don't think he thought - I'm going to be deported so I'll kill her. I think he was acting more primal than that. He was going to hurt her no matter what she said.

jmo

I disagree; I think I read that when the other migrant workers were question by LE; they thought they were from ICE.

 

[Mountain Misst]

Rivera was on LE radar and interviewed within 2 days of the disappearance of Mollie. IMO, if a cadaver K9 had been run over his vehicle, their presence would have served a great purpose. All this extended grief could have been avoided.

I trust that those on the ground now lobby for better access to K9s in the state of Iowa. The $400,000 raised could go to practical use.

 

[Inthedetails]

Possibly, but I guarantee it will come into play when they try to toss out the confession.

Yes, this worries me. jmo

 

[Peaches96]

After 5 weeks in the summer heat, the body will be a bit if a mess because of decomposition. However, post-mortem X-Ray will still show a lot, especially for blunt trauma to the head, and something like a motor vehicle accident.

Someone on the news media’s live twitter feed commented she had been “brutally raped.” Do you know if this has been verified?

 

[gobble]

OMG—-it just occurred to me..WC is innocent!!!!!!!

Can you imagine the kid would've chosen the other field to dump the body, found by police during the initial search and no viable alibi for WC? Nobody would've believed him in a million years even with no other evidence to be found.

 

[Crystal Regan]

I'm surprised at the defense acceptance to get things rolling faster. Usually the defense does everything it can to drag a case out.

What's the strategy here??

I may have worded it wrong. He chose not to waive the hearing. If he had waived the hearing, the ball gets rolling quicker.