Twenty-year-old Mollie Tibbetts was dog-sitting at her boyfriend's house in Brooklyn, Iowa, on the night of July 18th.
Around dusk, she went for a run, and returned home to finish work on her laptop and snapchat her friends. But what happened after this normal routine is still widely unknown to Mollie's family, friends, and investigators. Tibbetts was reported missing the next morning after she failed to show up for her job at a local daycare in a neighboring town. Her last digital footprint? A normal image of her face that was sent via Snapchat to her boyfriend around 10pm to 11pm the previous evening.
It's now mid-August, which means we are coming up on a month since Mollie disappeared without a trace. In the wake of her absence, police have followed up on hundreds of possible leads which have all come up empty. Police have also said they would be looking into the information contained in the GPS tracking on Mollie's phone and FitBit, which are two items that still have not been recovered. There has not been, at least to my knowledge, any worthwhile data found in either of these devices. And, at the days tick on, it's becoming more likely that Mollie was indeed abducted as opposed to any other scenario. So what exactly is so weird and unsettling about this case?
A few things are bothersome.
First of all, Mollie's boyfriend (who has, for reference, been cleared of any suspicions) told news outlets that there seemed to be no sign of forced entry into the house or any kind of struggle. If Mollie had been taken against her will, Jack believed she would've at least attempted to fight back, and that there would be some evidence of that around the house. This would lead me to believe that perhaps, Mollie's abductor was very skilled at taking her and leaving no evidence. Or, Mollie left willingly in a vehicle with someone who had a different perception of the nature of the communication between the two individuals.
It also remains bothersome that Mollie could've fled on her own to start a new life, get into a new business, or so on. But that theory remains very uncharacteristic and unlikely of Tibbetts. She was a student at the University of Iowa studying psychology, and she loved life and the people around her dearly. The prospect of her disappearing to begin anew seems very slim. Tibbetts' family has also said she would not be one to hurt her loved ones in that way for the sake of radical self-discovery.
Another factor of the investigation that is bothersome is how little information the police and FBI are releasing. It may be for the better, however. They want the public's help in locating Mollie, but giving out too much information about the investigation, especially if a possible abductor is watching, can be lethal. What we do know is that the FBI has questioned local pig farmer Wayne Cheney numerous times, but nothing has come of his questioning, even after he took a polygraph test.
Mollie's family has also been pretty quiet on the situation. Her father Rob spoke to ABC News a few nights ago and reiterated his theory that, as mentioned above, Mollie is with someone she knows, and likely someone who cares about her. Past that, the family is likely very emotionally distraught and exhausted due to the fact that there have been, at least to the public's knowledge, no worthwhile lead in Mollie's disappearance thus far.
The whole case just seems very off for other reasons that I can't seem to put a finger on. Regardless, it is my hope (and the hope of everyone following her story) that she is found safely and returned home to be reunited with those who care about her most.
