Missing Mollie Tibbetts Possibly Sighted in Missouri

Missing Mollie Tibbetts Possibly Sighted in Missouri
This undated photo released by the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation shows Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who was reported missing from her hometown in the eastern Iowa city of Brooklyn on Thursday, July 19, 2018. A neighbor reported seeing her going for a jog Wednesday evening. The Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office said Monday, July 23, 2018, that Tibbetts had not been found. (Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation/AP)
Henry Jom
8/2/2018
Updated:
8/2/2018
On July 26, an unconfirmed sighting of missing Iowa jogger, Mollie Tibbetts, who was allegedly seen at a truck stop in Kearney, Missouri was reported to Kearney police, KMBC reported.

Police searched the area, spoke to witnesses and reviewed surveillance footage.

No other details about the sighting were released.

The truck stop is located more than 230 miles away from where Tibbetts was last seen.

On July 18, Tibbetts was last seen jogging near her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa and was staying at her boyfriend’s house to watch his dogs while he was out of town, according to Fox News.

The morning after she disappeared, Tibbetts’ family reported her missing after she didn’t show up to her job at a daycare center in a nearby town.

At a news conference on July 31, Kevin Winker, director of investigative operations for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said investigators haven’t drawn any conclusions about what happened to Tibbetts other than that disappearing on her own is “not consistent with her past.”

He said dozens of investigators from his agency, the FBI, and local law enforcement are working on the case, and that they haven’t ruled out any possibilities and are checking out every lead they receive.

Kevin Winker of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation speaks about the disappearance of 20-year-old Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts during a news conference Tuesday, July 31, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Winker says investigators are pursuing every possible lead but haven't determined why Tibbetts went missing on July 18. (AP/Ryan J. Foley)
Kevin Winker of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation speaks about the disappearance of 20-year-old Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts during a news conference Tuesday, July 31, 2018, in Montezuma, Iowa. Winker says investigators are pursuing every possible lead but haven't determined why Tibbetts went missing on July 18. (AP/Ryan J. Foley)
Family members have urged the public to come forward with any information, “the bottom line is somebody knows something,” Tibbetts father, Rob, told Fox News.

“You can’t do anything [in Brooklyn] there without someone seeing it,” Rob added.

Neighbor Dave Collum, a retired maintenance director for the school district, said he was interviewed by investigators who told him that data from Tibbetts’ Fitbit showed she jogged past his home that evening and made it home from the run safely. He said investigators told him she was doing homework on her computer later that evening.

Collum said he often saw Tibbetts running in the neighborhood but didn’t on the night she vanished.  Collum has joined hundreds of other volunteers in searching the area’s cornfields and buildings for Tibbetts. He put a magnet with her face on it on his red pickup truck, so he could have a reminder of her every time he gets into it.

“Everybody in town is still trying,” he said. “It’s sad.”

More than 200 leads have been collected as part of the investigation, police said.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Henry Jom is a reporter for The Epoch Times, Australia, covering a range of topics, including medicolegal, health, political, and business-related issues. He has a background in the rehabilitation sciences and is currently completing a postgraduate degree in law. Henry can be contacted at [email protected]
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