There was a possible Mollie Tibbetts sighting in Missouri.
A possible Mollie Tibbetts sighting was reported at a Kearney, Missouri truck stop. However, was Tibbetts really sighted? Police now say no. They have ruled out the sighting, and they say it wasn’t Mollie Tibbetts, according to the Des Moines Register.
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Mike Krapfl told the Register that the sighting has been ruled out.
The Iowa college student from small-town Brooklyn has been missing since Wednesday, July 18, 2018. She was last seen going for a jog, although, due to a Snapchat she sent her boyfriend later that night, it’s believed she might really have vanished after that point, possibly even the next morning.
The missing college student’s disappearance has galvanized searches by family, friends, and law enforcement agencies desperate to know what happened to her. News of a possible Mollie Tibbetts sighting broke on August 2, 2018, but it remained unconfirmed. However, the possible sighting was actually reported to police the week before.
Family members have told local news outlets that it would be out of character for Mollie to disappear on her own.
Here’s what you need to know:
A Witness Reported Possibly Seeing Mollie at a Missouri Truck Stop
Mollie Tibbetts.
The possible sighting was reported to police in Kearney, Missouri, according to KMBC-TV.
This is the statement that Kearney police released on the possible sighting:
“The Kearney Missouri Police Department did respond to a possible sighting on 7-26-2018 at a truck stop within our jurisdiction. Officers conducted a thorough search of the area, spoke with all possible witnesses, and reviewed all available video footage. A report was sent to the investigating task force regarding this possible sighting.”
FacebookMollie Tibbetts.
Kearney, Missouri is located about 25 minutes from Kansas City. It’s located about 3.5 hours from Brooklyn, Iowa, where Tibbetts was last seen.
However, Kearney police Sgt. Joe Kantola told KMBC-TV that “if Mollie had been spotted in the surveillance video from the truck stop, he would have mentioned it in the statement,” and he said only one person claimed to have seen someone who looked like Tibbetts at the truck stop.
Relative Sandi Tibbetts Murphy wrote on the family’s “Finding Mollie Tibbetts” Facebook page, “So many of you have shared FB posts about possible sightings of Mollie in the Midwest. The investigative team was made aware of the posts this morning and have followed up appropriately. At this time, we still have not found Mollie. Thank you all did your efforts to help us bring Mollie home. Please remember that ANY tips should be shared at the established tip line. Tips@poweshiekcosheriff.com.”
Here is one of the Facebook posts circulating in the case and that a person posted on the Finding Mollie Tibbetts Facebook page comment thread.
However, a woman who wrote on Facebook that she was part of the discussion group where the claim originated cast doubts on its legitimacy in a post.
Police in Brooklyn, Iowa, joined by the FBI in their efforts to find Tibbetts, have been scouring the area as well as studying data from Mollie’s fitbit.
According to KCCI-TV, several KCCI viewers sent that television station “screenshots of a Facebook post saying there was a possible sighting of Tibbetts and that she ‘might have been drugged, looked disoriented and was with a truck driver.'”
FacebookMollie Tibbetts.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation told KCCI that the agency weas aware of the possible sighting and was investigating it, but they gave no indication of whether they think it’s legitimate or not.
There is a $30,000 reward for information that leads police to Mollie’s whereabouts.
Mollie was dog sitting alone at a home in Brooklyn, Iowa, when she disappeared. Her boyfriend was out of town for work, so she was alone in the dwelling. Authorities have canvassed the area and have also searched a local pig farm but, so far, they have come up empty in their quest to determine what happened to the missing college student.
The disappearance has traumatized the small Iowa town, which has rallied behind Mollie’s distraught family in the quest to find her.
People with information should contact police tip lines at (800) 452-1111 or (515) 223-1400. People with information can also send tips to tips@poweshiekcosheriff.com.
