Mollie Tibbetts
While police continue to look for clues in the disappearance of a 20-year-old University of Iowa student from Poweshiek County, her friends and family are working to clear up some misinformation about the case.
Mollie Tibbetts went missing last Wednesday night in Brooklyn. Her aunt, Kim Calderwood, told KCRG-TV one of the biggest misconceptions she’s seen in national news reports and on social media is where Tibbetts was the night that she disappeared. “I read somewhere that she was running in a cornfield. That’s obviously not true,” Calderwood said.
Tibbetts had gone for a run earlier in the evening, but she had returned to her boyfriend’s home in Brooklyn afterward. Her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, told KCRG that Tibbetts was dog-sitting at his house on July 18 while he was in Dubuque for work. Jack said he opened a Snapchat around 10 p.m. Wednesday from Tibbetts, where she was back inside the home. When she didn’t show up to her job on Thursday morning and failed to call her employer, Jack knew something was wrong.
“I looked at my phone and noticed I texted her ‘good morning’ that morning and she hadn’t (looked at) it. So, I got ahold of her friends and family,” Jack said. Police and her family say they have few clues and complicating matters is misinformation.
Some posters spread online and around town misspelled Tibbetts’ middle and last name, and listed her as 5’2″ and 120 pounds. “She’s 5’3″ and 130 pounds,” Jack said. “And her middle name is spelled with two E’s.” Calderwood is hoping someone knows something about what happened to her niece, Mollie Cecelia Tibbetts, and she’ll return home soon.
“You’ve seen her pictures,” Calderwood told KCRG. “She’s obviously a physically beautiful girl, but she’s more beautiful on the inside.” Hundreds of people spent portions of last weekend searching farm fields and other areas around Brooklyn, but found no sign of Tibbetts – who is due to start her sophomore year at the University of Iowa in the fall.