Mollie Tibbetts Found Dead As Search For Iowa Student Ends, Sources Tell ‘Fox News’
The body of an Iowa college student who vanished over a month ago while jogging has been found dead, according to Fox News. Her disappearance and subsequent month-long search captured national headlines.
Information regarding where the body was found or the cause of death has not been released, but a law enforcement source told Fox News the body believed to be Tibbetts’ was located in Iowa. Her father, Rob Tibbetts, declined to confirm the information, USA Today reported.
Tibbetts, 20, was last seen jogging through her rural town of Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. She was reported missing the following day when she failed to show up at the daycare where she worked. Her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, said he opened a Snapchat message from Tibbetts later the day she went missing that included a photo in which she looked to be indoors, according to the USA Today report.
BREAKING NEWS: Body believed to be missing Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts found, two sources tell Fox News https://t.co/8CXhNr6cQA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 21, 2018
Her disappearance prompted the FBI, state, and local law enforcement agencies to work around the clock to find Tibbetts. The University of Iowa sophomore psychology student was watching dogs at her boyfriend’s brother’s home in Brooklyn, Iowa, when authorities said she appeared to have gone out for a routine evening jog. She was last seen around 7:30 p.m. local time.
In the course of the past five weeks, investigators have interviewed dozens of people and searched a nearby hog farm, cornfields, and other properties for any trace of Tibbetts. A reward fund had surpassed $400,000 in hopes of attracting tips that could lead to her, Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said, according to USA Today.
Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said the Tibbetts family and investigators would turn their resources and energy into catching her killer “once they catch their breath,” according to a Daily Mail report.
No arrests have been announced in connection with the case. A news conference is set to take place at 5 p.m. local time.
Tibbetts’ family pleaded for her safe return and had remained hopeful Tibbetts would be found alive until the end. Her father has returned home to the San Francisco area after spending weeks looking for his daughter in Iowa.
Last week, the FBI said investigators believed Tibbetts had been abducted by someone she knew, according to the Daily Mail report. They said that the person was most likely “hiding in plain sight” and had even attended vigils held in her honor.
“The bottom line is somebody knows something,” Rob Tibbetts previously told Fox News, adding that Brooklyn is a small city and that “you can’t do anything there without someone seeing it.”
