Mollie Tibbetts’s Father Returning to California After Searching for Missing Daughter

The father of missing college student Mollie Tibbetts is returning home to California after spending weeks searching for his daughter.

“Very reluctantly, I’m being told I sort of need to do this,” Rob Tibbetts told KCRG. “We’ve called this sort of a halftime, a break.”

Mollie, 20, was last seen in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. She went on a jog and returned to the home of her boyfriend Dalton Jack; she was dogsitting for him as he was spending several days about 100 miles away for work.

Though investigators have scoured the area and a reward of $366,000 is being offered, Mollie is still missing.

Returning to Normal Lives

Rob Tibbetts said that law enforcement officials have been encouraging family members to return to their normal lives and leave them in charge.

While he’s returning to California, where he lives and works, he’s not giving up. He said he’s confident that his daughter is alive and will be found.

“I still feel that way, we all feel that way, that’s why it’s difficult for me knowing there’s a good chance that we’re going to bring her home,” said Rob Tibbetts. “I want to be there when she arrives.”

Tibbetts told the Des Moines Register that he’s grateful to community members, law enforcement, and reporters for their help in the search, calling his experience in Brooklyn and Iowa humbling.

“Just extraordinary people,” Tibbetts said. “I appreciate the media and the national attention and all that, but the people in Brooklyn that know Mollie, that’s the part that’s really touching.”

He said he will still be talking to reporters from San Francisco.

Possible Abduction

Family members and some law enforcement officials previously said that they believed Mollie Tibbetts was kidnapped, and by someone she knows.

“I think someone went to the house that Mollie knew or that Mollie trusted and that she left with them willingly,” Rob Tibbetts said earlier in August. “Now they’re in over their head and they don’t know what to do.”

Some of their public pleas have included language aimed at whoever may be holding the missing student, urging them to reconsider their decision and return her to safety.

“If someone out there is holding Mollie, and they’re in over their head and they’ve made a horrible mistake, you can end it now before it goes any further,” Rob Tibbetts added.

The reward for information leading to the discovery of Mollie has escalated gradually and now stands at around $366,000.

A government page has been launched with the key details of Mollie’s disappearance and a map detailing five key locations. Anyone with possible information is urged to call the police.

From NTD.tv