Mollie Tibbetts’ Father Says He Believes She Was Abducted by Somebody She Knows

The father of missing student Mollie Tibbetts said that he thinks she left with someone whom she trusted.

“I think someone went to the house that Mollie knew or that Mollie trusted and that she left with them willingly,” Robert Tibbetts, her father, told CBS News. “Now they’re in over their head and they don’t know what to do.”

“I just don’t think that anyone set out to harm Mollie,” Tibbetts also told Fox News on Aug. 7. “And the longer we go without finding her, the more optimistic we are that she is with someone that doesn’t want to harm her but doesn’t know how to extricate themselves from this situation.”

The outpouring of support from around the United States touched Tibbetts’ parents, they said. “I think it’s because people see in Mollie their own daughters, their own girlfriend, their own sister,” Robert Tibbetts said, according to CBS.

Tibbetts has been missing since July 18 after she was seen jogging in Brooklyn, where she was staying at her boyfriend’s house to watch his dogs. Dalton Jack, her boyfriend, and family reported Tibbetts missing on July 19 when she didn’t show for work. The case has drawn national attention and heavy media coverage.

Police haven’t identified any suspects or made any arrests in her case. A reward for information about her case has reached more than $277,000, according to Iowa officials.

The father of the woman, Rob Tibbetts, meanwhile, told the Des Moines Register that his family is seeking answers. “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,” he said.

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The Iowa Department of Public Safety said that her last known article of clothing is said to be dark-colored running shorts, a pink sports top, and running shoes, color unknown.

Anyone with information about Tibbetts’s disappearance should call Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679 or send an email to [email protected].