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Missing Iowa Girl's Father Returns Home As Search Continues, Still Hopeful She'll Be Found Alive
Rob Tibbetts called his return "a half-time" and still believes his daughter will be found alive
The father of missing college student Mollie Tibbetts has returned home to California after a month-long search yielded few details about his daughter's current whereabouts.
Tibbetts disappeared July 18 and was last seen out on a jog in the rural town of Brooklyn, Iowa. She had been dogsitting for her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, when she disappeared.
Her father, Rob Tibbetts, flew to Iowa shortly after she vanished and has been a vocal part of the search effort, often talking with media and the public about his 20-year-old daughter. He recently joined Jack and Tibbetts' aunt at the Iowa State Fair where all three passed out buttons, T-shirts and missing person flyers, according to Fox News.
Rob Tibbetts told KCRG-TV9 he was leaving "very reluctantly" after law enforcement officers had urged the family to return to their regular lives.
"We've called this sort of a half-time, a break," he said.
Mollie Tibbetts' brothers have also moved to college before the new school year begins, however the family remains optimistic that Tibbetts will be found alive.
"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," her father told KCRG-TV9. "I want to be there when she arrives."
Rob Tibbetts said he plans to return to Iowa as soon as there is any major development in the case.
Investigators, including the FBI, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office, continue to actively work on the case. They've received more than 2,300 tips since the disappearance, according to KCCI, and recently launched a website to gather more details from the public.
The site, Findingmollie.iowa.gov, asks potential witnesses to provide additional information about five specific areas in and around Brooklyn, Iowa that were identified by investigators as areas of interest.
A reward for information that leads to her safe return is now more than $366,000, KCCI reported.
[Photo: Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office]
