Missing Iowa Student: Mollie Tibbetts's Father Believes Daughter Left 'Willingly' With Someone and They’re Now 'In Over Their Head'

Robert Tibbetts believes his daughter, missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, may have left willingly with someone she trusted when she disappeared nearly three weeks ago. Authorities have been searching for the 20-year-old college sophomore since she went missing on July 18.

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

Mollie Tibbetts, 20, has been missing from her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, since July 18. A reward for information on her whereabouts has reached $277,000. Iowa Department of Public Safety

Mollie was staying at her boyfriend’s house in Brooklyn, Iowa, on the night of July 18. She was reported missing the following day after she failed to show up for work. Mollie’s boyfriend, 20-year-old Dalton Jack, and his brothers have been ruled out as suspects.

In a separate interview with ABC News, Robert Tibbetts acknowledged that his ideas about where his daughter may be are “totally speculation.”

Robert added: “I do believe that Mollie is with someone who she knows, probably someone who cares about her. But that relationship was misguided, misinterpreted and went wrong, and I think they’re in a place with Mollie and don’t know how to get themselves out of this horrible situation.”

Investigators have received nearly 500 new leads and tips since Thursday, ABC News reported.

The FBI has turned its attention on a Poweshiek County farmer who has been questioned by investigators a number of times about Mollie's disappearance. Wayne Cheney told The Des Moines Register that he declined the FBI’s request to take a polygraph exam on Monday.

Cheney said he has allowed investigators to search his home and 70-acre farm. He maintained that he has “nothing to hide” and claimed he has never met Mollie or her family. Cheney told the newspaper that he refused to take the polygraph exam because “it’s stupid.”

Cheney has been interviewed at least three times but has not been named a suspect. His property was searched on July 25, The Des Moines Register reported.

Investigators said on Friday that they are treating the case as a missing-persons case. “We are trying to find Mollie. That continues to be our focus,” Kevin Winker, director of investigative operations at the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said during a news conference on Friday.

The reward for information about Mollie’s disappearance has reached more than $277,000.

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