Mollie Tibbetts: Body found in search for Iowa student who went missing while jogging, reports say

Kimberley Richards
Updated

Mollie Tibbetts, a student from Iowa who went missing while out running, has been found dead, according to multiple reports.

The 20-year-old rising sophomore at the University of Iowa was last seen alive on 18 July jogging near her home in Brooklyn, Iowa, located nearly 70 miles east of the state's capital Des Moines.

She was reported missing shortly after by her family.

Both Fox News and CBS News reported the discovery of the body, citing police sources.

Greg Willey, the vice president of Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa, told the Associated Press that a body had been found on Tuesday and it is believed to be Ms Tibbetts. He said he received the tip from a close friend of the Tibbetts' family. No information has been released about where the body was found.

Mr Willey said a nearly $400,000 reward fund for her discovery would become a reward for information leading to the capture of any possible suspects, once the news is officially released.

The Independent has contacted Poweshiek County Sheriff's office, which covers Brooklyn, for confirmation.

After Ms Tibbetts was reported missing, a joint investigation had been launched by the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the Iowa State Patrol and the Brooklyn Volunteer Fire Department.

ABC reports the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is holding a 5pm news conference, local time, at the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office in Montezuma to release information on the case.

Ms Tibbetts’ father, Rob Tibbetts, recently told ABC he was “reluctantly” returning home to California as the investigation continued.

“Very reluctantly, I'm being told I sort of need to do this,“ Mr Tibbetts said. "We've called this sort of a halftime, a break."

Laura Calderwood, Mollie Tibbetts' mother told ABC last month that not knowing where her daughter was, was "excruciating".

Authorities had launched a website earlier this month, findingmollie.iowa.gov, which encouraged people to offer any possible tips regarding Ms Tibbetts' whereabouts.