Missing Iowa Student Mollie Tibbetts Found Dead

Missing Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts has reportedly been found dead more than a month after her disappearance.

According to a law enforcement source who spoke with Fox News, the 20-year-old’s body was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 21, in Iowa, though specific details were not able to be given at the time.

Tibbetts, who was studying psychology at the University of Iowa where she was set to begin her sophomore year, had last been seen alive at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 18 while running in Brooklyn, Iowa, a town of about 1,400 people. At the time, she had been staying with her boyfriend, Dalton Jack, in his older brother’s home, where she had been dog-sitting while they were out of town.

She was reported missing on July 19 when she failed to show up for work, sparking a massive search by local law enforcement and the FBI that brought in thousands of tips. Last week, it was announced that investigators were focusing their search on five locations – her boyfriend’s home, a car wash just a block away from the town’s main commercial strip, a truck stop near Interstate-80, a farm more than three miles from downtown Brooklyn, and another farm more than six miles away.

Robb Tibbetts, Mollie’s father, earlier this month stated his belief that his daughter was still alive and may have left with somebody that she knew.

“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 correspondent Adriana Diaz. “Now they’re in over their head and they don’t know what to do.”

He added that if he could talk to Mollie, he would tell her to “hang on” and “We’re gonna come get you. Everybody’s looking.”

No arrests have been made in connection to Tibbetts’ disappearance.

A reward fund for information regarding Tibbetts’ disappearance that raised more than $385,000 will now likely be used for any information that leads to the arrest of whoever is responsible for her death.

Law enforcement officials have scheduled a news conference for 5 p.m. local time to provide an update on the latest developments in the case.