Mollie Tibbetts should be about to attend a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic, where she and her boyfriend had planned to watch his brother get married on the beach.
Instead the ceremony has been canceled as Tibbetts’ stunned loved ones search for answers in her mysterious disappearance exactly two weeks ago, according to the Associated Press.
Tibbetts and boyfriend Dalton Jack were scheduled this week to attend the nuptials of his 23-year-old brother, Blake Jack, the AP and CBS News report. Blake had even said — jokingly — that it was there that Dalton should propose to Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student whom he has been dating for nearly three years.
Authorities have said that the last time anyone saw Tibbetts, reportedly a rising sophomore who was studying psychology, was on the evening of July 18 as she was jogging in the small town of Brooklyn, in eastern Iowa.
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She’d been dog-sitting at Dalton’s house — which he shares with Blake and Blake’s fiancée, according to Fox News — but she headed out for her usual run, returning a short while later to do some homework, police said.
At some point, Tibbetts vanished.
Her family reported her missing the next day, on July 19, and despite extensive searches of the area and Tibbetts’ digital footprint, her whereabouts remain unknown.
Those close to her have said that she would not go off on her own with no notice.
Laura Calderwood, Tibbetts’ mom, previously told ABC News that Tibbetts was looking forward to the wedding this week and had recently secured her very first passport.
“As that date gets closer, it’s like closing in on me, because I’m thinking about these two people that are getting married that were also really close to Mollie,” Calderwood said. “[It’s] supposed to be the happiest day of their life.”
She said she did not have words “to describe how you feel when you don’t know where or how your child is.”
Blake Jack told the AP that on the day Tibbetts went missing, he was visiting his fiancée in Ames, Iowa, some 85 miles to the west. Dalton, Tibbetts’ boyfriend, has said he was about two hours from Brooklyn, working construction, when Mollie disappeared.
Blake also appealed to the public, asking that anyone come forward if they saw anything unusual that evening.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Kevin Winker, director of investigative operations for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said authorities are still exploring all possibilities as they track down more than 200 leads.
A $30,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Tibbetts’ location.
Her family, meanwhile, has been tireless in speaking out about the case.
“The first night she went missing, I was distraught,” her mom told local TV station KCCI this week. “I knew her phone was dead, but I sent her a text saying, ‘I love you. We’re looking for you. We will find you no matter what.’ ”
She is described as 5-foot-3-inches tall, weighing about 120 lbs., with long brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about her is urged to contact the Poweshiek County Sheriff’s Office at 641-623-5679 or email tips@poweshiekcosheriff.com.
