KEARNEY, Mo. — Investigators say they have concluded that a woman spotted in northwest Missouri was not a missing Iowa college student.
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Mike Krapfl confirmed Thursday that the reported sighting of Mollie Tibbetts wasn’t substantiated and has been ruled out by investigators.
Police in Kearney, Missouri, said an employee at a truck stop reported Sunday that she saw someone resembling Tibbetts eating at a Taco Bell. Kearney is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Kansas City.
The Kearney Police Department said in a statement that it spoke to witnesses and reviewed video footage before forwarding a report to a task force investigating Tibbetts’ disappearance.
Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, hasn’t been seen since July 18 .
