Reward for missing Mollie Tibbetts raised to $172,000

The family of Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student and Crime Stoppers Iowa have announced a significant increase in a reward fund.

The Bring Mollie Tibbetts Home Safe Reward Fund has reached $172,000. The news was announced at a press conference on Thursday morning in Brooklyn.

Mollie has been gone for two weeks. She was last seen jogging on July 18th around 7:30 p.m. She was reported missing the next day when she didn't show up for work.

Mollie's mother Laura Calderwood read a statement detailing the amount of money raised and how can people donate, and also answered a few questions from the media.

Read more about the Bring Mollie Tibbetts Home Safe Reward Fund on our Twitter account @amomama_usa.

Laura said that she believes that Mollie is still alive and if someone has abducted her, she is pleading with them to release her.

Mollie's father, Rob Tibbetts thanked the media for highlighting the case and said that the family is doing fine.

They are setting their personal feelings aside and this is a fight for their daughter and so they have all the tools they can use.

He said that they have been told very little by the authorities and for good reason. They are not sharing information with the family because they don't need to share information with someone who might be involved in this.

Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa helped set up the reward fund. Greg Willey from the Crime Stoppers said that any tips that come in will remain completely anonymous because that is how the system was designed.

When someone calls in with an information or enters online, they get an ID number that corresponds with the information.

No e-mail address, phone number, or IP address is recorded. Even if Crime Stoppers wanted to know who the tipster was, they would be unable to do so.

Investigators will hold a news conference at 9:30 Friday morning at the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office to release more information about the case.

People with any information that can help the investigators find Mollie Tibbetts, call 1-800-452-1111.