Jurors at the trial of the man charged with fatally stabbing a University of Iowa student in 2018 were shown surveillance videos Thursday (5/20) of a woman running and a vehicle later tied to the defendant driving by her seconds later.

Investigators testified about how the video became a significant lead in the massive month-long search for Mollie Tibbetts, who disappeared while running on July 18, 2018, in Brooklyn, Iowa. Within days of obtaining the video, they had recovered Tibbetts’ body from a cornfield and arrested Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a local farmhand.

The testimony came on the second day of Bahena Rivera’s first-degree murder trial at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport. Prosecutors say the surveillance video, blood found in the vehicle’s trunk that was later a match for Tibbetts’ DNA and a partial confession by the defendant will be key to proving his guilt.

Bahena Rivera’s defense team tried Thursday to cast suspicion on others who had initially come under scrutiny, including Tibbetts’ boyfriend and local residents who had been investigated because of their past behavior toward women.

Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Derek Riessen testified that he collected the surveillance video from homeowner Logan Collins on Aug. 14 as part of a citywide canvass of Brooklyn, and immediately began reviewing it with other agents. He said the next day a fellow agent said he believed he saw something significant, and Riessen thought he was kidding.

But additional review showed a person appearing to run through the neighborhood in the distance, entering and leaving the video frame in a split second. Riessen said he determined it was a runner who appeared to have a ponytail and was passing by at 7:45 p.m.

About 20 seconds later, a black Chevy Malibu with distinctive chrome rims, door handles and a mirror drove past. Riessen said that vehicle is on surveillance several times over the next 20 minutes, ultimately going back toward the direction of the runner at a higher rate of speed at 8:07 p.m. He said that Tibbetts, 20, is suspected to have been abducted on a rural road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away around 8:20 p.m.

Jurors were shown several videos and photos of the runner and the Malibu, including some that were enhanced in size. Riessen said neither the driver nor the license plate could be identified on the video.

Poweshiek County Deputy Steve Kivi said he reviewed the video lead on Aug. 15, 2018, after spending a month looking into what happened to Tibbetts, who was living in her hometown over a summer break. The next day, Kivi said he spotted the vehicle just outside of Brooklyn getting off of Interstate 80 and followed the driver, who turned out to be Bahena Rivera.

Kivi said that Bahena Rivera was cooperative during their initial discussion that day, calmly denying knowing anything about what happened to Tibbetts. The deputy recounted driving with Bahena Rivera and other law enforcement officials just days later to the cornfield where Tibbetts’ remains were discovered.

Police say that Bahena Rivera led them to the body after a lengthy interrogation that began Aug. 20, although a judge ruled that those statements cannot be used at the trial because an officer failed to read him his Miranda rights.

Bahena Rivera allegedly made additional incriminating statements at the scene that can be used, including that he had approached Tibbetts while she ran, fought with her after she threatened to call police, and remembered driving to the field where he left her bloody body.

Kivi acknowledged that investigators never found a murder weapon. An autopsy found that Tibbetts had died of stab wounds.

Kivi said several other county residents had come under scrutiny, but that no evidence was found linking anyone else to Tibbetts’ death.