The search for Mollie Tibbetts is over. Iowa law enforcement has charged an illegal immigrant with first degree murder in the 20-year-old Brooklyn woman’s death. Special agent Rick Rahn of the Iowa Division of Criminal Apprehension spoke to reporters Tuesday afternoon in Montezuma.
“An affidavit named Cristhian Bahena Rivera, age 24, who resides in rural Powesheik County and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. A body was discovered early this morning in a farm field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. The identity has not been confirmed, however, we believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts.”
That corn field was about 12 miles southeast of Brooklyn, where Tibbetts was last seen July 18 when she went for a run. Rahn says one of hundreds of tips that were called in after Mollie’s disappearance paid off.
“During our neighborhood canvas, we came across an individual that had security cameras. We took those cameras; he was kind enough to give us the footage from it. And through that, we were able to identify a vehicle that we believe belonged to Mr. Rivera. It was a black Malibu and from that we were able to track his pattern and the routes in which he took. We were also able to find Mollie running on this video and we were able to determine that he was one of the last people to have seen Mollie running, based on the video that we were able to seize from the general public.”
An affidavit attached to the criminal complaint against Rivera alleged that he admitted to investigators he got out of his car and started running alongside Tibbetts. She grabbed her phone and said she was going to call the police. The affidavit says Rivera panicked and then he said he blacked out. Rivera next remembers seeing her earphones on his lap and taking her bloody body out of the trunk of his car. An autopsy on Mollie’s body will be held Wednesday in Ankeny; it could take four to six weeks to get the results. Rahn says Rivera has been living in Powesheik County between four and seven years and that he is not a legal US resident. Rivera is being held in custody in the Poweshiek County Jail; no word when he’ll appear in court.
