In 2018, a man sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.
THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IOWA — Mollie Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student, abducted and killed three years ago while out on an evening run, and a man sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release on Monday.
In Iowa, where there is no death penalty,
Judge Joel Yates’ sentencing for Cristhian Bahena Rivera required for a first-degree murder conviction. Since his arrest in August 2018, the 27-year-old former farmhand,
who claimed that he arrived in the United States illegally as a teenager from Mexico, has been detained.
Yates flatly denied the defense’s allegation that the crime committed by others.
Calderwood recounted being informed by weeping detectives that her 20-year-old daughter’s corpse had been discovered, and rushing to notify family members before the news reached the media. Mollie’s grandmother was the most difficult to talk to,
as she couldn’t believe someone “could hurt such a lovely, bright, young lady so full of potential,” as she say.
She said the death frightened Hispanic employees, stopped Mollie’s boyfriend from giving her the engagement ring he had bought, and meant her father would never accompany his only daughter down the aisle.
“You and you alone, Mr. Bahena Rivera, impacted the lives of people who loved Mollie Tibbetts forever,” he added.
The sentencing brings to a close a case that sparked outrage over illegal immigration,
stoked concerns about violence against solitary female runners, and took many unexpected turns during and after Bahena Rivera’s May trial.
In a victim impact statement given to the court, Tibbetts’ mother, Laura Calderwood, addressed Bahena Rivera.
“On the evening of July 18, Mollie was a young lady who just wanted to go for a peaceful run, and you decided to brutally and sadistically take her life,” she wrote.
Calderwood recounted being informed by weeping detectives that her 20-year-old daughter’s corpse had been discovered and rushing to notify family members before the news reached the media. Mollie’s grandmother was the most difficult to talk to, as she couldn’t believe someone “could hurt such a lovely, bright, young lady so full of potential,” as she put it.
She said the death frightened Hispanic employees, stopped Mollie’s boyfriend from giving her the engagement ring he had bought, and meant her father would never accompany his only daughter down the aisle.
“I will never see my daughter become a mother because of your actions, Mr. Rivera,” Calderwood added.
On July 18, 2018, Tibbetts disappeared while out on a run on a remote road outside of Brooklyn,
Iowa, a town of 1,700 people. When Tibbetts didn’t show up for her summer job at daycare the following morning, family members and coworkers suspected something was wrong.
Hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officials combed the area for weeks but found nothing. After discovering a homeowner’s security footage that seemed to show his Chevy Malibu repeatedly driving by Tibbetts as she ran,
investigators started concentrating on Bahena Rivera, who worked under an identity at a neighboring dairy farm.
Bahena Rivera led police to a cornfield where he had buried Tibbetts’ corpse beneath leaves and stalks after a long questioning. Her colorful running sneakers were the only thing visible. She had stabbed many times, according to an autopsy.
Investigators learned that Bahena Rivera approached Tibbetts
because he thought she was beautiful, and that he attacked her when she threatened to call the cops. He then claims to have passed out and awoke while traveling with her corpse in his trunk.
Prosecutors speculated that Bahena Rivera had a sexual motivation
since Tibbetts discovered wearing just socks and a sports bra with her legs wide out. The surveillance footage,
his partial confession, and DNA evidence of Tibbetts’ blood in his trunk were all used to build their case.
“It is extremely well merited based on the facts and circumstances of this case,” prosecutor Scott Brown said of the life sentence.
Bahena Rivera’s attorneys claimed that his confession was false and forced and that their client testified at trial in a different light. Bahena Rivera claimed that two masked men abducted him from his trailer at gunpoint,
forced him to drive as they attacked Tibbetts, told him where to bury her corpse,
and threatened to murder his young daughter and ex-girlfriend if he didn’t keep silent.
The defense attempted to implicate a number of people, including Tibbetts’ boyfriend and a local cop who lived near where Tibbetts’ corpse discovered.
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Prosecutors labeled Bahena Rivera’s statement “fiction,” and a 12-member jury found him guilty unanimously.
However, two individuals came forward almost immediately to inform police that a 21-year-old guy with a history of violence had confessed to them that he had murdered Tibbetts. Separately, a woman said she abducted after meeting an accused sex trafficker at a Brooklyn gas station weeks before Tibbetts vanished.
Yates postponed a July sentence so that the defense could do its investigation. He rejected Bahena Rivera’s request for a new trial earlier this month,
claiming that the new evidence was untrustworthy and that there was no reason to reverse the conviction.
The defense intends to file an appeal. At the sentencing hearing, Bahena Rivera and her defense attorneys, Chad and Jennifer Frese, refused to speak.
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