CRISTHIAN BAHENA RIVERA

Mollie Tibbetts vanished on a rural road outside her hometown while out for a run in July 2018. Cristhian Bahena Rivera was sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of the college student.

The 27-year-old former farmhand, who testified that he came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, was convicted in May of the University of Iowa student's murder.

A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the stabbing death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts three years ago.

A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the abduction and killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, three years after she disappeared while out for an evening run. Judge Joel Yates' sentence for Cristhian Bahena Rivera was mandatory for a first-degree murder conviction in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty. “Mr. Bahena Rivera, you and you alone forever changed the lives of those who loved Mollie Tibbetts,” he said.

A judge has denied a convicted man’s request for a new trial in the 2018 killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.

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The lead investigator in the death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts says he's confident the right man was convicted of murder and rejects claims that her abduction could be tied to two other men.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera had been scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday in the 2018 death of Mollie Tibbetts.

Two men named by defense lawyers as alternate suspects in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts say they had nothing to do with the crime.

Two childhood friends named by defense lawyers as alternate suspects in the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts said Friday they had nothing to do with the crime. Lawyers for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the man convicted of killing Tibbetts, named Gavin Jones and Dalton Hansen as perhaps responsible for Tibbetts’ 2018 stabbing death in court filings this week.

A prosecutor has rejected claims that the killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts could be connected to sex trafficking and other abductions around the rural area where she disappeared in 2018.

Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations/Court TVDefense attorneys representing Mollie Tibbetts’ convicted killer presented more bombshell new claims on Thursday, a day after a judge delayed sentencing due to new information pointing to other potential suspects. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an undocumented farmworker, was convicted in May of abducting the University of Iowa student while she was out jogging, killing her, and dumping her in a cornfield. He maintains that he was abducted by two mask

Cristhian Bahena Rivera was convicted in May of the first-degree murder of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts in 2018.

Reuters/Iowa Department of Criminal InvestigationsA man scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without parole for killing college student Mollie Tibbetts got a last-minute reprieve on Wednesday in light of bombshell new information pointing to other potential suspects.In May, a jury convicted Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 27, an Iowa dairy farm worker, of first-degree murder in the 2018 death of Tibbetts, a 20-year-old student at the University of Iowa. Today, Judge Joel Yates ordere

A judge has agreed to delay the sentencing of the man convicted of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts after his lawyers said they need time to investigate new information implicating other people.

A judge on Wednesday delayed sentencing for the man convicted of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts after defense lawyers said they needed time to investigate new information pointing to other potential suspects. Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 27, was scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Thursday at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma. Judge Joel Yates ruled Wednesday the sentencing would be delayed until after he holds hearings on the defense's requests to compel prosecutors to release information about other suspects and to order a new trial.

Defense lawyers for a man convicted of killing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts say two new witnesses have come forward and identified a new suspect in the case.

Prosecutors in May dismissed a defendant’s testimony that he was framed by two masked men for the kidnapping and killing of an Iowa college student, calling it a figment of his imagination. Jurors agreed, convicting Cristhian Bahena Rivera of first-degree murder in the July 2018 stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in one of the state’s most high-profile cases in years. Both witnesses are unknown to each other, yet independently identified the same suspect to authorities after Bahena Rivera testified in his own defense May 26, his lawyers revealed in seeking a new trial for the 27-year-old Mexican national who came to the U.S. illegally as a teenager.

Mollie Tibbetts went missing after going for a run on July 18, 2018. The University of Iowa student's body was found in a cornfield a month later.

20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts vanished while on a jog in 2018 and was later found stabbed to death.

A jury reached a verdict Friday afternoon in the murder trial of a farm laborer charged with killing a University Iowa student in 2018.

A jury has found a farm laborer guilty of murder in the abduction and killing of a University of Iowa student who vanished while out for a run in 2018.

A jury found a farm laborer guilty of murder Friday in the abduction and killing of a University of Iowa student who vanished while out for a run in 2018. The 12-member jury unanimously found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Mollie Tibbetts, who is remembered as a friendly 20-year-old who was studying to become a child psychologist. Bahena Rivera, who came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A prosecutor said there is "overwhelming evidence" against Cristhian Bahena Rivera in Mollie Tibbetts' murder.

Jurors met for hours without reaching consensus on whether a farm laborer is guilty in the 2018 abduction and stabbing of a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run.

In a surprise development, the defense called Cristhian Bahena Rivera as a witness at his first-degree murder trial.

Man claims one of his abductors whispered “Come on Jack,” referencing the woman’s boyfriend, Dalton Jack

The man on trial for the 2018 abduction and stabbing death of a University of Iowa student is testifying in his own defense, claiming two masked men were responsible for the crime but forced him to take part.

The man on trial for the 2018 stabbing death of a University of Iowa student is a hard-working, family-centered immigrant from Mexico who was pressured into making a false confession, his defense told jurors Tuesday. Jennifer Frese, a lawyer for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, said in her opening statement that their hearts should break for 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, but that authorities conducted an incomplete investigation into her death and were too quick to close the case. “Her family deserves justice but so does Cristhian Bahena Rivera,” Frese said, standing next to her client.

One person was injured.

An agent who oversaw the 2018 investigation into the disappearance of a University of Iowa student testified Monday that a shortage of Spanish-speaking officers delayed and hindered his ability to question the man on trial in her stabbing death. Division of Criminal Investigation agent Trent Vileta said he wanted to speak with Cristhian Bahena Rivera after investigators linked him to a car seen on video driving near where Mollie Tibbetts disappeared while running in Brooklyn, Iowa. Vileta testified at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport as the first-degree murder trial of Bahena Rivera entered its second week.

May 23—POTTSVILLE — Schuylkill County District Attorney Michael A. O'Pake and the Schuylkill County detectives are asking the public to help them locate a woman who failed to report to begin serving her prison sentence earlier this month. Detectives said Sarah E. Harring, 33, failed to appear at the Schuylkill County Prison on May 4 to begin serving a sentence of five to 12 months. The ...

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Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in Tibbetts' 2018 stabbing death.

A DNA analyst says blood found in the trunk of a farmworker’s vehicle was an exact match for a University of Iowa student who was abducted and killed while out for a run in 2018.

Blood found in the trunk of a farmhand's car was an exact match for a University of Iowa student who was abducted and killed while out for a run in 2018, a DNA analyst told jurors Friday. Tara Scott, a criminalist in the DNA section of Iowa’s crime lab, said she analyzed a swab taken from a blood stain found on the trunk seal of Cristhian Bahena Rivera’s Chevy Malibu after investigators recovered the body of Mollie Tibbetts. “The profile I had from Mollie Tibbetts and the profile from that blood matched,” Scott testified.

YouTubeA former Iowa police officer who interviewed Cristhian Bahena Rivera and was present when he confessed to killing Mollie Tibbetts was grilled on the stand this week by defense attorneys, who argued the Mexican national only copped to the crime after hours of interrogation and a visit from federal immigration authorities.Pamela Romero, a three-year veteran of the Iowa City Police Department, spent two days on the stand during Bahena Rivera’s murder trial in Scotty County Courthouse, describing for jurors how she interrogated the 26-year-old for 11 hours in August 2018 in connection with Tibbetts’ murder.During the August 20, 2018 interview, Romero said the local farmhand confessed to her in Spanish that he killed Tibbetts—a 20-year-old University of Iowa student who vanished on July 18, 2019, while on a run near her home—and then dumped her body in a cornfield.“I went to ask him, 'Mr. Rivera, please, just let me know, give me more details: How she got into the car, what happened to her, what did you do to her,’” Romero testified Thursday. “His answer was, ‘I brought you here, didn’t I? So that means that I did it? I don’t remember how I did it.’”Mollie Tibbetts’ Killer Recalled ‘Covering Her With Corn Stalks,’ Prosecutor Says in Trial OpeningBut defense attorneys went on to grill Romero, who now works at a turkey processing factory in Iowa, on her interrogation techniques during the interview, which is the crux of the prosecution’s case, arguing that Bahena Rivera was sleep deprived and anxious after being arrested for his illegal immigration status.Defense attorney Jennifer Frese played a portion of video footage from Bahena Rivera’s interrogation, in which he can be seen rubbing his face and leaning over the table to try to sleep when officers were not in the room. Several times, Bahena Rivera asked whether an immigration officer would arrest him.Frese says that her client was eventually arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at 11 p.m., about six hours into his interview. Several hours after that, he confessed to “blacking out” and murdering Tibbetts.“Do you understand the position that sometimes people will say things that they didn’t really do?" Frese said Friday. Romero responded that she didn’t believe the confession was forced.Ahead of the trial, defense attorneys tried to get Bahena Rivera’s confession tossed out of court, arguing it may have been false. District Court Judge Joel Yates denied that request but agreed to remove a portion of the interview footage in which Bahena Rivera was improperly informed of his rights.“I told him he was free to go whenever he wanted, but he stayed and wanted to talk to me,” Romero insisted Thursday.Bahena Rivera, who’s remained emotionless throughout Romero’s testimony, has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Tibbetts at least seven times on July 18, 2018. Tibbetts’ body was finally found in the early morning of August 21, 2018, after Bahena Rivera directed Romero and other authorities to the cornfield where he allegedly hid her.Prosecutors have argued that on July 18, video surveillance footage from a neighbor showed Bahena Rivera’s black Chevy Malibu appearing to circle Tibbetts as she was running. The footage marked a major break in the case after a more than month-long search for the young woman.Romero said that during the Aug. 20 interview, the farmhand initially denied knowing Tibbetts but admitted the car in the footage was his.“Mr. Rivera told me he had no idea who she was and that he had never seen her,” Romero said. “I pulled out one of the posters that had Mollie’s face… and he looked at her, and said, ‘I have seen them around town,' and he remembered seeing Mollie’s boyfriend at one of the local gas stations.”Eventually, Romero said that Bahena Rivera admitted to seeing Tibbetts running around town at least three times and conceded that she’d once waved to him as he drove by. Hours later, Bahena Rivera took several officers to a nearby cornfield and confessed he’d killed her, she said.She Was Raped, Strangled, Set Alight in a Field. Cops Say They’ve Found Her Killer.Bahena Rivera told Romero he had parked his car and started jogging toward Tibbetts, which made her uncomfortable, so she attempted to call the police, the officer told jurors Thursday.“He said that Mollie tried to slap him and was screaming at him,” Romero testified. “Mr. Rivera said this is when he became angry. He stated that when he gets angry, he usually blacks out.”Romero said that the next thing Romero remembered was driving his car with Tibbetts’ body in his truck and her headphones on his lap. Bahena Rivera then told her that he brought Tibbetts to a cornfield and dumped her body.“At one point I asked him, ‘Was it the head, was it the forehead?’ and with a hand motion he showed the neck,” Romero said. “I asked him how her body felt against his body when he was carrying her, and he said it felt like a person who had just fainted.”Romero admitted that Bahena Rivera said he didn’t remember what weapon he used to kill her. The Iowa State Medical Examiner has ruled Tibbetts’ death a “homicide resulting from multiple sharp force injuries.” Prosecutors on Wednesday said that evidence suggests Bahena Rivera stabbed her seven to 12 times before dumping her body. The murder weapon has never been found.Iowa Department of Public Safety crime scene tech Amy Johnson told jurors on Friday that when investigators finally found Tibbetts’ body about 400 feet from the road, her black running shorts and underwear were found several feet away. Romero said Friday that she was not aware of any sexual assault allegations against Bahena Rivera.“I would say we had a very pleasant conversation,” Romero said Friday about the interrogation.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Cristhian Bahena Rivera is charged with murdering the University of Iowa student in summer 2018.

Video, DNA analysis and a partial confession will be key in the case against Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a prosecutor said.

The boyfriend of a University of Iowa student testified he had nothing to do with her 2018 abduction and stabbing death, saying he was out of town for work and heartbroken by her slaying.

The boyfriend of a University of Iowa student testified Wednesday that he had nothing to do with her 2018 abduction and stabbing death, saying he had been out of town for work and was heartbroken by her slaying. Dalton Jack, the longtime boyfriend of Mollie Tibbetts, was a key witness on the first day of the first-degree murder trial of Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the Mexican national charged in her killing. Prosecutor Bart Klaver said in his opening statement Wednesday that video evidence, DNA analysis and a partial confession by Bahena Rivera, a dairy farm worker, will be crucial to proving his guilt.

President Biden is facing more pressure to push for a cease-fire in Gaza, the House may complete two key votes and more news to start your Wednesday.

Attorneys on Tuesday completed selection of a jury for the first-degree murder trial of the farm laborer charged with fatally stabbing a University of Iowa student while she was out running three years ago. Cristhian Bahena Rivera is accused in the death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in July 2018. Opening statements are scheduled Wednesday morning at the Scott County Courthouse.

A prosecutor is warning prospective jurors that the trial of a Mexican national charged in the 2018 fatal stabbing of a University of Iowa student will include graphic evidence that will be emotionally difficult to see and hear.

The Mexican national facing trial Monday for the fatal stabbing of a University of Iowa student has been portrayed by former President Donald Trump as a criminal who exploited lax immigration laws. Legal experts say ensuring a fair trial for Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the 2018 slaying of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts, will be difficult given the extraordinary circumstances of the case. Rivera's arrest inflamed anger over illegal immigration ahead of the midterm elections, with Trump weighing in to declare Rivera guilty almost immediately and Iowa's governor calling him a predator.