Mollie Tibbetts trial: Iowa jury finds Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder

UPDATE May 28, 2021:

An Iowa jury has found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts.

Sentencing will take place at 9:30 a.m. on July 15, 2021, in Montezuma, Iowa.

The announcements were made Friday at about 1:45 p.m. Central Time.

MORE: Cristhian Bahena Rivera murder trial: The verdict is in - WQAD-TV

May 27, 2021:

Mollie Tibbetts trial: Suspect testifies masked men committed crime, forced him to drive

DAVENPORT, Iowa (TCD) --

An Iowa jury began deliberating Thursday after the prosecution and the defense made closing statements in the trial of the man accused of murdering Mollie Tibbetts, a day after the defendant testified.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera, the suspect on trial for the 2018 murder of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, testified on Wednesday before the defense rested its case. His testimony contradicted statements he reportedly made to police when he was arrested in 2018.

The Des Moines Register reports Cristhian Bahena Rivera testified that two armed, masked men arrived at his trailer and forced him into his Chevrolet Malibu on July 18, 2018.

He said he got out of the shower around 6 p.m. to find the two men standing in the living room of the trailer.

Rivera described the men as one large, heavy man and a smaller, muscular man, one with a knife, the other carrying a gun. He said one man was named “Jack.” He said he had never seen the men before that night, and has not seen them again since.

He said the men forced him drive around the area of Brooklyn, Iowa, where they saw Mollie Tibbetts jogging, the Register reports. He said the men made him stop the car along a gravel road where they had seen Tibbetts.

He said the man with the knife -- “Jack” -- got out of the car “for 10 to 12 minutes,” the Des Moines Register reports, and the other man stayed in the back seat of the car.

Rivera said Jack came back to the car and “put something heavy in the trunk,” the Register reports, and they all drove away.

Rivera testified the two men threatened Rivera’s family -- specifically, his girlfriend and his young daughter -- if he said anything. He said the two men ran toward a gravel road, according to the Register.

Rivera said he opened the car’s trunk and found Tibbetts inside “barely alive,” the Register reports. He said he carried her into a cornfield and covered her with cornstalks, where he left her.

"I didn't want her to be too exposed to the sun,” he testified, the Register reports.

Then he left the woman’s phone, earbuds and Fitbit on the side of the road and drove away.

Rivera’s testimony is different from the statements he gave to police a month after Tibbetts was found in 2018, in which he reportedly confessed to murdering her.

Rivera testified in Spanish through a court interpreter.

Rivera’s defense attorney, Jennifer Frese, said: "You told not a soul about this for over a month. ... If you weren't approached, you would have taken this night with you to the grave, is that right?"

"Most probably," Rivera answered. "Because I knew if I did in any way, I would be involved."

The defense rested its case Wednesday.

Mollie Tibbetts was last seen alive going for a jog on July 18, 2018, in her home town of Brooklyn, Iowa. Her body was found in a cornfield on August 21, 2018, when Rivera led police to the location.

TRUE CRIME DAILY: Mollie Tibbetts case coverage - TCD

Rivera’s Malibu was recorded on surveillance video in the area, which led to his arrest for first-degree murder. Rivera told police he was out driving, saw Tibbetts jogging, and got out of his car to talk to her. He said he got angry when she threatened to call police, and he blacked out. He said he later woke up at a rural intersection in the county.

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